Chapter 4 - What Thomas Adam Left Behind
I opened the door three inches.
“How did you get that?”
Reid looked down at the notebook.
Its black cover was bent exactly the way I remembered.
I had searched my apartment twice after realizing it was missing.
“You need to let me in.”
“No.”
“Fiona.”
“Tell me how you got my father's notebook.”
“Your mother gave it to my father seventeen years ago.”
I stopped breathing.
“That notebook was in my apartment last week.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Reid's expression changed.
“Then there are two.”
I opened the door.
That was my first mistake.
Or maybe it was the decision that saved everything.
Reid entered.
He placed the notebook on my kitchen table.
Mine had contained pages of handwritten financial ratios.
This one contained letters.
Dates.
Names.
Photocopies.
My father's private investigation.
Thomas Adam had documented Meridian Holdings for nearly three years.
The first pages showed debt transfers.
The middle pages showed executive overrides.
The last section contained names of people who had questioned them.
Most had left Holloway Energy.
Some retired.
Two died.
One was my father.
I looked at Reid.
“Why did your father have this?”
“Thomas trusted him.”
“Your father was on Holloway's board.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he expose it?”
“He tried.”
“Where?”
“Privately.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That's what powerful men call courage when they don't want consequences.”
Reid flinched.
“You're not wrong.”
I turned another page.
Daniel Holloway's name appeared.
So did Lucas Vane's.
And another.
EVELYN HOLLOWAY.
Grant's mother.
I looked up.
“What did she have to do with this?”
Reid's face tightened.
“I don't know.”
“You knew enough to show up here.”
“I came because Grant is about to access a file he shouldn't open alone.”
“What file?”
Reid looked toward the window.
“The original Meridian audit.”
My phone rang.
Grant.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Is Reid with you?”
I looked at him.
“Yes.”
Grant swore.
“Don't let him leave.”
“Why?”
“Because I found the security footage.”
“What footage?”
“From the archives.”
My stomach tightened.
Grant continued.
“Reid accessed Thomas Adam's personnel file Friday night.”
Reid heard him through the phone.
His face drained.
Grant said, “I'm coming to you.”
Twenty-eight minutes later, Grant was in my apartment.
He looked strangely out of place beneath the flickering kitchen light.
His gaze went immediately to Reid.
“You accessed the file.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucas called me.”
Grant froze.
“What?”
“He knew you were asking questions.”
“When?”
“Sunday morning. Before brunch.”
I looked at Reid.
“You already knew my name when Grant mocked me.”
“Yes.”
The room became very still.
“You laughed.”
Reid's eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
“You knew who my father was.”
“I suspected.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I wasn't sure.”
“You could have stopped him.”
“I should have.”
I stared at him.
The humiliation of brunch changed shape.
Grant had been arrogant.
Reid had known.
That was worse.
Grant stepped between us.
“Why did Lucas call you?”
“To warn me you might find Meridian.”
“And you ran to archives.”
“I wanted Thomas's file before Lucas deleted it.”
“Then why bring Fiona the envelope?”
“Because once I saw her name, I knew this had started again.”
“What started?”
Reid looked at the notebook.
“People being erased.”
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Grant finally said, “The audit.”
Reid nodded.
“My father kept a copy.”
“Where?”
“He died without telling me.”
“Then how do you know it exists?”
“Because Thomas mentions it.”
Reid opened the notebook.
Near the back, my father had written:
THE REAL AUDIT IS NOT IN HOLLOWAY TOWER.
EH KNOWS.
Grant read the initials.
“Evelyn Holloway.”
His mother.
He stepped away from the table.
“No.”
I watched him.
“You don't believe it.”
“My mother barely touched company operations.”
“Maybe that's why nobody looked at her.”
Grant's jaw tightened.
He called her.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
A third time.
Voicemail.
Grant grabbed his coat.
“I'm going to her house.”
“I'll come.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Fiona, somebody photographed you outside my office.”
“And staying here makes me safer?”
He had no answer.
Evelyn Holloway lived in a townhouse on the Upper East Side behind an iron gate and a security system that recognized Grant before he touched the bell.
A housekeeper led us into a library.
Evelyn entered five minutes later.
Sixty-three.
Elegant.
Silver-blonde hair.
No surprise on her face when she saw me.
That frightened me more than surprise would have.
“Fiona Adam,” she said.
Grant turned toward her.
“You know her?”
“I know the name.”
“You knew Thomas?”
“Yes.”
He stared.
“You told me you didn't involve yourself in the company.”
“I didn't.”
“Then why is your name in his notebook?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Because your father came to me.”
“When?”
“Two days before he was fired.”
My voice barely came out.
“What did he want?”
“Help.”
“And did you help him?”
Evelyn took a long breath.
“I tried.”
Grant's anger sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your father was more dangerous than you remember.”
“To whom?”
“To anyone who threatened the company.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
The word broke something.
Grant sat.
His mother continued.
“Thomas showed me evidence that Meridian was being used to move liabilities between entities. He believed Daniel authorized it.”
“Did he?”
“I thought so.”
“And now?”
Evelyn looked at Grant.
“Your father discovered the structure after Thomas did.”
Silence.
Grant whispered, “What?”
“Daniel didn't create Meridian.”
“Who did?”
“I never proved it.”
“Lucas?”
“Lucas was involved.”
“Involved how?”
“He designed portions of the reporting system.”
Grant stood again.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father asked me not to.”
“He protected Lucas?”
“No.”
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“He protected you.”
That phrase again.
Grant stepped backward.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Evelyn crossed the room to an old cabinet.
She removed a key from around her neck.
Inside was a metal box.
She placed it on the desk.
“I kept this because Daniel was afraid someone inside the company would destroy it.”
Grant opened the box.
A flash drive.
A sealed letter.
A printed audit.
Original Meridian audit.
My hands trembled.
Evelyn looked at me.
“Your father prepared most of it.”
I touched the first page.
Thomas Adam.
Lead analyst.
My father had not failed.
He had been right.
Grant opened Daniel's sealed letter.
The first line was addressed to him.
Son,
If you are reading this, then Meridian survived me.
Grant stopped.
His mother whispered, “Keep reading.”
Daniel's letter explained that Thomas had discovered a concealed debt network created before Grant joined the company.
Daniel initially believed Thomas was wrong.
By the time he understood the truth, someone had already used Daniel's authority to terminate him.
Daniel tried to reverse the damage quietly.
But Thomas refused to return.
He wanted public accountability.
Then Thomas's health collapsed.
My eyes blurred.
My father's heart attack had come years later.
But stress had begun long before.
Grant continued reading.
One paragraph changed everything.
I made the worst decision of my life. I allowed Thomas Adam's termination record to remain because exposing the forged authorization would have triggered a collapse before I could identify everyone involved. I told myself I was protecting employees and shareholders. In truth, I protected the Holloway name.
Grant lowered the letter.
His face had gone pale.
I didn't know what I felt.
Anger.
Relief.
Grief.
All of it at once.
Evelyn looked at me.
“I am sorry.”
I couldn't answer.
Grant handed me the letter.
“You should have this.”
“No.”
“It concerns your father.”
“It concerns yours too.”
Our eyes met.
For the first time, neither of us stood on opposite sides of the room.
We were simply two children reading the damage powerful parents had left behind.
Then Grant's phone rang.
Security.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What do you mean?”
He put the call on speaker.
A security director said, “Mr. Holloway, someone accessed the executive archive twenty minutes ago.”
Grant looked at Reid.
“From where?”
“Holloway Tower.”
“Whose credentials?”
A pause.
“Yours.”
Grant stared at the audit in front of us.
May you like
Then the security director added:
“And whoever used them just deleted the Meridian files.”
