Chapter 6 - GRACE’S CAMERA
Margaret’s attorneys attacked Grace.
Predictable.
They claimed she encouraged Noah’s attachment.
Manipulated a bereaved child.
Positioned herself near me.
Wanted money.
Possibly marriage.
Grace read the filing once.
Then put it down.
“I knew this would happen.”
I wanted to destroy everyone involved.
She wanted coffee.
Probably healthier.
Then Mateo remembered the nursery cameras.
Installed after a security threat when Noah was six months old.
Months of archived footage remained.
Lawyers reviewed it.
The footage did not show Grace trying to become Noah’s mother.
It showed the opposite.
Noah, eighteen months:
“Mama Grace.”
Grace:
“I’m Grace, sweetheart. Mama Claire loved you first.”
Noah, two:
“Mama stay.”
Grace:
“I’m staying tonight. Daddy stays too.”
Another night:
Noah crying at a photograph of Claire.
Grace sitting beside him.
“That's Mommy Claire.”
Not:
Your mother.
Not:
The dead woman.
Mommy Claire.
Later footage showed Vanessa once removing Claire’s photograph from the nursery shelf.
Grace put it back.
Vanessa said:
“He needs to move forward.”
Grace answered:
“He's two. He doesn't need to move forward. He needs adults who aren't threatened by a photograph.”
I watched that clip three times.
So did the judge.
Margaret’s narrative collapsed.
Then auditors found Richard Sloan’s shell companies.
Payments.
Fake consulting fees.
A company that had prepared draft whistleblower allegations accusing Vale Coastal of sanctions violations.
Completely fabricated.
The plan was to leak them.
Trigger investigation.
Force board leave.
Maybe no criminal charge ever survives.
Didn’t matter.
They needed weeks.
Only weeks.
Enough for Margaret and Vanessa to sign the Hart sale.
Richard’s expected compensation:
$11 million through buyer entities.
Margaret’s benefit?
Control.
Vanessa’s family?
Debt rescued.
Everyone got something.
Except Noah.
And Grace.
May you like
And me.
The people they considered easiest to move.
