Chapter 6: Seven A.M. at Marsh & Associates
Daniel Marsh's office occupied the top floor of a narrow building three blocks from the courthouse.
At 6:58 a.m., Nathan walked through the front door with Grace on his left and Lily on his right, Lily's hand in his, her small fingers wrapped around two of his.
The receptionist looked up.
She did not ask them to wait.
Daniel met them in the hallway — a compact man in his late fifties, silver-haired, with the kind of face that had seen enough drama to stop being surprised by it.
He shook Nathan's hand, nodded to Grace, and looked down at Lily.
"Good morning," he said to her.
Lily looked at him carefully.
"Good morning."
"There's orange juice in the conference room," he said.
"And those small muffins that come in the plastic tray.
They're not very good, but they're there."
Lily looked at Grace.
Grace nodded.
Lily walked into the conference room.
Daniel's colleague was already inside — a woman named Patricia Osei, family law, who had apparently arrived at five-thirty and spent the intervening time building a document structure on the conference table that covered most of its surface.
"The injunction is drafted," Patricia said without preamble.
"I'm filing at seven-fifteen.
It targets the warrant directly — the evidentiary basis is fabricated, and I can demonstrate that in three pages." She looked at Grace.
"I need your written account and the NDA document."
Grace placed both on the table.
Patricia picked up the handwritten pages and read them standing up, moving through them quickly.
She set them down.
"This is good.
This is very usable." She looked at Nathan.
"The trust amendment."
He handed her the folded document from his jacket pocket.
She read it.
"This names Lily as primary heir contingent on DNA verification."
"Yes."
"Have you initiated a DNA test?"
"I have an appointment at eight-thirty.
Certified chain of custody."
"Good.
Don't cancel it for any reason." She was already writing.
"The Hargroves will attempt to challenge the amendment's validity.
They'll claim it was signed under diminished capacity — Edward Cole had a cardiac event fourteen months before he died, which gives them a window to argue.
We need the attorney who drafted the amendment as a witness."
"Hargrove & Associates drafted the original trust," Nathan said.
"Not the amendment." Daniel sat down.
"The amendment was drafted by a sole practitioner named Elaine Chu.
She retired two years ago.
I found her last night." He slid a piece of paper across the table.
"She's willing to provide a sworn statement.
She remembers the signing clearly.
Edward Cole came to her office alone, without his usual counsel, specifically because he did not want the Hargrove family's attorneys involved."
Grace looked up from the table.
"He planned this."
"He planned something," Daniel said.
"Whether it was guilt or strategy or both, I can't say.
But he created a paper trail that he kept entirely separate from everything the Hargroves had access to."
"You said last night you might know who's been sending Nathan the messages," Grace said.
Daniel and Patricia exchanged a look.
"Elaine Chu has a daughter," Daniel said.
"She worked as a paralegal at Hargrove Industries for six years.
She left eight months ago, after she found something in the archived files she wasn't supposed to find."
"The fabricated police report framework," Patricia said.
"It wasn't built for Grace specifically.
It was a template.
The Hargroves had used the same mechanism twice before — once to remove a business partner, once to discredit a whistleblower inside their own company.
Elaine's daughter found the template and recognized the pattern when the report against Grace was filed."
Nathan set his phone on the table.
"She's been feeding me information."
"She wants to testify," Daniel said.
"She has documentation."
"Then let her," Nathan said.
His phone rang.
The screen said VICTORIA.
Everyone in the room looked at it.
Nathan answered it and put it on speaker.
"Victoria."
"Where are you?" Her voice was controlled but tight at the edges.
"With my attorney."
"Nathan, this has gone far enough.
My father is prepared to make this very simple.
Drop the DNA claim.
Sign a statement confirming the trust amendment was obtained under duress.
We proceed with the wedding as planned, and the police report against the woman disappears by end of day."
Grace's jaw tightened.
She said nothing.
"And Lily?" Nathan asked.
A pause.
"The child would be provided for.
Financially.
Discreetly."
"Provided for."
"Nathan, be reasonable.
You have a company to run.
You have relationships that have taken decades to build.
You have a life.
Do not throw it away for a woman who hid your child from you and a little girl you met two days ago."
Nathan looked at Lily across the table.
She was eating a muffin with great concentration, apparently indifferent to the conversation.
"I met her two days ago," Nathan said.
"She already trusts me more than your family has in ten years." He picked up the phone.
"Don't call this number again."
He ended the call.
Patricia was already on her feet.
"I'm filing now." She gathered the documents.
"The warrant execution is on hold pending the injunction — I got confirmation twelve minutes ago.
You have time." She looked at Nathan.
"The DNA appointment.
Don't be late."
Nathan looked at Grace.
Grace looked at Lily.
"Finish your muffin," Grace said.
Lily took one more careful bite.
Then she slid off the chair and came to stand beside Nathan, reaching up without looking to find his hand.
He took it.
Outside, a car pulled up to the curb.
Through the window, Nathan saw Richard Hargrove step out, straighten his jacket, and look up at the building.
"He came himself," Daniel said quietly.
"Yes," Nathan said.
"He's worried."
Richard Hargrove had not personally visited an attorney's office in eleven years.
Nathan knew this because his father had told him once, admiringly, that Richard never went anywhere he didn't control.
He was here.
That meant he didn't control this yet.
May you like
Nathan turned away from the window.
"Let's go out the back."
