Chapter 13 - The Office Behind the Office
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Grant had not vanished from the country.
Not yet.
Investigators tracked his car to a private storage facility outside the city.
Dominic did not go.
He wanted to.
Rachel stopped him.
“This belongs to law enforcement now.”
For once, Dominic listened.
A warrant was obtained.
Inside Grant’s rented unit were boxes.
Dozens.
Old trust statements.
Property files.
Corporate seals.
And a second set of accounting ledgers.
The secret books.
The ones never shown to beneficiaries.
The forensic team worked overnight.
The total suspected diversion climbed beyond sixty million dollars.
Some losses were paper transactions that could be reversed.
Some assets were still recoverable.
Some money was gone.
But the most important discovery was not financial.
It was a folder labeled:
S.V.
Sofia Valero.
Inside were copies of her emails.
Photographs of her entering Julia Mason’s law office.
Notes describing her requests for records.
Grant had been monitoring her investigation.
Dominic stared at the file.
Rachel spoke carefully.
“This proves surveillance.”
“Not involvement in her accident.”
“I know.”
Dominic looked at her.
She kept repeating that because she knew where grief could drag him.
There was still no evidence Grant caused Sofia’s death.
Dominic accepted that.
He would not use tragedy to manufacture another accusation.
The truth was already terrible.
Grant knew Sofia had found him.
He tracked her.
He intercepted her original red-clause notice after her death.
Then months later, he recruited Celeste to gain Lily’s proxy before the trust shifted beyond his reach.
That was enough.
Then investigators found a recording device inside the storage unit.
Not hidden.
Cataloged.
Grant apparently recorded business meetings for years.
One file was dated three months earlier.
Celeste’s voice:
“I’m not putting dog food near a baby.”
Grant:
“You don’t need to hurt her.”
Celeste:
“It’s disgusting.”
Grant:
“That’s the point.”
A pause.
Grant continued.
“Dominic reacts to disrespect faster than financial threats.”
Celeste:
“And then?”
Grant:
“We show the court an unstable grieving father.”
Celeste:
“And I get temporary guardianship.”
Grant:
“Long enough.”
Celeste:
“For the vote.”
Grant:
“For the vote.”
Dominic listened in absolute silence.
There could be no misunderstanding now.
Then Celeste asked—
“What happens after the merger?”
Grant laughed.
“You walk away rich.”
“And Lily?”
“She remains rich too.”
Celeste:
“So nobody loses.”
Grant’s answer was cold.
“Dominic loses control.”
That had been the real obsession.
Grant had spent decades managing Valero wealth.
Over time, management became entitlement.
He stopped seeing himself as a trustee.
He began seeing himself as the man who deserved control.
Sofia threatened that illusion.
Lily threatened it permanently.
Then the final thirty seconds played.
Celeste asked—
“What if Dominic finds the red clause?”
Grant answered—
“He won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I took Sofia’s original.”
Celeste laughed.
“And if she made another?”
Long pause.
Then Grant said—
“She didn’t.”
Dominic looked toward the envelope Sofia hid beneath Lily’s music box.
For once, Grant had underestimated her.
Rachel’s phone buzzed.
Law enforcement had located Grant.
At an airport hotel.
His passport had been flagged.
He had not escaped.
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👉 Grant had finally been caught with Sofia’s surveillance file and his own recorded confession—but Dominic still had one question left: how much had Celeste known before she put that spoon near Lily?
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