Page 21 of Katie 3

A shadow falls over the desk and I look up. Henry stands in the doorway, tailored and immaculate except for the way his shirt is untucked at the back, the belt loose at his waist. He’s holding a cup of coffee, the steam fading in the air. He walks in with a careless confidence, but his eyes go right for the folders, then to me.

“You think I don’t know you’re rifling through my files?” he asks, voice almost kind.

I close the folder. “I’m just keeping up with your progress.”

He sits, swivels the chair to face the window as if I’m not there. “Brad can’t keep his dick in his pants, you can’t keep your nose out of my business. Do you see how we’re all related?”

I smirk, but it’s a weak one. “You’re not worried about Katie?”

His face shutters. “The less she knows, the better. It’s almost over. Just a little more pressure, a little more time.”

“Brad’s a time bomb,” I say. “That’s not changing.”

“I know,” Henry says, swirling the glass. “But the case is dead if Dan’s cred burns down. With the right push, this will all go away… again.”

“You’re not worried about the morality of it?”

He scoffs and takes a sip. “Don’t you think that ship sailed the first time Brad pulled a stunt like this?”

Like this? It’s not the same, but it still needed to be buried.

“You’re not wrong to worry about Katie, or the baby. But you have to understand, there are no clean wins here. Only survival.”

I pick up the folder, flipping through the printouts: screenshots, photos, a copy of Dan’s university discipline record. “So, when do you drop the hammer?”

“When I’m sure they’ll take the deal. No more surprise witnesses. No more leakages.” He takes a sip of his coffee, then looks at me with an odd, old sadness. “You want to know what I’m really thinking?”

I scoff. “That would be nice.”

“I don’t want you or Brad to lose her,” he says, voice so low I almost miss it. “I don’t want this family to be another piece of collateral damage.” He presses the bridge of his nose. “I want her to have a damn chance.”

I don’t say anything. I watch him, see the exhaustion in the way he folds his hands, the way his eyes linger on the door like he’s waiting for someone else to barge in and make the next move.

“She’s stronger than all of us,” I say.

He smiles. “She has to be since she survived all three of us, right?”

I don’t respond and circle back. “How much time do you need?” I ask as the envelop in my back pocket weighs down on me.

“Few more weeks,” he sighs. “I need everything I can get and then I need to move some money around."

“As an extra incentive,” I add.

He nods, his stare taking me in. “And what are you hiding?"

Now I smile and pull the envelop out of my back pocket. “It seems Dan has some friends. They are arresting Brad.”

His brows tighten together. “Already?” He takes the envelop from me.

“From what I’ve seen,” I say and glance at the papers. “We need more dirt on Dan and funds to bury all this, quick.”

My dad scans the letter, cursing under his breath. “How did he pull this off?” he asks without needing an answer.

“So what now?” I ask.

He takes one more look at the top of the letter. “This isn’t official?"

“No, got it from a friend.”

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