Chapter 19 - GRACE HOLLOWAY
Grace Holloway was alive.
She lived in Oregon under the name Grace Hart.
Federal agents found her teaching accounting at a community college.
She did not run.
When shown Emily’s photograph, she cried.
Grace was Elizabeth’s niece.
Emily’s cousin.
And years earlier, she worked as a junior analyst for Alder.
At first, she believed Alder was legitimate.
Estate restructuring.
Crisis management.
Family governance.
Then she understood what certain members were doing.
Manufacturing incapacity.
Manipulating heirs.
Moving assets.
She left.
Emily helped her disappear.
That was why Emily lied about Grace.
Not to hide Alder from me.
To hide Grace from Alder.
“Did Nathan know?”
I asked.
“Eventually.”
“Did you work with him?”
“For six months.”
“Did you pay him?”
“No.”
“Did he pay you?”
Grace looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To identify vulnerable families.”
My stomach turned.
“How many?”
“Three.”
“What happened to them?”
She cried.
“I don’t know.”
That answer was not enough for prosecutors.
But it was enough to explain the payment my father discovered.
Nathan used Grace before she defected.
Emily learned about it.
Grace became one of her sources.
Then Grace told us why Emily’s investigation became urgent.
Alder wanted Cole Development.
Not just Eli’s trust.
Our real estate portfolio contained redevelopment rights across several cities.
Control worth billions.
Nathan offered them access.
In return, they would help him remove me.
Emily found the agreement.
My father found pieces.
Sarah found the financial network.
Each person had one part.
Nobody had the whole picture.
Until now.
Grace had kept the original partnership draft.
Nathan’s signature.
Caldwell’s.
Two Alder executives.
The document tied everything together.
Fraud.
Guardianship strategy.
Corporate takeover.
Medical manipulation.
It did not prove murder.
The crash recordings did that better.
But it proved motive.
For the first time, prosecutors believed they had enough.
Nathan’s trial began six months later.
I testified.
So did Claire.
Sarah.
Marcus.
Gavin.
Caldwell.
Larkin.
Elizabeth.
Vanessa.
Nathan watched all of us.
He rarely reacted.
Until Eli’s name came up.
Then he smiled.
My attorney warned me not to look at him.
I did anyway.
During a recess, Nathan passed within twenty feet of me surrounded by marshals.
He stopped.
“You won.”
I said nothing.
“Congratulations.”
I kept walking.
Then he said,
“Emily would still be dead.”
I stopped.
That was what he wanted.
I turned.
Nathan smiled.
“You can put me in prison for fifty years.”
“You can take the company.”
“You can pretend Claire is some replacement.”
“She still died thinking you didn’t believe her.”
The words found the deepest wound.
He knew they would.
For one second, I wanted to cross the hallway and destroy him.
Then I remembered my father.
Emily.
Eli.
Nathan’s entire life was built on making other people responsible for his choices.
I refused to give him mine.
“You’re right.”
His smile faltered.
“I can’t change what Emily thought in her final weeks.”
“I can only live differently because of what she taught me.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“And Claire isn’t replacing her.”
“She never tried.”
I walked away.
That evening, Claire found me outside the courthouse.
“You okay?”
“No.”
She nodded.
“Good answer.”
I almost smiled.
“He said Emily died thinking I didn’t believe her.”
Claire was silent.
“Maybe she did.”
I looked at her.
Claire did not lie to comfort me.
That was why I trusted her.
“But she also left you every road back to the truth.”
“She knew you would follow them.”
“That sounds like belief to me.”
The jury deliberated eight days.
Nathan was convicted on racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, obstruction, attempted kidnapping, attempted murder relating to Elizabeth, conspiracy surrounding Emily’s crash, and multiple financial crimes.
The homicide count was more complicated.
Prosecutors charged felony murder and depraved-indifference murder under alternate theories.
The jury convicted on the lesser supported homicide offense available under the case instructions connected to his reckless and deliberate delay in obtaining aid after participating in the sabotage conspiracy.
He would spend decades in prison regardless.
When the verdict was read, Nathan looked at me.
No apology.
No regret.
Only disbelief.
Consequences had finally reached him.
Then, as marshals took him away, a courthouse officer ran toward Sloan.
A fire had started in the evidence annex.
Alder evidence.
Someone was destroying it.
The trial had ended.
May you like
The larger war had not.
And Claire was already inside the annex.
