Bennett pulled his arm from my grip with a shaking hand, his eyes never leaving my son’s face.
Grady stood frozen on the lawn, his knuckles white against the handle of the spatula he was holding, his jaw locked in a hard, dangerous line.
“Grady…” I stammered, looking back and forth between them. “Do you two know each other?”
Neither of them answered. Bennett practically ran back down the driveway toward his car. The engine roared to life, tires screeching against the asphalt as he sped away, leaving me standing in the middle of my son’s yard in complete, breathless shock.
I turned to Grady, my heart hammering against my ribs. “What just happened? Why did Bennett look at you like he’d seen a ghost?”
Grady set the spatula down on the outdoor table, his voice low and trembling with a rage I had never heard from him before.
“Because six years ago, Mom,” Grady said, turning to look me in the eye, “that man destroyed my life.”
What did Grady reveal about Bennett’s past? Continue reading Part 3 below to unearth the truth.
PART 3: The Broken Contract
Grady led me into the living room, pulling out a faded manila folder from his desk drawer.
“After Dad passed away,” Grady explained, his voice thick with emotion, “I tried to start my own residential construction business. I took out a loan, hired a small crew, and signed my first major subcontract with a commercial developer.”
He laid a set of court documents and financial records on the table in front of me.
“The head project manager for that developer was Bennett,” Grady revealed. “He forced my company to purchase materials through a specific supplier he secretly owned. When the materials turned out to be defective, Bennett falsified the inspection reports, blamed my crew, and defaulted on our payments.”
My stomach churned as I stared at Bennett’s signature on the legal notices.
“I lost my entire savings trying to fight him in court, Mom,” Grady whispered, tears filling his eyes. “I nearly went bankrupt, and he walked away with a quarter of a million dollars from the insurance payout while I took the fall.”
How did Colleen confront Bennett? Continue reading Part 4 below for the showdown.
