Chapter 7 - The Trusted Guard.
Thomas Grant had protected Ethan’s family for nine years.
He had driven Amelia to chemotherapy appointments.
He had installed Sophie’s first baby monitor.
He had stood outside the church during Amelia’s funeral.
Now he was inside Sophie’s room without permission.
Ethan called the police.
Then he accessed the mansion intercom remotely.
“Thomas.”
The man on the camera froze.
“Step away from my daughter’s desk.”
Thomas looked directly toward the camera.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then he removed his earpiece.
“I wondered when you’d figure it out.”
Ethan’s voice became hard.
“Police are coming.”
“I know.”
Thomas walked toward the nursery.
“What are you looking for?”
“The same thing everyone is looking for.”
“The key is gone.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you there?”
Thomas stopped beneath the empty blue star compartment.
“Because Amelia hid more than one secret.”
Ethan felt his pulse accelerate.
“What secret?”
Thomas reached into the wall cavity.
His fingers disappeared behind the wood.
Then he pulled out a thin memory card.
Ethan had never seen it.
Thomas smiled toward the camera.
“Goodbye, Ethan.”
He ran.
Police arrived five minutes later.
Thomas escaped through the service road.
His betrayal hit Ethan harder than Richard’s.
Richard had been an enemy pretending to be a friend.
Thomas had been family.
Daniel listened as Ethan explained what happened.
“He was Pierce’s man.”
“For nine years?”
“Maybe longer.”
Nora looked devastated.
“How many people did Malcolm control?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“As many as he needed.”
The memory card became the next priority.
Amelia must have hidden it behind the blue star separately from the key.
Perhaps she believed one secret might survive if the other was found.
Ethan began reviewing every recording from the flash drive.
Most concerned financial transfers.
One contained Daniel’s full testimony.
Another showed Amelia speaking with someone off camera.
The voice belonged to Malcolm Pierce.
Ethan increased the volume.
“I’m asking you to reconsider,” Malcolm said.
“I already have.”
“You’re putting Ethan in a dangerous position.”
“No, Malcolm.”
Amelia sounded weak but determined.
“I’m protecting him.”
“You have no idea what Richard can do.”
“I know exactly what Richard can do.”
There was a pause.
Then Malcolm said something chilling.
“You have a daughter to think about.”
The recording ended.
Ethan replayed it.
Again.
Again.
Amelia had been threatened.
Maybe indirectly.
But threatened.
Sophie sat across the hospital lounge drawing while the adults talked.
Suddenly she looked up.
“Mr. Thomas knew Mommy.”
Everyone turned.
Ethan knelt beside her.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Sophie shook her head.
“I mean before.”
“Before what?”
“Before we lived in the big house.”
Ethan stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Mommy showed me a picture.”
“What picture?”
Sophie thought carefully.
“A picnic.”
“Where?”
“In her green book.”
Ethan exchanged looks with Nora.
Amelia’s journal.
They returned to the bank and examined it page by page.
Near the back, a photograph was tucked between two sheets.
It showed Amelia at twenty-two.
She was standing beside several university friends.
One of them was Thomas.
Another was Malcolm Pierce.
And behind them stood Richard Vale.
Ethan’s hands tightened around the photograph.
They had all known each other.
Long before Ethan.
Long before Celeste.
Long before Sophie.
Nora turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
Yale Financial Ethics Conference, 2007.
Pierce Foundation Scholarship Group.
Daniel stared at it.
“Malcolm recruited them.”
“Who?”
“All of them.”
Daniel pointed toward the young faces.
“Amelia.”
“Thomas.”
“Richard.”
“Possibly Celeste later.”
Ethan felt a terrible new possibility forming.
“What was Malcolm recruiting them for?”
Daniel leaned against the table.
“People like Pierce don’t start with crimes.”
“They start with loyalty.”
“And once someone owes them enough, they start asking for favors.”
Ethan looked at Amelia’s younger face.
Had she once trusted Malcolm too?
Then Sophie pointed at a man standing at the far edge of the photograph.
“Daddy.”
Ethan looked closer.
“What?”
“That man came to our house.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Ethan’s stomach tightened.
“Before I came home?”
Sophie nodded.
“He talked to Celeste.”
Ethan enlarged the photograph.
The man was young there.
But recognizable.
Daniel saw him and whispered.
“Oh, God.”
“Who is he?”
May you like
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Malcolm Pierce’s son.”
