Chapter 12 - GRANT’S CHOICE
Claire stared at the gun.
Grant looked worse than she had ever seen him.
Unshaven.
Bloodshot eyes.
Shaking hand.
“Grant,” Claire said carefully.
“Don’t.”
Rebecca slowly raised her hands.
Helen began crying.
Grant pointed the weapon at the floor.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
“Then put it down.”
“I can’t.”
Claire’s voice softened.
“Why?”
“Because my mother knows Helen is talking.”
Helen covered her mouth.
Grant continued.
“She sent people here.”
Rebecca looked toward the window.
A black sedan had stopped near the road.
Grant locked the door.
“Back exit. Now.”
Claire did not move.
“You knew she framed me.”
“Yes.”
“You let it happen.”
“I was trying to find the evidence first.”
“So you could save yourself.”
“So I could save everyone!”
Grant’s voice broke.
Claire saw the truth.
Grant was cowardly, yes.
But cowardice did not mean stupidity.
He had spent his life managing Marjorie’s disasters.
He believed compromise was survival.
He believed every crime could be contained if he absorbed enough damage.
“Where is the evidence?” Claire asked Helen.
Helen pointed upstairs.
“In a suitcase.”
Grant went for it.
The front window shattered.
Everyone dropped.
No gunshot.
A rock.
Wrapped around it was a note.
COME OUT WITH THE DRIVE OR HELEN’S HUSBAND DIES.
Helen screamed.
Claire picked up the note.
Marjorie had found the one threat that would work.
Rebecca grabbed Claire’s arm.
“We call police.”
Helen shook her head violently.
“No. She’ll do it.”
Claire looked at Grant.
He whispered, “She might.”
There was no admiration in his voice.
Only certainty.
Claire made a decision.
“We give her the drive.”
Rebecca stared.
“What?”
“The copy.”
Helen looked up.
“There is no copy.”
Claire met her eyes.
“Then we make one.”
They found the suitcase.
Inside was a hard drive containing company records, recordings, and surveillance files.
Claire copied everything to Rebecca’s encrypted laptop.
Then Grant carried the original outside.
Marjorie stood beside the black sedan.
Alone.
She smiled when she saw him.
“My good boy.”
Grant stopped ten feet away.
“Let Helen’s husband go.”
“Give me the drive.”
“First him.”
Marjorie’s smile vanished.
“You still think negotiation means equality.”
Grant looked back toward the house.
Then at his mother.
“No.”
He raised the hard drive.
“I think gasoline means equality.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
Grant had soaked his sleeve.
And the drive.
He flicked a lighter.
Marjorie went pale.
“Grant.”
“Call them.”
Marjorie’s composure cracked.
“Do not do this.”
“Call them.”
She pulled out her phone.
A minute later, Helen’s husband called.
Alive.
Released.
Grant smiled faintly.
Then he dropped the hard drive into the snow.
Marjorie lunged for it.
Grant stopped her with one sentence.
“It’s already copied.”
Marjorie froze.
May you like
And Claire realized Grant had finally done the one thing Marjorie never believed he would do.
He had chosen a side.
