Chapter 4: Richard Hale Makes His Move
Nathan picked up the phone.
He didn't answer it.
He just held it and watched Richard Hale's name pulse on the screen until the call dropped.
Then he handed the phone to Daniel.
"Can you preserve that log?"
"Already on it." Daniel had his own phone out.
Victoria's jaw tightened.
"You can't just take my phone."
"I didn't take it.
I asked my attorney to document a call record." Nathan turned to face her fully for the first time since he'd opened the envelope.
"Victoria.
Look at me."
She did.
"How long have you known Grace was in the city?"
A pause.
Small but real.
"Two weeks," she said.
"And you didn't tell me."
"I was handling it."
"Handling it." He said it the same way he'd said *manage the situation.* "Is that what tonight was?
Handling it?"
"I came here to talk to her.
Things got out of hand."
Grace made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh.
"She came here with a hockey stick, Nathan."
"I didn't bring it.
It was already in the hallway."
"You picked it up," Grace said.
"There's a difference."
Victoria turned toward Grace with something sharp moving behind her eyes.
"You have no idea what you walked back into.
You have no idea what my father will do now that you've surfaced.
You think Nathan is your problem?
Nathan is the least of your problems."
"Is that a threat?" Nathan asked.
"It's a fact."
Nathan's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered it and put it on speaker without breaking eye contact with Victoria.
"Mr.
Hargrove." The voice was older.
Unhurried.
The voice of a man who had never once been told to wait.
"This is Richard Hale.
I think it's time we spoke directly."
Victoria closed her eyes.
"I agree," Nathan said.
"Go ahead."
"You've found some papers tonight.
I understand that.
Old agreements between your father and myself.
I want you to know that everything in those documents was done with your best interests in mind.
You were young.
You weren't ready for the complications that would have followed."
"You paid a security firm to surveil Grace for six years."
A brief pause.
"We ensured the arrangement held.
That's a different thing."
"She had my daughter.
You knew that.
You watched them.
For six years."
"I protected the company your father built.
The company you now control.
The company that funds your life, your staff, your properties.
All of it." The voice remained smooth.
"I'm calling because I want to give you the opportunity to be reasonable before this becomes something neither of us can contain."
"What does reasonable look like to you?"
"Grace signs a new agreement.
Generous financial terms.
She takes Lily and relocates.
You proceed with the merger.
Everyone moves forward."
Nathan looked at Lily.
She had fallen asleep against Grace's shoulder.
One hand still curled in Grace's sleeve.
"And if I don't?"
"Then those fabricated kjdnapping documents become very real, very fast.
I have people in the family court system, Nathan.
I have people in the DA's office.
Grace will spend the next two years fighting criminal charges while Lily sits in temporary foster care.
Is that what you want for your daughter?"
The word *daughter* in Richard Hale's mouth sounded like something being used as a tool.
Nathan said nothing.
"Take twenty-four hours," Richard said.
"Think about what matters most to you.
Then call me back and we'll resolve this quietly."
The call ended.
The kitchen felt smaller than it had before.
Daniel spoke first.
"That call was recorded on my end.
Full audio."
"Good."
Victoria opened her eyes.
She looked at Nathan with something that might have been relief, or might have been warning — it was hard to tell the difference on her face anymore.
"He means it," she said quietly.
"About the court system.
He has done it before."
"To who?"
She didn't answer.
"Victoria.
To who?"
She looked away.
"There was a woman.
Before Grace.
Someone else your father wanted removed.
She had a son." A pause.
"She lost him for fourteen months."
Grace's arms tightened around Lily without her seeming to notice she was doing it.
Nathan looked at Daniel.
Daniel was already typing.
"I need everything you have on Richard Hale's connections in family court," Nathan said.
"Tonight."
"I'll make calls." Daniel moved toward the hallway.
Nathan crouched down in front of Grace and Lily.
He kept his voice low so he wouldn't wake her.
"You're not going anywhere," he said.
"Neither is she."
Grace looked at him for a long moment.
"Nathan.
He has real power.
Your father told me that the night he threatened me.
He said Richard Hale had buried harder problems than one pregnant girl."
"I know."
"So what are you going to do?"
Nathan stood.
May you like
"I'm going to find the woman who lost her son for fourteen months," he said.
"And I'm going to ask her if she kept any records."
