Chapter 6 - Grant’s Confidence Falters

Grant Holloway had a face made for boardrooms.

Calm when others panicked.

Cold when others begged.

Handsome enough that cruelty looked like decisiveness if one did not stand too close.

But now the mask slipped.

First at the jaw.

Then around the eyes.

Then in the way his hand moved toward his watch chain, found no chain, and dropped uselessly to his side.

He was trying to calculate.

Could he withdraw the papers?

Claim pressure?

Blame the attorney?

Say his wife was unstable?

Say he was emotional?

Say anything that made the signature less real?

Mr. Whitcomb saw the calculation.

So did the wife.

That hurt more than the divorce.

Even now, he did not regret the cruelty.

He regretted the trap.

The doctor looked at the monitor, then at the mother.

“You need to stop sitting up.”

The wife nodded but did not lower her gaze from Grant.

“I will.”

Grant seized on it.

“Yes, listen to the doctor. You’re not thinking clearly.”

The room went still.

The doctor’s eyes widened in disgust.

The attorney looked up sharply.

Grant realized the mistake too late.

His wife’s expression changed into something almost serene.

There it was again.

The oldest weapon.

She was weak, so she was confused.

She was postpartum, so she was unstable.

She had nearly died, so her mind could be dismissed.

But Grant had signed while she lay there.

Grant had asked how fast he could finalize it.

Grant had declared he was responsible for none of them.

And everyone in the room had heard.

The wife’s voice came quiet and sharp.

“I am thinking clearly enough to remember every word.”

Grant’s lips parted.

No answer.

The attorney folded one page back into the stack.

“Mr. Holloway, I strongly advise that no further statements be made until I review this privately.”

Grant turned on him.

“You work for me.”

Mr. Whitcomb’s face tightened.

“I work for the documents.”

That sentence entered the room like a locked door.

Grant stared at him.

The wife closed her eyes for one exhausted second.

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