Chapter 4: What Grace Holloway Already Knew
Grace Holloway arrived at eight the next morning carrying a leather briefcase, a coffee she hadn't touched, and the particular expression of a woman who had seen this before and was angry about it anyway.
She was sixty-one, small, with silver hair cut close and reading glasses she wore on a chain around her neck.
Liam had described her once as the most dangerous person in any room she entered, because she never needed to raise her voice.
She pulled a chair to my bedside, set her briefcase flat on her knees, and opened it.
"I've reviewed everything Liam sent me," she said.
"Before we begin, I want you to hear something." She pulled out a single printed page and set it on the blanket in front of me.
"Ethan's attorney contacted my office at six forty-five this morning."
I looked at the page.
"Already."
"His name is Douglas Farr.
He's good.
Expensive." She folded her hands.
"He's proposing that you both agree to characterize last night as a domestic incident resulting from mutual conflict.
His words.
In exchange, Ethan agrees not to contest the medical record documentation."
"Mutual conflict," I repeated.
"Yes."
"He put me in the hospital."
"I know." Her voice was level.
"I want you to understand what they're trying to do.
They're moving fast because they're afraid of the financial documents.
The @buse charges are serious, but the fraud exposure — the board resolutions signed in your name without authorization — that is what will end him.
Farr knows it.
That's why the offer came at six forty-five in the morning."
I looked at the page for another moment.
Then I pushed it back toward her.
"No," I said.
Grace picked it up, folded it once, and returned it to her briefcase.
"Good." She clicked the latch.
"Then here is where we are.
The police took a preliminary statement from you last night.
I've arranged for a formal recorded statement this afternoon with the detective assigned to the case.
Her name is Reyes.
She's thorough." She paused.
"Ethan was released on bail this morning at seven."
The number on the monitor beside my bed beeped once, steadily.
"Where is he?" I asked.
"His attorney's office, as of an hour ago." Grace looked at me directly.
"Nora.
Is there anything in that house — documents, a phone, anything — that he could use or destroy before we get to it?"
"My laptop is in the house.
But everything on it is mirrored to an off-site server.
He doesn't know the server exists."
"The trust documents?"
"Original copies are with my father's attorney.
Liam has a certified duplicate.
Ethan has never seen either."
Grace allowed herself a small, controlled exhale.
"All right.
Then he has nothing to work with except his word against yours, and yours comes with four hospital visits and a forensic paper trail." She stood.
"I'll be back at two for the statement.
Rest until then."
She was almost at the door when I said, "Grace.
What happens to Apex Development while this is being resolved?"
She turned.
"That depends on what the board does.
Ethan holds the public-facing executive title.
But if your trust controls majority voting rights —"
"It does."
"Then a vote can remove him from operational control.
Do you have allies on the board?"
I thought of Marcus Webb.
Sixty-three, semi-retired, had worked with my father before Ethan ever appeared.
He had voted against every restructuring Ethan proposed for eighteen months before finally going quiet.
"One," I said.
"Possibly."
"Contact him," Grace said.
"Today, if you can.
Before Ethan does."
She left.
Liam came in twenty minutes later with tea I didn't ask for and sat in the chair Grace had used.
"She told you about the bail," he said.
It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"Nora." He set the tea on the tray.
"He's going to try to reach you.
Through someone.
A mutual friend, a colleague, someone who doesn't know the full picture.
He'll frame it as wanting to talk.
Wanting to explain."
"I know how he works."
"I know you do.
I'm saying it out loud anyway." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"If anyone contacts you on his behalf — anyone — you tell me or you tell Grace.
You don't respond.
Not even to say no."
I nodded.
My phone was still in the house.
Liam had arranged a temporary one through the hospital's patient support office.
It sat on the tray beside the tea, a cheap prepaid model with only three numbers in it.
Liam.
Grace.
Detective Reyes.
It lit up at eleven forty-seven.
Unknown number.
I stared at it.
It rang four times and went to voicemail.
Thirty seconds later, a text arrived from the same number.
*Nora.
It's Marcus.
I heard what happened.
I need to speak with you before the board meeting Ethan just called for Friday.
Please call me back.*
I picked up the phone.
Liam looked up from across the room.
"Marcus Webb just texted," I said.
"Ethan called a board meeting for Friday."
Liam was already standing.
"Call Grace."
"I'm calling Marcus first."
"Nora —"
"Ethan is trying to remove me from the company before the fraud charges are formalized." I was already dialing.
"If he gets a board vote before Grace files the trust documentation, he controls the narrative.
Marcus can block it." I met Liam's eyes.
"I didn't spend six months building this case to lose the company in a Friday morning meeting."
The line connected.
May you like
"Marcus," I said.
"Tell me exactly what Ethan said to you."
