Chapter 6 - BOX 418
The key belonged to a private bank vault.
Box 418.
The account was in Vivian's name alone.
Brooks obtained an emergency warrant.
Grant went with her.
Rosa stayed at the hospital.
So did Thomas.
That worried her.
She refused to leave Vivian's floor.
At the bank, Box 418 contained no jewelry.
No cash.
Only documents.
Corporate ledgers.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten note.
Grant,
If anything happens to me, don't trust the first story you hear.
Brooks opened the ledger.
Holloway Biotech had been transferring millions to consulting firms.
The firms did not exist.
The approvals carried Nathan Cole's signature.
And Thomas Mercer's.
"Thomas isn't part of the company."
"He is through a foundation."
The Mercer Medical Foundation had received nearly twelve million dollars over four years.
Grant whispered, "Vivian was investigating her own father."
The flash drive contained audio.
Vivian's voice.
Then Thomas.
"You don't understand what this family survives because of me."
Vivian replied, "You stole from my company."
"I redirected money."
"You forged grants."
"Lower your voice."
"I'm going to the board."
Thomas said something colder.
"You do that and you destroy Elise too."
The recording stopped.
"How?"
They found the answer in the next file.
Elise had signed several transfers.
Maybe knowingly.
Maybe not.
Back at the hospital, Rosa noticed Adrian Mercer approaching Vivian's room with a syringe in his hand.
"What's that?"
"Medication."
"Which medication?"
"Rosa, please."
She blocked the doorway.
"The nurse didn't call you."
"You are a maid."
"And you're not getting near her with that."
No security guard.
Then he grabbed Rosa's shoulder and shoved her aside.
She hit the wall.
The syringe slipped from his hand.
It shattered.
A nurse screamed.
Security ran toward them.
Adrian raised both hands.
"This isn't what it looks like."
May you like
A label rolled across the floor.
The same paralytic found in Vivian's blood.
