Chapter 13 - FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
The board vote was forty-eight hours away.
Mia’s due date was still seven weeks away.
Grant remained missing.
And now they knew a second recording of the foyer attack might exist.
Cybersecurity specialists analyzed the transmitter.
It had sent data through a private cellular relay.
They traced the relay to a server in the Cayman Islands.
Court orders moved slowly.
Too slowly.
Evelyn found another route.
The server provider maintained a U.S. backup node.
By midnight, investigators had a mirror copy.
Thousands of audio files.
Most were surveillance of Mia.
Conversations with Noah.
Doctors.
Friends.
Even private moments inside their bedroom.
Mia nearly became sick.
“He listened to us.”
Noah closed the laptop.
“We don’t have to hear the rest.”
“Yes, we do.”
“Mia.”
“We hear whatever helps end this.”
They searched by timestamp.
Golden Foyer.
9:17 p.m.
The file played.
Scarlett:
“You have no idea what you’re carrying into this family.”
Mia:
“A baby.”
Scarlett:
“A trigger.”
Mia:
“For what?”
Scarlett:
“Everything my father built.”
Mia:
“He stole it.”
Silence.
Scarlett:
“What?”
Mia:
“Dr. Parker’s name is in the old Hale records.”
Scarlett:
“Stop.”
Mia:
“No.”
Scarlett:
“You don’t understand.”
Mia:
“Then explain it.”
Scarlett:
“Walk away from Noah.”
Mia:
“No.”
Scarlett:
“Walk away before the baby comes.”
Mia:
“Is that what your father told you?”
Then movement.
Fabric.
A sharp breath.
Scarlett:
“Don’t say his name.”
Mia:
“Grant Vale.”
A sound.
Mia falling.
Then silence.
Scarlett’s breathing.
Noah entering.
The recording was devastating.
Not only did it prove Scarlett shoved Mia.
It proved motive connected to Grant.
Police charged Scarlett with aggravated assault.
She did not resist.
She cried only when Mia entered the courtroom for the preliminary hearing.
Not because she expected forgiveness.
Because seeing Mia alive meant Scarlett had not become exactly what her father had prepared her to become.
Grant’s location remained unknown.
Then Rosalie Dean was arrested.
She had been hiding inside a motel forty miles away.
Unlike Parker, Rosie cooperated almost immediately.
She had worked for Grant for nine years.
He paid her to become useful to Mia.
Not suspicious.
Useful.
She first met Mia through the gallery deliberately.
Every promotion.
Every friendship.
Every act of kindness had been engineered.
Mia listened through a one-way window.
Rosie cried throughout the interview.
“I liked her.”
The detective stared.
“You surveilled her.”
“I know.”
“You gave Grant private recordings.”
“I know.”
“You helped falsify medical information.”
“I didn’t know about that at first.”
“At first?”
Rosie covered her face.
“I kept telling myself it wasn’t dangerous.”
Mia turned away.
That sentence hurt more than expected.
Almost every betrayal in the case had been built on someone telling themselves the same lie.
I didn’t know.
I was afraid.
I was protecting my family.
I thought someone else would stop it.
Rosie provided Grant’s emergency contact method.
An encrypted number.
Investigators traced its last signal.
Downtown.
Near Hale Meridian headquarters.
Grant had not fled.
He was staying close.
Watching the board vote approach.
Why?
Because he still believed he could win.
The answer arrived the next morning.
Police came for Noah.
A federal warrant alleged obstruction of justice and destruction of corporate records.
The evidence appeared strong.
Someone had used Noah’s credentials to delete archived pension documents.
Evelyn was furious.
“It’s planted.”
But until forensic teams proved it, Noah would be questioned.
Reporters watched him leave his home with investigators.
Hale Meridian stock collapsed another twelve percent.
Board members panicked.
The vote moved forward.
If Noah remained under investigation, Grant’s allies could remove him.
Mia stood at the federal residence watching television coverage.
Seven months pregnant.
Her husband being escorted through a wall of cameras.
Scarlett in custody.
Adrian under investigation.
Lena missing again.
Grant free.
For the first time, it looked like he might actually win.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then Grant Vale spoke.
“You should have left when Scarlett told you.”
Mia froze.
“You’re finished.”
Grant laughed softly.
“No, Mrs. Hale.”
His voice became colder.
“Your husband is finished.”
The call disconnected.
Seconds later, Mia felt something tighten painfully across her abdomen.
Then again.
She looked down.
A dark stain spread across her clothing.
The baby was coming.
May you like
Seven weeks early.
And Noah was forty miles away in federal custody.
