SERIES : The Glass Between Us

Lucas Quinn looked smaller in the hospital bed than Daniel remembered.

The journalist had always seemed larger in public—sharp shoulders, quick smile, the kind of restless energy that made every interview feel like an ambush. Now tubes ran beneath his nose, a monitor pulsed beside him, and the skin under his eyes was bruised with exhaustion.

Detective Ross stood near the window.

“You get ten minutes,” she said.

Lucas looked at Daniel, then Victoria, then Sophia.

His gaze stopped on Sophia.

“You came.”

Sophia’s voice was cool. “Apparently I’m popular with dying accountants and poisoned journalists.”

Lucas tried to smile and winced instead.

“You always did use sarcasm when cornered.”

Daniel turned sharply.

“You know each other.”

Sophia said nothing.

Lucas answered for her.

“Three years.”

Victoria stared. “Three years?”

Sophia’s jaw tightened.

Lucas looked at Daniel. “Your sister was my source.”

The monitor seemed suddenly louder.

Daniel’s expression did not change.

“For what?”

“Northstar.”

Sophia stepped toward the bed. “Don’t make this sound simpler than it was.”

“I’m too tired to make anything sound elegant.”

Daniel looked from one to the other.

“You told me you found Northstar in Dad’s archives by accident.”

“I did.”

“Then?”

“Then I kept looking.”

“For years?”

“Yes.”

“Without telling me.”

“Yes.”

Victoria whispered, “Why?”

Sophia laughed once, bitterly.

“Because every time Dad came up, Daniel stopped being a CEO and became a son.”

Daniel’s stare hardened.

“Careful.”

“No. You wanted the truth. Here it is.”

She pulled a chair away from the wall but did not sit.

“Two years after I found Northstar, I found payments to Gideon’s foundation. I thought it was fraud. Then I found a reference to the bridge. I didn’t know what it meant, and I didn’t want to hand Daniel a half-built theory about Dad’s death.”

Lucas said, “She contacted me after I published the Benton Capital investigation.”

Daniel’s voice was low.

“You trusted a reporter before your brother.”

“I trusted distance.”

“That is not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I have.”

Lucas raised a weak hand.

“If you’re going to tear each other apart, do it after I explain why someone tried to kill me.”

Victoria moved closer.

“You know who poisoned the glass?”

“No.”

Daniel’s patience thinned.

“Then explain what you do know.”

Lucas looked toward Ross.

She nodded.

“I had a source inside the Vale Foundation,” he said. “Paul Renner.”

Sophia closed her eyes.

“He came back to you.”

“Yes. Six months ago.”

“What did he give you?” Daniel asked.

“Partial ledgers. Names. Old transfer routes. Enough to know Northstar wasn’t a normal shell company.”

“What was it?”

“A private fund used to pay for leverage.”

Victoria frowned. “Leverage?”

“Surveillance. Political favors. Settlements. Quiet payments to people who knew too much.”

Daniel’s mouth tightened.

“Blackmail.”

“Sometimes.”

“And murder?”

Lucas looked away.

“I couldn’t prove that.”

Sophia said, “What did Renner say about the bridge?”

“That Richard Mercer wanted out. He had discovered Northstar was funding things he never approved.”

Daniel’s expression sharpened.

“The ledger says R.M. contributed money.”

Lucas nodded.

“He did.”

Victoria looked at Daniel.

The room became colder.

Lucas continued before Daniel could speak.

“Your father helped build Northstar.”

Sophia shook her head. “No.”

“He did.”

“No.”

“Richard and Gideon created it years before either of you joined the company. It started as an off-books crisis fund. Bribe a port official to release a shipment. Pay a fixer to keep a labor dispute quiet. Protect clients who needed discretion.”

Daniel stared at Lucas.

“My father hated corruption.”

“Maybe he hated what he became.”

Daniel stepped back.

Victoria touched his arm.

He did not move away, but he did not look at her.

Lucas said, “Renner believed Richard tried to dismantle Northstar after Eleanor Vale discovered what Gideon was doing with it.”

Victoria’s breath caught.

“My mother knew.”

“She copied records. Richard helped her.”

Daniel looked at Victoria now.

“That letter in the safe.”

She nodded.

Sophia leaned closer to Lucas.

“Why did you tell them to ask me?”

“Because you have something I need.”

“What?”

“The list.”

Sophia’s face changed.

Daniel saw it immediately.

“What list?”

She said nothing.

Lucas exhaled painfully.

“Sophia.”

Daniel’s voice became almost gentle.

“What list?”

Sophia finally sat.

“Renner sent me a file last year.”

“You said you hadn’t heard from him since he gave you the key.”

“I said he came to my office two years ago. I didn’t say we never spoke again.”

Daniel looked at the ceiling for one second, fighting anger.

Victoria murmured, “Sophia.”

“I know.”

“No,” Daniel said. “I don’t think you do.”

Sophia met his eyes.

“The file contained names of people who received Northstar payments. Some were dead. Some were retired. Some were still connected to Mercer.”

“Who?”

“I never decrypted all of it.”

Lucas gave a tired laugh. “You decrypted enough.”

Sophia glared at him.

Daniel caught the exchange.

“Who?”

She swallowed.

“Eli.”

No one spoke.

Victoria turned toward the door as if expecting Daniel’s security chief to be standing there.

“He’s downstairs,” Daniel said.

Sophia shook her head quickly. “The file says E. Grant. That could be someone else.”

“Eli’s full name is Elijah Grant.”

“I know.”

Daniel’s voice dropped.

“How much?”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars over four years.”

Victoria stared. “When?”

“Before Richard died.”

Lucas said, “And one transfer after.”

Daniel looked at him.

“How much?”

“One million.”

Sophia whispered, “I didn’t know that.”

Lucas closed his eyes briefly.

“Renner found it three weeks ago. He was supposed to meet me the night before the gala. He never arrived.”

Daniel stepped toward the window.

For twelve years, Eli Grant had been beside him. He had protected Daniel through hostile acquisitions, threats, stalkers, public scandals. He had stood at Richard Mercer’s funeral. He had carried Sophia out of a car wreck eight years ago. He knew the codes to Daniel’s homes.

Victoria said softly, “The letter said not to trust Sophia.”

Daniel turned.

“And Lucas says to ask Sophia.”

Sophia looked at him.

“Maybe Dad wanted you to suspect me because he knew someone would eventually find the letter.”

Lucas opened his eyes.

“That’s possible.”

Daniel frowned.

“You think the letter was bait?”

“Renner once told me Richard never wrote a warning without hiding a second meaning.”

Victoria said, “The letter said, ‘no matter how convincing the evidence appears.’”

Sophia looked at her.

“So the evidence against me was supposed to appear.”

Daniel slowly nodded.

“Which means Dad expected someone to frame you.”

Ross spoke from the window.

“Or he actually didn’t trust her.”

Sophia’s eyes flashed. “Thank you, Detective.”

“I’m not here to protect your family dynamics.”

Lucas coughed and winced.

Victoria moved closer to the bed.

“What happened at the gala? Why were you near Daniel’s table?”

“I was supposed to meet Renner there.”

“Renner was already dead,” Ross said.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Why at the gala?”

“Because he said he had proof of who ordered the bridge contingency.”

Daniel’s face hardened.

“And then you took my glass.”

Lucas looked at Victoria.

“I took a glass from a server. I didn’t know it was yours.”

Victoria whispered, “I moved it because of the warning.”

“I know.”

Daniel frowned. “How?”

Lucas’s eyes met his.

“Because I sent it.”

Victoria stepped back.

“You?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was trying to keep you from knowing I knew.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It did before someone poisoned me.”

Daniel came closer.

“How did you know the glass was dangerous?”

Lucas shook his head.

“I didn’t know it was poisoned. Renner sent me a message an hour before the gala. He said: Tell Victoria not to let Daniel drink from his assigned glass. Trust nobody in Mercer security.”

Daniel felt the words before he understood them.

Trust nobody in Mercer security.

Ross asked, “Did Renner specify Eli Grant?”

“No.”

Daniel took out his phone.

Victoria grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t call him.”

“He’s downstairs.”

“Exactly.”

Sophia stood.

“If Eli is involved, he knows we’re here.”

Daniel looked at the security camera in the corner of Lucas’s room.