“No.”
“You have no idea what my attorneys will do to you.”
“I spent twenty-two years preparing documents for attorneys who prosecuted men with better ones.”
Grant stared at her.
The weak widow he had dismissed the night before disappeared from his expression.
In her place, he saw someone he had failed to investigate.
“What exactly did you do before retirement?” he asked.
Margaret did not answer.
She let the silence make him imagine the worst.
Her phone remained connected on the desk.
Every word was being heard.
Grant tried another approach.
“Lily is emotional,” he said more softly.
“She misunderstands things.
My mother and I have been trying to protect the baby.”
“By forcing her to surrender her trust?”
“No one is forcing her.”
“You gave her a Friday deadline.”
His jaw tightened.
“She told you that?”
Margaret watched the calculation move behind his eyes.
Grant was no longer thinking about persuasion.
He was deciding how much Lily had revealed and how quickly he could regain control of her.
“Where is she now?” Margaret asked.
“At home.”
“Is she alone?”
“My mother is with her.”
Margaret’s fear sharpened, but she did not let it reach her face.
“You should leave,” she said.
Grant laughed once, without humor.
“You think a few spreadsheets make you dangerous?”
“No.
I think the people receiving them do.”
Her computer chimed.
The transfer had completed.
Grant looked toward the monitor.
He could not read the screen from where he stood, but the sound was enough.
“What did you send?”
Margaret picked up the recorder.
“Everything I found before breakfast.”
He lunged.
She stepped back and raised her phone.
The connected voice spoke through the speaker.
“Mr.
Harlow, do not touch her.”
Grant froze.
The voice identified the office, not the person.
That was enough.
Grant’s face drained of color.
He backed away from Margaret as though the floor between them had opened.
“This is a family matter,” he said.
“Financial coercion and fabricated evidence are not family matters,” the voice replied.
“You should preserve all devices and records.
Destroying or altering them may create additional exposure.”
Grant looked at the recorder in Margaret’s hand, then at the folder on the desk.
For the first time, he appeared unsure of which threat mattered most.
