“You were saying something,” he said quietly, “about my child being fatherless?”…

PART 2

My father regained his composure first. He gave a forced laugh that convinced no one.

“Mr. Vale, this is a private family misunderstanding.”

“No,” Elias said. “It became my business when you threatened Claire and my son.”

For six months, Grant had bragged that Vale Capital would invest eighty million dollars in Mercer Development’s luxury riverfront development. My parents had based their entire future on that agreement. They had no idea Elias and I had met during the preliminary audit, when his firm hired me as an independent forensic consultant.