Chapter 14 - Grant Mercer’s Last Chance
After the announcement, Grant contacted me.
I almost ignored him.
Almost.
But something in his message made me answer.
"I know where Marcus keeps the original files."
I met him in a secure location.
Not because I trusted him.
Because I needed information.
Grant looked different.
Broken.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
The man who once stood beside me in that hotel lobby looked like someone who finally understood what he had done.
“I was wrong.”
I said nothing.
“I thought Marcus was giving me power.”
A bitter smile appeared.
“He was never giving me power.”
He looked at me.
“He was giving me enough rope to destroy myself.”
Grant explained everything.
Marcus approached him years earlier.
He knew Grant felt inferior inside the Kingsley family.
He knew Grant wanted respect.
Control.
A name that belonged to him.
Marcus offered him exactly that.
But the real plan was never to make Grant powerful.
It was to make him disposable.
“When this was over,” Grant said, “Marcus planned to blame everything on me.”
I believed him.
Not because I forgave him.
Because it matched Marcus’s pattern.
Use people.
Destroy people.
Replace people.
Grant handed me a drive.
“The original files.”
I looked at it.
“Why help me?”
His eyes lowered.
“Because Ellie deserves better than me.”
That was the first honest thing he had said in years.
But honesty did not erase betrayal.
“I hope you understand something, Grant.”
He looked up.
“You may help save Ellie.”
A pause.
“But you still have to answer for what you did.”
May you like
He nodded.
Because he knew I was right.
