Chapter 6 - The Night We Stopped RunningGrant left a message.
Bring the tape. Come alone.
I wanted to go alone.
Leah refused.
“I won't lose my mother twice.”
We prepared.
Samuel Reed contacted federal agents.
Ben secured the building.
Marlo called three people he knew in law enforcement.
Everyone had a role.
The meeting place was the abandoned Hawthorne warehouse.
Sarah was tied to a chair.
Grant stood behind her.
He looked exhausted.
“You should have stayed out.”
I raised the recorder.
“You should have stayed honest.”
He laughed.
“Your father said that too.”
“You killed him.”
“No.”
Grant shook his head.
“Your father was killed by someone who wanted him quiet.”
“Who?”
Grant smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
He pointed at Leah.
“Her family was never the target.”
“What?”
“You were.”
I stared.
Grant explained.
Richard Carter had discovered the offshore accounts.
But instead of exposing them, he copied them.
He planned to use them to rebuild Carter Restoration and quietly blackmail the people who had ruined Bellweather.
My father had become compromised.
Thomas discovered it.
The two men fought.
Sarah tried to intervene.
That was the real secret behind Hawthorne.
My father had not been innocent.
But he had tried to correct his mistake.
Nathan had killed him.
Grant had covered it.
And now Grant wanted the ledger because it contained the names of everyone involved.
Including judges.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Businessmen.
He could use it to blackmail half the region.
I looked at Leah.
She understood.
“This isn't about the building.”
“No,” Grant said.
“It never was.”
He wanted the entire network.
We fought.
Not with guns.
With evidence.
Federal agents entered.
Grant tried to flee through the tunnel.
I followed.
He reached the far end.
There, he turned.
“You could have had everything.”
I shook my head.
“I already have everything.”
I looked back.
Leah stood behind me.
Grant laughed.
“You think love makes you strong?”
“No.”
I smiled.
“It reminds me what I'm fighting for.”
He was arrested.
Sarah was safe.
The tape was secured.
The ledger was recovered.
The Hawthorne deal collapsed.
For the first time in twenty-eight years, the Monroe family owned the entire block free and clear.
But there was still one problem.
Me.
The federal investigators wanted to know what my father had done.
I told them.
Everything.
Including the parts that could damage my company.
Carter Restoration nearly collapsed.
Several clients walked away.
I sold my house.
I sold my investment property.
I kept the company.
And I kept Leah.
But one evening, she came to my office carrying a letter.
“I need you to read this.”
It was from my father.
He had written it months before his death.
The last line said:
Owen, if you ever find someone who makes you want to stop hiding, trust her.
I looked at Leah.
“You knew about this?”
“No.”
I laughed through tears.
“My father liked you before I met you.”
She smiled.
“Maybe he knew you needed someone stubborn.”
“I definitely did.”
We kissed.
The next morning, Leah made a decision.
“We rebuild June's Table.”
I nodded.
“Together?”
May you like
She smiled.
“Together.”
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