Chapter 9 - The Friend Who Had Known Richard Longer Than Natalie Had Been Alive

Thomas Grady had been present at every important Reed family celebration Natalie could remember.

He had attended birthdays, barbecues, Richard’s fiftieth, Brianna’s graduation party. When Natalie received her academy appointment, Grady had shaken her hand and said, “Make your old man proud.” Richard had smiled as though the achievement belonged partly to him.

Now his name sat at the center of Harrow’s internal review.

Priya Shah met academy investigators and Harrow’s outside counsel at a neutral federal office the next morning. Natalie was not present. Colonel Lin insisted on keeping her separated from witness interviews unless her testimony became necessary.

“That protects you,” Lin said. “And it protects the integrity of what she says.”

Natalie understood.

She still hated waiting.

By afternoon, she received a carefully limited briefing.

Priya had flagged the slide deck because “leverage family relationship” violated Harrow’s own ethics guidance. Business development had responded that the relationship was voluntary and informal. Priya asked whether Natalie had consented.

No one answered.

She escalated the question.

Thomas Grady closed the issue with a note: Richard Reed has represented that his daughter is supportive of Harrow and willing to facilitate introductions after graduation.

Natalie felt the words like pressure against her ribs.

“Supportive?” she repeated.

Lin nodded.

“I never discussed Harrow with him.”

“That is your statement, and we have no evidence contradicting it.”

“Willing to facilitate introductions?”

“Again, we have found no message from you offering that.”

Natalie stood and walked to the office window.

Below, cadets crossed the quad carrying backpacks, arguing about something ordinary. She envied them.

“When did my father tell Grady that?”

“According to Priya, the representation appeared in notes dated twenty-three days before graduation.”

Natalie remembered that evening.

Richard had asked whether General Ellison attended graduation receptions personally.

She had said probably.

He had asked whether she ever introduced family to senior officers.

She had answered, “If there’s a reason.”

Had he transformed that into consent?

Maybe.

Or maybe he had simply lied.

The distinction mattered legally. Emotionally, it hardly mattered at all.

That evening Richard appeared at the academy gate.

Security called Natalie rather than admitting him.

“He says he needs five minutes,” the officer reported.

Natalie almost refused.

Then she thought about twenty-three days of false representations, the wooden box, the ticket, the shove, the voicemail blaming her.

Five minutes might not heal anything.

It could end uncertainty.

She agreed to meet him in a public visitor room with an officer outside.

Richard entered looking older than he had three days earlier. His tie was crooked. The usual certainty in his posture had been replaced by brittle anger.

“Harrow suspended me.”

Natalie did not answer.

“They took my badge. Twenty-six years, and they took my badge while some junior lawyer watched.”

“I heard you were removed from duties.”

“You heard.” He laughed once. “Of course you heard. Everyone tells Captain Reed everything now.”

Natalie folded her hands on the table.

“Did you tell Thomas Grady I would make introductions for Harrow?”

Richard stared at her.

“Did you?”

“I told Tom you were my daughter.”

“That is not what I asked.”

“I told him you were doing well here.”

“Did you tell him I supported Harrow’s bid?”

Richard looked away.

There was the answer.

Natalie felt strangely calm.

“You lied about me.”

“I advocated for my company.”

“You used me.”

“Do you think companies win contracts by sitting quietly and hoping merit gets noticed? Relationships matter.”

“So I was a relationship.”

“You were family.”

“No. Family is the word you used when you wanted access.”

Richard slapped one palm against the table.

“Everything I have done was for this family.”

The officer outside shifted, visible through the glass.

Natalie did not move.

“You took my ticket for Brianna.”

“To help her.”

“You used my name for Martin.”

“To help my career.”

“You told Grady I consented to something I never knew about.”

“To protect the future I built for all of us.”

Natalie stared at him.

There it was.

Not denial.

Justification.

Richard leaned forward. “One introduction, Natalie. That was all. One conversation with Ellison or Lin. I thought once you understood what was at stake, you would do it.”

“And if I said no?”

His silence lasted one second too long.

Natalie stood.

The five minutes were not over.

The conversation was.

As she reached the door, Richard spoke behind her.

“You think Brianna is on your side now?”

Natalie stopped.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

“She gave Harrow something months ago,” he said. “Ask her what she emailed from your room.”

Natalie did not chase after him or call Brianna from the hallway. She stood alone until her breathing slowed. Richard’s last sentence had been designed to do exactly what every desperate accusation in their family did: redirect attention from the person under scrutiny to someone easier to blame. The possibility that Brianna had crossed another boundary still mattered, but Natalie would not let Richard decide what it meant before she knew the facts. She texted Brianna only four words: We need to talk.