Chapter 7
Nia didn't speak to Charles for the next hour.
Not one word.
She answered the nurse.
She answered the doctor.
She answered Malik.
She even answered Lauren when her sister asked whether she wanted another pillow.
But Charles might as well have been invisible.
He stayed anyway.
At 11:20 p.m., the doctor finally brought good news.
The medication was working.
The contractions had slowed.
The baby looked stable.
Nia would remain under observation overnight.
If things stayed calm, they would try to keep the pregnancy going for several more weeks.
Malik had booked the first flight from Savannah to Chicago in the morning.
For once, nobody argued.
After the doctor left, Nia looked at Lauren.
"You should sleep."
Lauren shook her head.
"So should you."
"I have a hospital bed."
Lauren looked at the narrow chair.
"This reclines."
"Into what? A medieval torture device?"
Lauren almost smiled.
Charles stayed near the window.
Nia finally looked at him.
"Go."
He turned.
"Nia."
"I don't want you here."
Lauren looked down.
Charles nodded slowly.
"Okay."
He picked up his coat.
At the door, he stopped.
"I'll be downstairs."
"Don't."
He turned.
"If something happens—"
"I have Lauren."
The words surprised all three of them.
Lauren's eyes widened.
Nia didn't take them back.
Charles absorbed the blow.
Then nodded.
"Okay."
He left.
Silence.
Lauren stared at the closed door.
"You didn't have to do that."
"Yes, I did."
"I mean for me."
Nia looked at her.
"I need someone here."
Lauren swallowed.
"And you picked me?"
"Don't make me regret it."
Lauren nodded quickly.
"I won't."
Nia settled back.
Twenty minutes passed.
Then she said, "Tell me what Grant knew."
Lauren stiffened.
"About Dad?"
"About everything."
Lauren pulled the chair closer.
"He knew Dad felt guilty about you."
"Obviously."
"He knew Mom had hidden letters."
Nia turned her head.
"You said you never told him about the legal case."
"I didn't."
"Did he ever ask about Dad's early years at Halcyon?"
Lauren frowned.
"Sometimes."
"How?"
"He asked what Mom did when the company was starting."
"Your mother?"
Lauren nodded.
"She helped Dad with fundraising. Connections. Events."
Nia knew some of that.
Her mother, Monica, had hated Diane Whitmore.
But she'd never told Nia why.
Lauren continued.
"Grant was obsessed with Dad's history."
Nia frowned.
"He called it mentorship."
"Did Dad mentor him?"
"Yes."
"That explains access."
Lauren shook her head.
"Not to family court records."
"No."
Nia stared at the ceiling.
"Who else had those documents?"
"Mom probably did."
"She's dead."
Lauren swallowed.
"Her things went into storage."
Nia sat up slightly.
"Where?"
"The Savannah house."
They looked at each other.
Nia whispered, "The file box."
Lauren nodded.
"My mother's papers."
Nia's anger sharpened.
"Grant found them."
"Maybe."
"He knew where to look."
Lauren thought.
"Wait."
"What?"
"Two months ago, Grant asked why we kept all Mom's old boxes."
Nia stared.
"What did you say?"
"I told him Dad couldn't throw anything away."
Lauren's face changed.
"Oh God."
"He planned this."
"I don't know."
"He knew the wedding would put everyone in Savannah."
Lauren looked sick.
Nia continued.
"He wanted access to that house."
"Maybe he wanted the documents because of the theft."
"Blackmail."
Lauren's eyes widened.
Nia nodded.
"If he stole four million dollars from Dad's company, he needed leverage."
Lauren slowly stood.
"We need to tell Dad."
Nia looked at the door.
Every part of her still wanted him gone.
But Grant was more dangerous than family anger.
"Call him."
Lauren opened the door.
Charles was sitting in a chair across the hallway.
He stood immediately.
"You stayed."
He looked guilty.
"I stayed in the hallway."
Nia rolled her eyes.
"Come in."
His relief was so obvious it almost annoyed her more.
Lauren explained.
The boxes.
Grant's questions.
The timing.
Charles listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he took out his phone.
"I'm calling Savannah police."
Nia watched him.
"What was Monica threatening to expose?"
He stopped.
The room changed.
Lauren whispered, "Dad."
Charles looked at Nia.
"Financial misconduct."
"Yours?"
"No."
"Whose?"
Charles hesitated.
Nia laughed bitterly.
"Are we really doing this again?"
"No."
He sat.
"My business partner."
Lauren frowned.
"Uncle Richard?"
"He wasn't your uncle."
"You made us call him that."
Charles sighed.
"Richard Voss and I founded Halcyon together."
Nia knew the name.
Everyone did.
Voss had died nearly twenty years earlier.
Charles continued.
"In the beginning, we were desperate for investors."
He rubbed his hands together.
"Richard falsified revenue projections."
Lauren stared.
"Did you know?"
"Not at first."
"And when you found out?"
"I confronted him."
Nia's voice was cold.
"And called the police?"
Charles looked at her.
"No."
"Of course not."
"I was twenty-nine years old. We had almost four hundred employees."
"You keep mentioning employees like they were your children."
Charles looked down.
"You're right."
Nia blinked.
Again, no defense.
It was harder to stay furious when he refused to fight back.
He continued.
"I convinced Richard to correct the records quietly."
"Meaning?"
"We returned money to two investors and amended statements."
"Illegal statements."
"Yes."
"Did anyone get charged?"
"No."
"Because you covered it up."
Charles nodded.
"Yes."
Lauren sat heavily.
"Dad."
"I told Diane years later."
Nia looked at him.
"Lauren's mother knew?"
"Yes."
"Did my mother?"
Charles closed his eyes.
"She found out during our custody case."
"How?"
"Richard told her."
Nia's stomach tightened.
Not a contraction.
Anger.
"Why?"
"Because he knew she hated me."
Nia stared.
"Mom hated you because you cheated on her."
Charles flinched.
Lauren's head snapped up.
"What?"
Nia froze.
Lauren looked at Charles.
"You cheated on Nia's mom?"
Charles said nothing.
Lauren stood.
"Dad."
"Yes."
The word landed hard.
Lauren stared at him.
"With Mom?"
Nia watched Charles.
He looked older than he had ten minutes earlier.
"Yes."
Lauren's face went blank.
"No."
"Lauren."
"No."
She backed up.
"You told me you met Mom after the divorce."
Charles closed his eyes.
"I lied."
Lauren laughed once.
Then again.
"Great."
Nia watched her sister unravel.
"Great."
Lauren grabbed her purse.
"This family is incredible."
"Lauren—"
"No."
She pointed at him.
"You cheated on Nia's mother with my mother."
Charles nodded.
"And Mom helped hide the letters."
"Yes."
"And you both let us grow up hating each other."
"I never wanted—"
"Stop saying what you wanted."
Lauren's voice cracked.
"Look at what you did."
Charles stared at her.
Nia had spent years imagining what she would say if she ever got the whole truth.
But watching Lauren hear it changed something.
Lauren hadn't created this family.
She had inherited it.
Just like Nia.
Different rooms.
Same fire.
Lauren sat down again.
"Did Mom know Nia existed when she started seeing you?"
Charles answered quietly.
"Yes."
Lauren covered her face.
Nia looked away.
The silence lasted a long time.
Finally, Nia asked, "Why did Mom threaten you during the custody case?"
Charles looked at her.
"She believed if she exposed the financial misconduct, Halcyon would collapse."
"And you believed her."
"I believed there was a chance."
"So you withdrew."
He nodded.
"Richard promised to stop contacting her."
Nia stared.
"Richard blackmailed you."
"Yes."
"And you let him."
"Yes."
"And you lost me."
Charles's voice broke.
"Yes."
Nia's eyes burned.
He didn't reach for her.
That mattered.
He just sat there and let her hate him.
Then his phone rang.
Savannah.
He answered.
"This is Whitmore."
He listened.
His expression sharpened.
"When?"
Another pause.
"Was anything left?"
He stood.
"Photograph everything."
He hung up.
Lauren looked up.
"What?"
"The police searched the house."
"And?"
"The office was torn apart."
Nia's heart dropped.
"The boxes?"
"Gone."
Lauren whispered, "All of them?"
"Three file boxes."
Charles looked at Nia.
"But Grant left something behind."
"What?"
"A flash drive."
Lauren frowned.
"Why would he leave a flash drive?"
Charles stared at his phone.
"It was taped to my desk."
Nia felt cold.
"With a note?"
Charles nodded.
"What did it say?"
He looked at her.
"Ask Nia what her mother really knew."
Nia stared.
Her mother had been dead for twelve years.
There should have been no new secrets left to discover.
But suddenly she remembered something.
A wooden box.
Small.
Dark brown.
Her mother had kept it on the top shelf of her bedroom closet.
She had told Nia never to open it.
After Monica died, Nia packed most of the apartment herself.
The box had been empty.
At least, she thought it had been.
Nia sat up straighter.
"My mother had a safe-deposit box."
Charles frowned.
"What?"
"I forgot about it."
Lauren leaned forward.
"What was in it?"
"I don't know."
Charles stared.
"How do you know she had one?"
"After she died, the bank sent a notice about unpaid rental fees."
"What happened?"
"I was twenty-two. I was broke. I closed everything."
Charles's voice became urgent.
"And the contents?"
Nia closed her eyes.
"My aunt took care of it."
"Which aunt?"
"Aunt Renee."
Charles went still.
Nia noticed.
"What?"
His face changed.
"You still talk to Renee?"
"Of course."
"How often?"
"Every week."
Charles looked almost afraid.
Nia's heart started pounding.
"What aren't you telling me?"
He hesitated.
She stared.
Charles whispered, "Renee worked for Halcyon."
Nia blinked.
"What?"
"Before you were born."
"My aunt never told me that."
Charles rubbed his forehead.
"She worked for Richard."
The room went silent.
Nia grabbed her phone.
"I'm calling her."
Charles reached out instinctively.
"Nia, wait."
She glared.
His hand dropped.
"What?"
"If Grant knows about the old case..."
He looked toward the door.
"...and if Renee has documents..."
Nia's blood turned cold.
Lauren whispered, "Grant might know about her too."
Nia called.
It rang.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
A third time.
Voicemail.
Nia's hands shook.
"She always answers."
Charles pulled out his own phone.
"Where does she live?"
"Oak Park."
Charles started calling security.
Nia's phone buzzed.
A text from Aunt Renee.
Nia opened it.
Her relief lasted one second.
Then disappeared.
The message read:
DO NOT COME TO MY HOUSE.
Nia stared.
Another message arrived.
May you like
And this one made Charles stand.
HE FOUND ME.
