“I promise.”
The recording ended there.
Grant sat perfectly still.
Ellis whispered:
“Son of a…”
Samuel Pike—no relation to Warren despite surname coincidence perhaps we used Pike both. Hmm we used Samuel earlier and Warren Pike, maybe same surname implies relation. Could avoid confusion? It's already in text. We can make Samuel Crowe but too late. Need perhaps continue no issue. Maybe Samuel is Warren's older cousin? Hmm. We can establish "Samuel Pike, Warren's distant cousin" maybe but not needed. But from earlier I said Samuel is oldest member. Could be cousin, okay. Let's keep.
One senior member struck the table.
“We threw Lucas out.”
Another said:
“He knew.”
Grant looked toward the empty chair Warren normally occupied.
“He knew for twelve years.”
The meeting-room door opened.
Everyone turned.
Warren stood there.
Rain darkened his shoulders.
He had returned alone.
Nobody spoke.
Grant rose.
Warren looked toward the recorder.
Then the documents.
His face sagged.
“You found it.”
Grant crossed the room.
Every man expected violence.
Warren seemed to as well.
Grant stopped inches from him.
For one second, he imagined punching him.
Breaking the nose of the man who destroyed Lucas’s name.
The man who allowed Grant to spend twelve years believing his brother chose theft over family.
Then Grant remembered Lucas’s letter.
Do not use it for revenge.
He stepped backward.
That restraint hurt more than a punch would have.
“Talk.”
Warren looked around the room.
Nobody offered him a chair.
He remained standing.
“My daughter was dying.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“We know.”
Warren looked toward the documents.
“Insurance denied the procedure.”
“I mortgaged my house.”
“Sold my truck.”
“Borrowed from everybody.”
“I was still short.”
“The fundraiser cash was sitting in the safe.”
“I knew it was going to the children’s hospital anyway.”
Ellis stared.
“So you decided your child deserved it more?”
Warren closed his eyes.
“That’s what I told myself.”
He continued.
“I took eighteen thousand four hundred.”
“I planned to replace it after selling property my father left me.”
“But the property sale got delayed.”
“Lucas found the transfer.”
“He confronted me.”
“Why didn’t he turn you in?”
Warren’s face crumpled.
“Because Emily was having surgery in forty-eight hours.”
Grant felt sick.
Warren continued.
“He told me I had until after surgery.”
“I was supposed to confess.”
“But somebody discovered the missing money that night.”
“I panicked.”
“I planted the duplicate safe key.”
“In Lucas’s locker?”
“Yes.”
“You created Pike Custom Restoration under his contact address?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make it look like he controlled it.”
Grant’s hands curled.
Warren looked at him.
“I thought Lucas would expose me.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Warren began crying.
“Because he came to the hospital.”
Grant froze.
“What?”
“The night Emily had surgery.”
“Lucas came?”
Warren nodded.
“He sat with my wife.”
“He brought coffee.”
“He told me he wouldn’t say anything until Emily was stable.”
Grant stared.