Chapter 10 - Caroline Was NextThe recording lasted eleven minutes.
County detention clothes did that.
So did locked doors.
I sat across from him behind thick glass.
Detective Kim had warned me not to ask investigative questions.
Grant’s attorney objected to the meeting.
Grant insisted.
He wanted me there.
I knew why.
He still believed there was a version of us that could be restored if he explained himself correctly.
He was wrong.
He picked up the phone.
I did too.
For several seconds, we stared at each other.
Then he smiled faintly.
“You look tired.”
I almost hung up.
“You asked me here.”
His smile disappeared.
“I need you to understand.”
“No.”
“Julian—”
“I didn’t come to understand you.”
“Then why come?”
“To see whether you can say her name.”
His jaw tightened.
“Emma.”
The sound of my wife’s name in his mouth made me nauseous.
“What did you do?”
He looked toward the camera.
“You know I can’t discuss details.”
“You asked for this meeting.”
“I asked because I wanted to tell you it wasn’t what they’re making it look like.”
“What does it look like?”
He leaned forward.
“Like I killed her.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Fast.
Confident.
Almost offended.
I said nothing.
Grant continued.
“I was trying to stop her from exposing the accounts before I had time to repair them.”
“Repair theft?”
“I borrowed money.”
“Eleven million dollars.”
“I planned to put it back.”
“With what?”
He looked away.
I laughed.
He hated being laughed at.
His face hardened.
“You think you built that company alone?”
There it was.
The grievance underneath everything.
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“I gave you twenty percent.”
“I built half the relationships.”
“And stole from all of them.”
“You made every decision.”
“Because I was CEO.”
“Because Dad left you the controlling shares.”
“No. Dad died before Sterling Developments existed.”
Grant stopped.
He knew that.
Our father left us two small commercial properties.
I built the company afterward.
But resentment does not require accurate history.
It only requires repetition.
“You always got credit,” Grant said.
“You always had the better instincts, the better deals, the wife everyone loved, the magazine covers.”
I stared.
“Emma died.”
His face changed.
Only slightly.
“I know.”
“And you’re jealous of the life that ended with me holding my dead wife’s hand?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what?”
Grant sighed.
“I made bad investments.”
“So you stole.”
“Yes.”
The admission shocked me.
Maybe jail had stripped away performance.
“Emma found out.”
“Yes.”
“You went to the hospital before I called you.”
He looked down.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To talk to her.”
“She was in labor.”
“I knew.”
“You wanted to pressure my pregnant wife while she was giving birth?”
“I wanted her to wait.”
“For what?”
“For me to fix things.”
“She refused.”
Grant’s silence answered.
“What did you do at the terminal?”
His eyes lifted.
“I changed a medication order.”
My heart stopped.
There it was.
No ambiguity.
No recording.
No euphemism.
My brother.
My wife.
His voice.
“What medication?”
“My lawyer told me not to discuss specifics.”
I almost laughed.
“You already admitted it.”
“I didn’t think it would kill her.”
The world narrowed.
“What did you think it would do?”
“Delay the procedure.”
“Why?”
“I thought if there were complications, you’d be too focused on Emma and Leo to look at company records.”
For a second, my mind rejected the words.
“You caused complications on purpose?”
“I thought it would be minor.”
I stood.
Grant pressed closer to the glass.
“Julian, listen.”
I stayed standing.
“I didn’t know she’d hemorrhage.”
“You interfered with her medical care.”
“I made one change.”
“You made one change?”
My voice rose.
Guards looked over.
Grant continued desperately.
“I reversed it.”
“Nineteen minutes later.”
“Yes.”
“After what?”
“I panicked.”
“Because she was dying?”
“No! I didn’t know that yet.”
I closed my eyes.
Emma scared.
Emma apologizing.
Emma saying she was cold.
Doctors rushing.
Me unable to understand why everything was happening so fast.
Grant somewhere in the same hospital.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then arriving later and pretending he had just gotten there.
“You held Leo,” I whispered.
“What?”
“After she died.”
Grant looked confused.
“You held him.”
I remembered handing my newborn son to Grant because I couldn’t stop shaking.
My brother took Leo.
Told me he would protect us.
I felt sick.
“You held my son hours after you tampered with the medication that helped kill his mother.”
Grant’s face twisted.
“I didn’t kill Emma.”
“Say it however you need to sleep.”
“I loved her.”
“No.”
“You know I did.”
“No.”
I leaned toward the glass.
“You loved how she looked standing next to our family at Christmas. You loved that she made us look whole. You loved that she laughed at your jokes.”
My voice dropped.
“But love that disappears the second somebody threatens your money isn’t love.”
Grant’s eyes filled.
For one stupid second, that hurt me.
He was still my brother.
Blood is cruel that way.
It can make you mourn someone who is sitting alive in front of you.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
I stared at him.
“I believe you.”
He looked surprised.
Maybe relieved.
Then I continued.
“I believe you’re sorry you got caught.”
He flinched.
I put down the phone.
Grant shouted through the glass.
I couldn’t hear him.
I walked out.
In the hallway, Sarah waited.
“You okay?”
“No.”
She nodded.
Fair answer.
“He admitted enough?”
“More than enough.”
Grant’s conversation had been conducted according to legal agreements with counsel present elsewhere. The details would become part of negotiations.
I didn’t care about the mechanics.
I cared that Emma had not simply been unlucky.
Someone made a choice.
A selfish, stupid, calculated choice.
And she paid for it.
The next several weeks blurred.
Grant eventually pleaded guilty to a series of financial crimes and charges tied to unlawful interference with medical systems. Prosecutors pursued the strongest available homicide-related charge permitted by the evidence.
His attorneys argued he never intended Emma to die.
Prosecutors argued intention did not erase responsibility.
I let them fight.
I had another responsibility.
Leo.
His first birthday arrived six weeks later.
We had no ballroom.
No reporters.
No elaborate event.
Teresa baked a crooked cake.
Caroline brought balloons.
Daniel bought Leo a wooden train set he was far too young to appreciate.
For one hour, my house felt like a home again.
Then the doorbell rang.
Teresa looked at me.
“You expecting someone?”
“No.”
I opened the door.
Victoria stood outside.
She looked thinner.
No designer coat.
No jewelry.
She held a small wrapped box.
“I know I shouldn’t be here.”
I said nothing.
“I just wanted to leave this for Leo.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“Julian—”
“You don’t get to arrive because it’s his birthday.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know.”
“You don’t get to decide you miss him.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to use him to feel forgiven.”
“I’m not asking for forgiveness.”
“Then what are you asking for?”
“Nothing.”
She put the gift on the porch.
“I’m leaving Boston.”
I stared.
“Where?”
“Seattle.”
“Why?”
“I testified. I gave prosecutors everything. I sold my apartment to repay what I could from Grant’s money.”
“That doesn’t erase anything.”
“I know.”
She looked past me.
Leo laughed somewhere inside.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Pain crossed her face.
Real pain.
For once, I didn’t care whether it was real.
“I loved him,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“Maybe.”
She nodded through tears.
“That’s fair.”
She started down the steps.
Then stopped.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Grant lied to you about one thing.”
My jaw tightened.
“What now?”
“He didn’t come up with the emergency guardianship plan.”
“Who did?”
Victoria looked ashamed.
“I did.”
The answer hit differently than everything before it.
“Why would you tell me that now?”
“Because if you’re going to heal, you need the whole truth.”
She wiped her cheek.
“At first, I thought if I controlled Leo’s guardianship, I could keep Grant from putting him with someone worse.”
“After stealing his inheritance?”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“I was still thinking like a criminal while convincing myself I was protecting him.”
At least she understood it.
“Then I realized there was no version of the plan that didn’t hurt you both.”
“When?”
“The morning of the wedding.”
I laughed bitterly.
“A little late.”
“Yes.”
She reached into her purse.
“There’s one more recording.”
She handed me a small flash drive.
“I never gave this to police because it isn’t evidence of a crime.”
“What is it?”
“Grant talking about Caroline.”
I looked at her.
“What about her?”
Victoria’s face tightened.
“He wasn’t only trying to take your company.”
May you like
A chill moved through me.
“He was planning to destroy your sister too.”
