Chapter 7 - Why Vivienne Chose Grant
Vivienne did not meet Grant accidentally.
David introduced them without Grant realizing it.
Not directly.
He arranged for Vivienne to attend the same charity event.
Why?
Because David and Vivienne were still working together.
Their divorce was real.
Their financial partnership continued.
David knew Caroline had discovered the dormant trusts.
After Caroline died, he believed Grant might eventually find the records.
Vivienne was supposed to get close enough to learn what Grant knew.
Then leave.
Instead, she stayed.
“Why?” Grant asked.
Vivienne looked at him.
“I fell in love with you.”
Grant said nothing.
The answer could be true and still change nothing.
Vivienne continued spying for David for three months.
Then stopped.
David threatened to expose her.
She paid him.
The $90,000 Nathan believed came from selling records?
It went to David.
Not Vivienne.
Bank tracing confirmed it.
Vivienne had not sold beneficiary data.
David had.
He used her credentials.
She paid him to stop.
Again, Vivienne was not innocent.
She had entered Grant's life under false pretenses.
She had hidden evidence.
She had lied about Caroline.
And nothing about David explained what she did to Noah.
Grant made that clear.
Vivienne nodded.
“I know.”
“Don't ask me to separate the woman who lied from the woman who attacked him.”
“I won't.”
Then investigators searched David's office.
He was gone.
Laptop wiped.
But the building logs showed he accessed Grant's administrator credentials repeatedly.
He disabled the camera during Eleanor's visit.
Why?
He wanted Eleanor to remove Caroline's evidence.
She failed.
David later tried to locate the memory card himself.
Couldn't.
Then Noah broke the chain accidentally.
A lipstick.
A fight.
A vase.
The evidence finally emerged because a baby was playing on the floor.
David disappeared.
Police located him two days later at his sister's cabin.
No dramatic shootout.
He surrendered.
His attorney began negotiations.
David admitted selling confidential information.
Identity misuse.
Financial fraud.
But he denied causing Caroline's accident.
Investigators found no evidence contradicting him.
Caroline's death remained an accident.
Grant was strangely relieved.
Not every tragedy needed a murderer.
Then David revealed the person who originally taught him about the dormant trusts.
Charles Mercer.
Grant's father.
Supposedly dead five years.
Grant groaned.
“Please don't tell me he's alive.”
David shook his head.
“No. Charles is definitely dead.”
Finally.
One dead person stayed dead.
But Charles had left instructions.
A sealed memorandum.
David had been following it for years.
The memo said:
NATHAN ELLIS MUST NEVER BECOME A MERCER BENEFICIARY.
Grant stared.
His father had deliberately tried to prevent Nathan from recovering the trust.
Why?
Eleanor whispered:
“Because Nathan wasn't Charles's son.”
May you like
Nathan looked at her.
The room went silent.
