The Billionaire They Buried

Chapter 4: A Dangerous Offer

"Mr. Hayes. It's time."

I slipped the brass key deeper into my pocket before standing, Benjamin's warning still ringing in my head don't let anyone know you have it. Marcus noticed me hesitate but didn't comment, just turned and led me down the hallway in silence.

Sarah Bennett was already waiting when we reached the interrogation room, a thick case file sitting between the two chairs. Marcus sat and looked at me. "Before we continue, I need to inform you that Chairman Charles Hayes was officially pronounced dead a short while ago."

The words knocked the air out of me. I had known he would collapse. But some stubborn part of me had been holding onto the idea that he would pull through he always had, through business wars and threats and health scares years ago. I never imagined poison would be the thing that finally took him.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Sarah said, softer than before, and I nodded because I couldn't manage anything else. The only person who had never doubted me was gone.

Marcus slid a document across the table. "The medical examiner's preliminary report confirms acute poisoning." I didn't bother reading it the result wasn't going to change no matter how many times I looked at it. Someone had poisoned my grandfather, and somehow convinced everyone in that ballroom it was me. "The evidence continues to point to you, Mr. Hayes."

"I didn't kill him."

He laid out photographs without a word the wine glass, the vial from the study, a still from the mansion's security footage showing me walking into Grandfather's study, then leaving alone. He tapped the last one. "You were the last person alone with Chairman Hayes before dinner."

"He asked to see me. One of the servants came to get me."

"We spoke to him. He confirmed escorting you to the study and leaving immediately afterward."

"So no one saw what actually happened inside."

"Exactly."

I laughed, and there was nothing warm in it. "Convenient."

"You had the opportunity."

"Opportunity isn't proof."

"No," Marcus agreed, folding his hands. "But combined with everything else, it becomes compelling."

"You're looking at a setup."

"We're looking at evidence someone wanted you to find," I said, cutting him off before he could finish his own sentence, and the room went quiet until Sarah broke it.

"If someone really framed you," she said carefully, "then be careful. People willing to poison Charles Hayes won't stop with one victim."

"Do you have any idea who would want to frame you?" Marcus asked.

Ryan's face flashed through my mind, then Victoria's, then a dozen board members I had known my whole life. Too many possibilities and no way to narrow them down from inside this room. "I don't know."

"That's the problem."

"I'll find out."

"From a jail cell?"

The question stung because it was true, and I forced myself to stay level instead of answering it. "My grandfather knew something."

Both detectives looked up. "What makes you say that?" Marcus asked.

I nearly told them everything the letter, the key, the safe deposit box but Benjamin's warning stopped me cold. "He called me into his study before dinner. He said there were things about the family I didn't know."

"What things?" Sarah asked.

"He didn't get the chance to explain. He told me we would talk after dinner".

Marcus studied my face for a long moment, clearly trying to decide whether I was lying, then closed the file. "For now, you'll remain in police custody. We're interviewing everyone who attended the party." The two of them left without another word, and the hours that followed crawled by in a silence that got heavier the longer it went on. Every time I closed my eyes I saw him collapsing again Ryan's fake shock, Victoria's question about why I hadn't saved him and none of it made any more sense the tenth time through than it had the first.

A buzzing sound finally broke the quiet, and the cell door opened. "Mr. Hayes. You've been granted one phone call."

One phone call, and I stood there realizing I didn't actually know who to dial. Not Ryan. Not Victoria. Not a single member of the Hayes family I still trusted. My fingers found the brass key in my pocket instead, and Benjamin's words came back to me right now, they think they've won. The safe deposit box. Whatever Grandfather had hidden in it could prove everything, if only I could get to it from somewhere other than a jail cell.

Maybe Benjamin could.

I took the phone and dialed his number, and it rang three times before he picked up. "Benjamin Brooks speaking."

"It's Ethan."

A pause. "Are you all right?"

"No." I lowered my voice. "I need you to go to the bank. The safe deposit box."

Silence, and then understanding. "I'm sorry, Ethan. I can't. Your grandfather gave strict instructions the box can only be opened by one person."

"Who?"

"You."

The last bit of hope I'd been holding onto slipped away. "I'm in jail."

"I know. There isn't another way. He made sure of it."

"So everything he left behind is trapped in that box."

"Only until you get out. Once you're free, we'll open it together." He must have heard something in my silence, because his voice steadied. "We focus on getting you out first."

The officer tapped his watch. "I have to go," I said.

"Ethan. No matter what happens next don't let them convince you you've already lost."

The line went dead before I could answer, and I set the receiver back in its cradle and slid the key deeper into my pocket, wrapping my fingers around it like it was the only solid thing left in my life. Somewhere beyond these walls sat a safe deposit box full of answers people were willing to kill for, and whoever had poisoned my grandfather thought they'd taken everything from me.

They turned the world against me in the space of a single night.

But they had left me alive — and I wasn't finished yet.