Chapter 11 - THE BOARD MEMBER WITH WILLIAM’S EYES
The thief avoided cameras using an executive access card assigned to Nathan Pierce.
Nathan claimed the card had been cloned. He produced restaurant footage showing he was across town during the burglary. The alibi was real.
Miriam suggested Grant had stolen the ledger to inflate the investigation. Grant responded by producing backup photographs made before the document entered Charles’s office.
The photographs preserved the evidence but not handwriting pressure, ink age, or fingerprints. Nathan used that weakness to call the ledger a sophisticated fabrication.
Reporters discovered Nathan’s deeper connection to the Hale family. His mother, Caroline Pierce, had served as William’s executive assistant for twenty-seven years. Private correspondence showed an affair.
DNA testing confirmed Nathan was William Hale’s biological son.
At forty-two, he was older than Victoria and potentially William’s firstborn. William’s personal trust, however, excluded children born outside his marriage. Rebecca had nevertheless appointed Nathan to the foundation board after William’s death.
“Why would she do that?” Victoria asked.
Nathan answered privately. “Guilt. She knew my father used my mother and discarded us.”
He denied participating in Family Renewal. He had been a teenager during the fire.
“You think I want your inheritance,” he said. “I want to protect the only institution that ever admitted I existed.”
The motive was credible—and dangerous. Nathan saw the foundation as proof of his belonging. Emily’s return could transfer control away from both William’s children.
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Victoria noticed his eyes. They carried the same offended certainty William showed whenever someone challenged the family.
Then police found the missing ledger in Grant’s car.
