Chapter 14
Victoria made a deal.
Not because she was sorry.
Because Charles abandoned her.
The moment the investigation reached his accounts, he cut off her legal payments.
Victoria turned on him within a week.
She gave prosecutors emails.
Recordings.
Instructions.
A message from Charles sent the night of the kitchen attack.
If the child appears, provoke Grace. Force Nathan to see violence from her first.
Victoria had failed.
Grace had protected Lily instead.
I read the message in Olivia’s office and felt cold all the way through.
Grace sat beside me.
Her hands were steady.
Mine were not.
Victoria’s recorded statement was worse.
“My father said Grace was weak,” she told prosecutors. “He said mothers panic when children are threatened. He said if Nathan saw Grace lose control, he would never believe her.”
Grace stood and left the room.
I followed her into the hallway.
She pressed both hands against the wall.
“I keep thinking there’s a bottom,” she said.
I stood near her.
Not touching.
“There isn’t with people like him.”
She laughed once.
“You sound experienced.”
“I learned from him too late.”
She looked at me.
“You learned from people like him your whole life, Nathan. You just didn’t have to fear them.”
That truth hit hard.
“No,” I said. “I didn’t.”
She wiped her face.
“I did. Lily did.”
“I know.”
“You don’t.”
I nodded.
“You’re right. I don’t. But I want to understand enough to never dismiss it again.”
She studied me for a long moment.
Then she let out a tired breath.
“Lily asked if you can come to dinner.”
My heart stopped.
“She did?”
“Yes.”
“What should I bring?”
Grace almost smiled.
“Patience.”
I brought that.
And soup.
Store-bought, because I panicked.
Lily declared it “medium good.”
Grace laughed.
May you like
It was the first full laugh I had heard from her in five years.
I would have bought every bad soup in the city to hear it again.
