Page 20 of Defended By Love

“No, you listen,” the doorman hisses, leaning in. “I’ve indulged you long enough. You’re not expected in the penthouse. If the owners were expecting you, then you’d probably know they’re not here. You’d know that they’re an eighty-year-old couple who visit once a year purely to see the cherry blossoms.” He straightens up and regains his composure. “Have a nice evening.”

For the first time in my life, I have nothing to argue.

I believe the doorman, which means I don’t believe Grant.

I got fooled.

As I walk away, each of the clues that I should’ve picked up on clicks into place. We came in through the balcony—because who would need to lock the balcony of the penthouse? There were no personal touches of him anywhere. He had no idea where anything was. He probably didn’t even know where the bedroom was, which is why he wouldn’t take me there. And, he gave me stale diet bars to eat.

It would appear that my natural pessimism is right once again: there’s something villainous about Grant. He’s definitely a part of some plot.

Or is that selling him short?

Maybe the reason he was at the building when it collapsed is much simpler than I thought it was. He said it himself: he can manipulate objects’ center of gravity. The question is—how big of an object can he control?

Maybe he didn’t save me so much as he cleaned up his own mess?

These questions, along with the fiery humiliation from my encounter with the doorman, have me skipping dinner in my quest to find out more, or really anything, about Grant.

If that even is his real name.

Despite my hours of research, I don’t turn up anything.

At least, not until I move on to the next item on my to-do list: look into the Zagreus Hart files.

Chapter 10

The night has gone from dusky to dark when I finally crack open the file on Hart Link Incorporated. Because I slept in so late, I’m not tired, although my stomach is grumbling. I had melted cheese on crackers for my work-through-dinner. Not exactly the most satisfying. It almost made me miss the chalky diet bars that Grant gave me yesterday. Which—I’m now realizing—were probably expired since they’d been sitting in a cupboard for nearly a year.

The first page in the Hart file is a little about the corporation headquarters. Fifteen years ago, Zagreus Hart pretty much appeared from nowhere and was suddenly at the forefront of all technology across countless domains—telecommunications, transportation, space travel, satellites, green energy, you name it, he was crushing it. Although, never seen.

His headquarters is on a tiny island just off the coast. He bought it for a pittance since it’s only accessible by ferry and it mainly consists of rocky cliffs. He had crews transform the rocky surfaces to house his offices inside of the rocks. In the process, he turned an innocuous, overlooked island into an engineering marvel that oddly resembles a skull.

Since the development and building applications and permits are public record, I can easily see his early environmental footprint. In every single instance, he went above and beyond the minimum requirements. If he’s a polluter, he started later in the game.

Still, the records are interesting. On a whim, I also made a list of every construction company and contractor he worked with. The list is extensive, to say the least. It kind of seems like he looked over the white pages like it was a delicious dessert menu and said he’d have the lot.

Despite the fact that he used hundreds of different contractors and crews, not a single one of them appears to have any gripes. The skeptic lawyer part of me believes that at least one of them would have tried something to get more money out of him. After all, how often do you get a chance to fleece one of the top five richest billionaires in the world? But, there isn’t a single frivolous lawsuit to be found. In fact, it looks like Hart Link Incorporated reviewed most of them online—five stars abound.

Whoever works in their Public Relations department must have a sense of humour. It’s a little jarring to see the world premier company for fibre optics give a review next to one from some guy named Al who’s writing about toilet regurgitation.

Full disclosure: I’m jaded enough to believe that all truly successful companies skirt environmental laws whenever possible. It’s how they make money.

I always go in for interviews with companies I’m investigating and shake hands with some dude with literal granola in his pocket in a room with a cartoon shrub on the wall telling their employees to recycle. Then, when they realize I have some dirt on them, I’m moved into a second room where some guy named Chad tries to break my hand with his handshake as we discuss restitution at his old-growth desk on a baby seal skin rug.

There might be some exaggeration with the last part.

Truthfully, they’re not always named Chad.

Zagreus Hart, though, seems squeaky clean. Between hitting his emissions targets, using renewable energy for 95 percent of the company’s power, and monthly staff shoreline clean-up initiatives (oh god, don’t tell Beth), his company actually appears to be walking the walk.

Which just means I have to dig deeper.

No one is that good.

I might not know why it’s inappropriate to ask about sperm count on a first date, but I do know that companies pollute. It’s my job to find out how.

I skim the ‘evidence’, even though I’ve already read it a hundred times. It’s a single document from a particularly tenacious Department of Fisheries and Oceans employee. This DFO worker flagged Hart Link because of inconsistencies in her own findings.

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