Chapter 13 - THE NIGHT JULIA DIED
Alexander turned toward Nathan.
No one moved.
Nathan’s face had gone pale.
“Tell me.”
Nathan looked toward the federal agents.
“This isn’t the place.”
Alexander grabbed his brother by the jacket.
“Tell me now.”
Nathan pushed his hands away.
“I tampered with her car.”
The words landed harder than any punch.
Alexander stepped back.
Sarah covered her mouth.
Nathan continued before Alexander could attack him.
“Not the brakes.”
“What did you do?”
“I installed a tracker.”
Alexander stared.
Julia died after her car left the road during heavy rain.
Investigators found no mechanical failure.
Nathan had always claimed Grey caused the crash.
Now his actions were connected.
“Why?”
“Julia stopped trusting me.”
“So you tracked her?”
“She had the drive.”
Alexander’s anger exploded.
He hit Nathan hard enough to send him into the wall.
Agents pulled them apart.
Nathan shouted, “I was trying to protect her.”
Alexander laughed bitterly.
“Everyone who destroys my family says that.”
Nathan admitted he placed a tracker and remote diagnostic module inside Julia’s car.
He wanted to follow her movements.
Then someone accessed that module remotely the night she died.
Nathan believed they interfered with steering assist.
He had no proof.
He deleted evidence afterward because it would implicate him.
“You hid the only trail that might have led to her killer.”
Nathan lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Alexander wanted to hit him again.
Instead, Sarah played Julia’s final recovered audio.
It began with rain.
Windshield wipers.
Julia speaking to someone through the car system.
A woman.
Director Grey.
Julia said, “Lucas told me what happened to him.”
Grey answered, “Lucas tells stories.”
“He remembers everything.”
“That is unfortunate.”
Alexander leaned closer.
Julia continued.
“He remembers you, Eleanor.”
There it was.
Confirmation.
Director Grey was Eleanor Greyson.
The woman’s voice hardened.
“You should have stayed out of the archive.”
Julia answered, “Alexander will know by morning.”
Then another voice entered the call.
Male.
Lucas.
“Julia, pull over.”
Julia sounded surprised.
“Lucas?”
“Pull over now.”
The audio distorted.
Warning alarms.
Julia gasped.
Lucas shouted, “Eleanor, stop!”
Then impact.
Silence.
Alexander stared at the waveform.
Lucas had been on the call.
Maybe he tried to save Julia.
Or maybe he was part of it.
The recording did not prove enough.
But it proved Eleanor was alive four years earlier.
Federal agents located an old identity connected to Greyson.
Dr. Eleanor Gray.
Age seventy-one.
Retired neuroscientist.
No current address.
A photograph showed a poised older woman.
Henry saw it and immediately hid behind Alexander.
“Her.”
Alexander’s blood went cold.
“She came to the house?”
Henry nodded.
“When?”
“With Rebecca.”
“Did she hurt you?”
Henry shook his head.
“She watched.”
“What did she say?”
Henry whispered, “She said I looked like Lucas.”
Alexander looked at Nathan.
Eleanor Greyson had personally observed Henry.
That meant the boy mattered beyond research.
Maybe succession.
Maybe inheritance inside Meridian.
Sarah uncovered another file explaining why.
Meridian’s leadership structure required family continuity.
Not legal inheritance.
Psychological continuity.
Grey selected successors from descendants of original founders.
Lucas was the leading candidate.
Henry was a future reserve.
Alexander felt sick.
His son had been born into an invisible competition he never knew existed.
Then his phone rang.
Rebecca Stone had been captured.
She had tried to cross into Mexico using a false passport.
Alexander immediately flew to the federal facility where she was held.
Rebecca looked tired but composed.
He entered the interview room.
She smiled faintly.
“You turned the plane around.”
Alexander sat opposite her.
“You hit my son.”
Her smile disappeared.
“You drugged him.”
“I followed protocol.”
“You forced medicine into a six-year-old child.”
Rebecca looked away.
Alexander leaned closer.
“Where is Eleanor?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Lucas?”
No answer.
“Who killed Julia?”
Rebecca finally looked at him.
“Wrong question.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“What’s the right one?”
May you like
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“Why did Julia choose Henry over you?”
