Chapter 4 - The Recording on the Floor
Allison and the twins were transported back to the hospital.
Colonel Hale followed.
Eric tried to enter the ambulance.
The security officer blocked him.
“Captain Grant has declined your presence.”
“She’s my wife.”
“She said no.”
The doors closed.
Inside the ambulance, Allison held one carrier steady while a paramedic examined her incision.
The wound had partially reopened.
She had lost blood but remained conscious.
At the hospital, Colonel Hale returned her damaged phone.
An audio application was still running.
Allison pressed play.
The recording began before she entered the house.
Eric’s voice came clearly through the speaker.
“She signs tonight or she leaves.”
Dana replied, “What if she refuses?”
“Mom provokes her. We record the reaction and use it for custody.”
Lorraine asked, “What if she starts bleeding?”
Eric answered coldly.
“She was discharged. Anything that happens afterward is her responsibility.”
Allison stopped the recording.
Her hand trembled.
Colonel Hale’s jaw tightened.
She pressed play again.
Dana said, “Once the transfer clears, my father releases the investment.”
Eric replied, “Then Grant Defense Consulting becomes ours.”
Allison looked up sharply.
Grant Defense Consulting had belonged to her late father, General Samuel Grant.
Allison inherited controlling shares.
Eric managed several civilian contracts but did not own the company.
Her new command appointment would trigger a complete financial ethics review.
That review would expose any unauthorized transaction.
That was why he hid the letter.
That was why he needed her declared unstable before the deadline.
Dana had not moved into Allison’s home simply because she wanted Eric.
She represented Crowley Capital, the company attempting to acquire Allison’s defense business.
“This was never only an affair,” Allison whispered.
“No,” Hale said. “It was an acquisition.”
A nurse entered carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a flash drive found beneath one twin’s blanket.
A handwritten label read:
FOR ALLISON—BEFORE ERIC FINDS IT.
May you like
Allison had never seen it.
👉 The phone revealed Eric’s plan—but the hidden flash drive contained proof that the betrayal reached deep inside Allison’s father’s company.
