Chapter 4 - THE MAN HER GRANDFATHER TRUSTED
"Then tell me what the Harbor Agreement actually says."
Tamson kept her voice steady.
Richard Lennox looked at the photograph in his hands.
For a moment, she thought he might tell the truth.
Instead, he slipped it back into his wallet.
"Not here."
Tamson almost stood.
"You walked into my office, told me my grandfather made some agreement with a criminal organization, and now you expect me to follow you somewhere private?"
Richard sighed.
"You've always been suspicious."
"No," Tamson answered. "I've been polite. There's a difference."
Margaret quietly moved closer to the conference table.
Richard noticed.
"Margaret, this concerns family."
"It concerns my company's money," Tamson said. "And apparently, somebody has been using my name to steal it."
Richard's face tightened.
"Be careful with that word."
"Steal?"
"Yes."
"Then show me another word that fits."
He stared at her.
Finally, he spoke.
"Twelve years ago, Monarch was drowning. We had debts, unfinished projects, and employees who hadn't received full paychecks in six weeks."
Tamson knew that part.
Her grandfather had explained the investment.
But Richard continued.
"One of our largest projects was a shipping facility near the Delaware River. A subcontractor had been using that property to move illegal cargo."
Tamson remained silent.
"We discovered it too late. By then, we were connected through leases, invoices, and equipment contracts."
"Connected to whom?"
Richard looked at the photograph.
"People who worked for Vascari."
Tamson felt her stomach tighten.
"What did Grandpa do?"
"He forced everyone into a written settlement. The illegal operation was shut down. Legitimate assets were separated from compromised ones. Samuel put money into Monarch, and Rafe agreed that no business under his control would interfere with those properties again."
"Why would Rafe agree?"
Richard's expression turned bitter.
"Because Samuel had evidence that could have put a lot of powerful people in prison."
Tamson stared at him.
That sounded like her grandfather.
He had never been easily intimidated.
But she also remembered Samuel visiting church every Christmas with boxes of gifts for children whose parents worked at his companies.
"Was Grandpa involved in anything illegal?"
"No," Richard said immediately.
Then he lowered his eyes.
"Not knowingly."
Tamson caught the hesitation.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Richard stood.
"You need to release the Eastbridge transfer."
She stared at him.
"After everything you just said?"
"Especially after everything I just said."
"Who owns Eastbridge?"
"I can't tell you."
"Then the money stays frozen."
Richard stepped closer.
"Your husband made mistakes. Serious ones. But Celeste and that baby are in a difficult situation."
Tamson felt as though someone had slapped her.
"You're asking me to finance Damon's other family?"
"I'm asking you to prevent a catastrophe."
"With my grandfather's money?"
"With money that's tied to Monarch."
Tamson rose.
"No."
Richard's voice sharpened.
"You don't understand what happens if this agreement becomes public."
"Then perhaps it's time somebody did."
His face drained.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Richard looked at Margaret.
"Samuel told you about the original, didn't he?"
Margaret didn't answer.
Richard nodded slowly.
"Of course he did."
He left without another word.
Tamson waited until the elevator doors closed.
Then she looked at Margaret.
"How much of that was true?"
"Enough that we need independent investigators."
"And Rafe?"
Margaret folded her arms.
"I wouldn't trust him with your money."
"Would you trust him with the truth?"
Margaret considered.
"Your grandfather did. Until something happened between them."
That afternoon, Tamson arranged a meeting with Rafe through the number on his card.
Not at his mansion.
Not at one of his restaurants.
At a public café across from an office building owned by Arden Crest.
Rafe arrived alone.
He wore a charcoal coat and no visible jewelry except a plain wedding band on his right hand.
Tamson noticed it because he kept turning it with his thumb.
"Thank you for coming," she said.
"You asked about your grandfather."
"I asked whether you knew why my husband was stealing from my company."
Rafe sat.
"Those may be the same question."
Tamson placed the photograph on the table.
Rafe examined it.
His expression changed immediately.
"Where did you get this?"
"Richard."
"Did he tell you what happened afterward?"
"No."
Rafe looked through the café window.
"Samuel Arden saved my younger brother's life."
Tamson hadn't expected that.
"How?"
"Twenty years ago, my brother Anthony worked at a waterfront property. He became involved with men who were transporting stolen goods. Samuel discovered it."
"Did he call the police?"
"He demanded the operation stop and helped Anthony cooperate with investigators."
Rafe paused.
"Anthony received a reduced sentence. More importantly, he got a chance to become someone better."
"And you?"
"I spent years cleaning up consequences of choices I should never have made."
Tamson studied him.
"You still have a reputation."
"A deserved one."
He met her eyes.
"I won't pretend otherwise."
She appreciated the answer more than a rehearsed denial.
"Then why did my grandfather trust you?"
"Because he knew I would keep a promise once I gave it."
"What promise?"
"That his investment would never be used to finance violence, smuggling, or intimidation."
Tamson leaned forward.
"And was it?"
"Not while he was alive."
A chill moved through her.
"What changed?"
Rafe glanced at the photograph again.
"Your father-in-law grew desperate. Monarch began losing money on projects it couldn't afford. Someone introduced Richard to a man named Victor Salerno."
Tamson recognized the name.
"Salerno Logistics."
Rafe nodded.
"Victor runs a trucking network. Some of his business is legitimate. Some of it isn't."
"What does that have to do with Eastbridge?"
"Salerno has been buying distressed debt connected to Monarch. He wants control of the waterfront properties."
"Why?"
"Because several of those properties provide direct access to shipping facilities."
Tamson understood immediately.
"If he owns the collateral, he controls the facilities."
"And possibly the businesses operating from them."
She sat back.
"Then Damon is helping him."
Rafe said nothing.
"Isn't he?"
"I don't know how much Damon understands."
Tamson almost laughed.
"Everyone keeps saying that. As though ignorance makes betrayal harmless."
"It doesn't."
She looked at him carefully.
"Why did you tell me to leave the hospital?"
"Because I saw someone photographing you."
Her heart jumped.
"Who?"
"A man connected to Salerno."
Tamson gripped her cup.
"Why would he care about me?"
"Because you can stop the transfer."
She remembered Margaret's warning.
Someone had been requesting her credentials.
"Could they force me?"
Rafe didn't answer immediately.
"I think they intended to make you believe signing was the only way to protect someone you loved."
Tamson thought of Damon.
Of the years she'd spent defending him.
Then she looked at the ultrasound photograph inside her purse.
Rafe followed her gaze but said nothing.
She was grateful.
"How do we find the original agreement?" she asked.
"Samuel kept a counterpart."
"Where?"
Rafe hesitated.
"He told me he'd hidden it somewhere nobody would think to look."
"That isn't helpful."
"He said you'd understand when the time came."
Tamson shook her head.
"My grandfather loved riddles."
Rafe's mouth softened.
"He loved teaching you how to solve them."
That evening, Tamson returned to Samuel's house.
She searched his desk.
His bookshelves.
The old wooden cabinet where he kept photographs.
Nothing.
Then she noticed an empty space above the fireplace.
Samuel's brass mantel clock had been removed.
The clock had stood there throughout her childhood.
It had a small compartment beneath its base where her grandfather stored spare keys.
Tamson hurried to the storage closet.
The clock was inside a cardboard box.
She lifted it carefully.
Beneath the base sat a folded piece of yellow paper.
Not the Harbor Agreement.
A handwritten inventory card.
Original agreement: transferred to secure custody, April 14.
Beneath it was a name.
EVELYN LENNOX.
Tamson read it twice.
Damon's mother had possessed the original agreement.
And the transfer date was six months before Samuel died.
Then she turned the card over.
May you like
In her grandfather's handwriting was one final sentence.
If Evelyn tells you she destroyed it, ask her what happened to the little girl in the photograph.
