Chapter 4 - THE FUNERAL
Garrett arrived at his son’s funeral surrounded by security.
That was his second mistake.
The first had been coming at all without speaking to Meredith.
The church stood beneath a gray December sky while snow gathered along the stone steps.
Inside, four hundred people filled the pews.
Teachers.
Doctors.
Nurses.
Neighbors.
Employees from Lawson Technologies.
William’s former colleagues.
Parents from Lucas’s kindergarten class.
People Garrett had never met but Lucas had somehow touched.
At the front stood a small white casket.
Captain rested beside a framed photograph of Lucas laughing through a gap in his front teeth.
Meredith sat between her parents.
She wore black.
No jewelry.
No makeup.
Her hands remained folded in her lap.
The doors opened.
Murmurs moved through the church.
Garrett entered with his mother, Eleanor Lawson.
Eleanor was sixty-six, impeccably dressed, and possessed the serene confidence of a woman who had spent decades turning money into permission.
She walked as though the building belonged to her.
Garrett looked destroyed.
For once, William believed the grief was real.
Garrett loved Lucas.
That was what made everything worse.
He had loved his son and still believed his own convenience could wait longer than a five-year-old’s fear.
Garrett approached Meredith’s row.
She did not stand.
“Meredith.”
She looked at him.
“I want to sit with my family.”
“You should have thought about that before you chose Vanessa.”
Eleanor leaned forward.
“This is neither the time nor the place.”
Meredith looked at her.
“You’re right.”
Eleanor seemed relieved.
Meredith continued.
“The time was when my son was alive.”
Garrett shut his eyes.
William said nothing.
Garrett moved to the pew behind them.
During the service, Lucas’s kindergarten teacher told a story about how he once refused to let another boy eat lunch alone.
A nurse from the pulmonary clinic described Lucas insisting his inhaler made him “basically a dragon.”
People laughed through tears.
Then Meredith walked to the podium.
Garrett’s head lifted.
She unfolded a piece of paper.
“My son was five years, three months, and eleven days old.”
Her voice nearly failed.
She waited.
Then continued.
“He was afraid of thunderstorms. He believed pickles were disgusting but somehow enjoyed pickle-flavored potato chips. He could not pronounce ‘specific.’ He called it ‘pacific.’”
Soft laughter moved through the church.
“He loved his father.”
Garrett looked down.
Meredith’s hands tightened around the paper.
“He loved him completely.”
William watched Garrett’s shoulders shake.
“And because Lucas loved completely, he assumed everyone else did too.”
Meredith looked at the little casket.
“His last thought was not anger.”
Garrett slowly raised his eyes.
“It was waiting.”
The church became silent.
Meredith stepped away from the podium.
She never looked at Garrett again.
After the burial, Garrett followed her toward the cemetery gate.
“Meredith.”
She kept walking.
He grabbed her arm.
William moved instantly.
Garrett released her before William reached them.
“I just need five minutes.”
“You had forty-three,” Meredith said.
Garrett recoiled.
“What?”
“Forty-three minutes while they were resuscitating him.”
Her eyes filled.
“You had every one of them.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I lost him too.”
Meredith stared at him.
That landed because it was true.
Garrett had lost his son.
His grief was not fake.
But grief did not erase choice.
“I know you lost him,” she said quietly. “But Lucas lost you first.”
Garrett’s face crumpled.
Eleanor approached.
“This spectacle needs to stop.”
William turned toward her.
“Spectacle?”
Eleanor ignored him.
She looked at Meredith.
“There are reporters outside.”
“I didn’t invite them.”
“You need to think carefully about what you say.”
Meredith almost laughed.
“My son is in the ground.”
“I understand you’re emotional.”
William stepped forward.
Eleanor looked at him.
“William, stay out of this.”
“I was planning to.”
She blinked.
“Then why are you involved?”
“Because your lawyers visited my daughter eight hours after her child died.”
Eleanor’s mouth tightened.
“I didn’t authorize that.”
Garrett looked at her.
“Yes, you did.”
Everyone went still.
Eleanor turned sharply.
“Garrett.”
“You told Nathan to get the statement.”
Her face hardened.
“This is not the place.”
William studied them.
Garrett laughed bitterly.
“That’s what everybody keeps saying.”
Eleanor lowered her voice.
“You are in shock.”
Garrett looked at Meredith.
“I knew Lucas was in the hospital.”
Meredith stopped breathing.
Eleanor’s face went white.
Garrett continued.
“I saw messages.”
William did not interrupt.
A confession volunteered in grief could be more revealing than anything produced under pressure.
“I thought you were overreacting.”
Meredith stared at him.
“I told you his heart was unstable.”
“I know.”
“The hospital called your office.”
Garrett looked toward William.
His eyes widened.
William saw the realization.
Garrett had not known they knew.
“You spoke to Emily,” he said.
Meredith whispered, “Emily?”
William answered carefully.
“Garrett’s assistant.”
Meredith looked back at her husband.
“Did someone tell you directly?”
Garrett said nothing.
“Garrett.”
His face twisted.
“Emily said the hospital wanted me to call.”
Meredith swayed.
William grabbed her elbow.
“You knew.”
“I thought—”
“You knew.”
“I didn’t understand.”
“You knew!”
Her voice broke across the cemetery.
Heads turned.
Garrett reached toward her.
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the cold air.
Garrett did not defend himself.
Meredith stood trembling.
“You let him die waiting for you because you were in bed with another woman.”
“That is not why he died.”
William’s expression hardened.
Meredith’s eyes widened.
Garrett immediately realized what he had said.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You’re right.”
She wiped tears from her face.
“You didn’t cause the arrhythmia.”
Garrett swallowed.
“You didn’t cause the asthma attack.”
“Meredith…”
“But you caused his father not to be there.”
She stepped close.
“And you will live with that longer than any sentence a judge could ever give you.”
She walked away.
William remained.
Garrett looked at him.
“Are you trying to destroy me?”
William shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Nothing yet.”
Garrett’s face tightened.
William moved closer.
“You are destroying yourself faster than I ever could.”
Two days later, the first article appeared.
BILLIONAIRE CEO’S SON DIES AFTER MEDICAL EMERGENCY
No mention of the calls.
No affair.
No scandal.
Garrett exhaled for the first time in days.
Then a second story appeared.
LAWSON TECHNOLOGIES CEO TAKES BEREAVEMENT LEAVE
Again, nothing.
Eleanor believed the crisis was contained.
William knew better.
At 2:17 that afternoon, Vanessa entered the Manhattan office of federal attorney Rebecca Sloan.
William had called Rebecca because he trusted her.
He had mentored her twenty-two years earlier.
He did not tell her what to do.
He gave her facts.
Vanessa handed over the recording.
Emily provided her preserved messages.
Saint Catherine preserved its call logs.
Then something unexpected happened.
Rebecca called William.
“There’s a problem.”
“What?”
“Garrett’s corporate phone archive.”
William sat forward.
“What about it?”
“Someone accessed the administrator system this morning.”
“And?”
“Several communications were deleted.”
William closed his eyes.
There it was.
The lie had finally become a crime.
“Can they recover them?”
“Probably.”
“Who authorized the deletion?”
“That’s what we’re finding out.”
At Lawson Technologies, Derek Collins stood outside Garrett’s office holding a printed audit log.
His hands were sweating.
He entered without knocking.
Garrett looked up.
“What?”
Derek placed the paper on the desk.
“You told IT to clean up your messages.”
Garrett’s face changed.
“I told them to remove personal material.”
“They deleted communications related to Lucas.”
Garrett stood.
“I didn’t tell them to do that.”
“They used your administrator credentials.”
Garrett stared at him.
Derek stepped backward.
“You need a criminal lawyer.”
“I have lawyers.”
“No.”
Derek shook his head.
“You have corporate lawyers.”
Garrett looked at the audit sheet.
For the first time, the billionaire CEO understood something that William Sterling had learned decades earlier.
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The cover-up was often easier to prosecute than the original sin.
And William had not even entered the room yet.
