Chapter 6
Nathan spoke to the board before Charles could begin the vote.
I sat at the back of the room beside Daniel. Lily was home with my mother. Nathan had asked me to come, and this time I wanted to hear every word.
He admitted approving Northbridge payments without examining the work behind them. He told the directors that his father had concealed my pregnancy and that Charles had helped prepare a custody claim against me.
Then he showed them the records Daniel had gathered.
Charles interrupted twice. Nathan let him finish each time, then went on.
“I can’t ask you to trust me because of my name,” Nathan said. “I’m asking you to examine what I signed and what I was told. If my negligence warrants removal, make that decision after the review.”
The room stayed quiet.
Charles rose.
“My daughter is being questioned over an accident in a kitchen. Nathan is turning private family pain into a public attack on this company.”
I felt my shoulder ache at the word accident.
Nathan looked directly at him.
“Victoria swung a stick at Grace while Grace covered our daughter. I was there.”
Charles’s face went red. “Be careful.”
“I am being careful. For the first time.”
One of the directors asked Charles about the preschool order. He claimed it was routine background work. Another asked why his office had paid a stranger to sign a custody complaint. Charles said he had no knowledge of it.
Daniel slid a bank record across the table.
I could see the directors’ expressions change. They voted to suspend Charles from his board position while an independent investigation continued. They postponed the vote on Nathan until the review was complete.
Nathan came to me afterward.
“I don’t know if I’ll keep the job.”
“I know.”
His eyes searched mine. “I needed you to hear me tell the truth.”
“I did.”
We had only a few minutes together before Ramirez called. Ellen Brooks had identified the Northbridge employee who approached her. He had promised the forms would never be used against a real family.
The employee, Peter Hall, had agreed to speak with police.
At the station, Ramirez explained that Hall said he received the assignment from Victoria. She had provided my name and Lily’s details. Charles’s office had paid the bill, though Hall said he never met Charles.
Victoria’s lawyer had already warned him not to believe Hall.
“I don’t expect this to end quickly,” Ramirez told us. “But his account helps establish how the false report was made.”
“What about the hockey stick?” I asked.
“We have your medical records and Nathan’s statement. I’ll speak with the prosecutor after I finish the interviews.”
I left with more hope than I had brought in.
It lasted until we reached the apartment.
My mother stood outside the building with Lily in her arms. Two police cars were parked at the curb.
I ran.
“She’s all right,” my mother said before I could ask. “Someone pulled the fire alarm. We came straight out.”
No fire had been found. A maintenance worker had seen a man leave the stairwell. He could not describe him clearly.
Lily buried her face against my neck. “I thought I left Bear upstairs.”
“We’ll get Bear.”
Nathan took off his coat and wrapped it around her. She let him.
Ramirez sent an officer to check the building. We waited in the lobby until he said it was safe to go back. The alarm might have had nothing to do with us, but after the preschool order, none of us wanted to guess.
Daniel found us another place for the night. My mother came too.
Lily fell asleep between her grandmother and me. Nathan stayed in a chair by the door until I told him to go rest. He shook his head.
“You can sleep,” I said.
“I will when she does.”
“She is sleeping.”
He glanced at Lily. “I know.”
I understood what he meant.
The next day, the company reviewer contacted Nathan. They had found records showing that Northbridge billed Charles’s family business for some of the same work it charged to Nathan’s company.
“They charged both sides,” Nathan told me. “Charles paid to follow you, and my company paid to keep me from seeing why.”
We sat at the little kitchen table while Lily built a tower in the next room.
“Does it help?” I asked.
“It shows Charles directed more than he admits.”
Nathan’s phone rang before he could say more. He listened, then put it on speaker so I could hear Daniel.
Victoria had requested a meeting with prosecutors. She was willing to describe the agreement between the families.
“What changed?” I asked.
“Charles left her to answer for the false report alone,” Daniel said.
Nathan closed his eyes. “Will they believe her?”
“They’ll check every claim against the records.”
That evening, Victoria’s lawyer delivered a message through Daniel. Victoria wanted to speak to Nathan before she gave her statement.
Nathan refused to meet privately. He agreed to hear anything she said with her lawyer, Daniel, and investigators present.
I was relieved, though I knew what he might hear would hurt.
The meeting took place the following morning. I waited with my mother in another room. When Nathan came out, he looked exhausted.
“She said my father promised Charles control of the company after I married her,” he told me. “But only if Lily never became part of my life.”
“What did Victoria know about us?”
“She knew you had a daughter. She knew Lily was mine.”
I pressed my hands together to stop them shaking.
May you like
Nathan sat beside me.
“She said she recognized Lily the first day she came to the house with you.”
