Chapter 5 - Terms of Protection
Graham Vale looked at Olivia as if her name had opened a door he had spent years trying to keep locked.
“You knew my mother,” she said.
“Many people knew Claire.”
“Did you?”
“She was employed by my brother.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Adrian’s gaze moved to his uncle. “Why are you here?”
“To remind you that the board meeting is tomorrow.”
“Then consider me reminded.”
Graham tapped his cane against the floor. “The Harbor Renewal vote cannot be delayed again. Investors are getting nervous.”
Olivia opened the folder Adrian had given her. Inside were old financial summaries, each page stamped with the Vale Meridian seal. Several names had been blacked out.
“Why is Northline’s current proposal built around land purchased by Vale Meridian in 1998?” she asked.
Graham’s smile returned. “Because the land is valuable.”
“The families displaced from that neighborhood were promised ownership shares.”
“Promised by whom?”
“By the original project.”
“Original promises are not always enforceable.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened. “Leave.”
Graham glanced at him. “You always did mistake anger for authority.”
After he left, Olivia shut the folder. “You knew about the ownership shares.”
“I knew there were unresolved claims.”
“And you’re still moving forward?”
“I’m trying to stop Graham from selling the entire district to a private consortium.”
“By letting him use your company’s name?”
“By keeping control long enough to find the original records.”
Olivia stood. “I’m not becoming part of a billionaire family feud.”
“You already are.”
“That’s convenient for you.”
“It’s dangerous for you.”
“Then stop deciding what I need.”
Adrian’s expression softened. “What do you need?”
“Access to the records. Legal protection at work. And no one following me.”
“I can arrange two of those.”
“Which two?”
“The records and protection.”
“Then arrange all three.”
“I can’t promise no one will follow you.”
“Why not?”
“Because someone followed you before you met me.”
That stopped her.
Adrian slid a photograph across the table. It showed Olivia leaving Northline two days earlier. In the background, a gray van waited across the street.
“How long?” she asked.
“At least a week.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was verifying it.”
“You don’t get to keep me ignorant because you’re investigating.”
“You’re right.”
The simple admission unsettled her more than an argument would have.
“I want a lawyer of my own,” Olivia said.
“I’ll give you three names. You choose.”
“And I want my promotion reinstated based on my work, not your influence.”
“Agreed.”
“You agree quickly.”
“You negotiate well.”
“I’m not negotiating with you.”
“Not yet.”
Heat moved through her despite herself. She hated that it did.
That evening, Olivia met Adrian’s recommended attorney, Naomi Chen, in a coffee shop overlooking Pike Place. Naomi was direct, sharp, and completely unimpressed by Adrian’s wealth.
“You can accept protection without surrendering control,” Naomi said. “But you must document every communication with Northline and Vale Meridian.”
“Can he really protect my job?”
“He can make your employer afraid of a lawsuit. That isn’t the same as earning your promotion.”
“Good.”
“You want to earn it.”
“I want no one to say I received it because I slept with him.”
Naomi studied her. “Does he know that?”
“He knows.”
When Olivia returned home to the small apartment she had rented under her own name, a package waited outside the door. Inside was the silver bracelet from Claire’s cedar box, though Olivia had left it locked in her car.
There was also a note.
Your mother did not run away. She was made to disappear.
May you like
On the back, in a different hand, someone had added:
Ask Adrian what happened the night his father died.
