Chapter 2
For a moment, I forgot how to speak.
The kitchen was black except for the weak gray light from the storm outside.
Grace was still on the floor.
Lily was pressed against her chest.
Victoria stood between us like a statue.
And Charles Whitmore’s voice sat in my ear like a blade.
“Who is in my system?” I asked.
Charles ignored the question.
“Nathan, listen carefully. Grace Bennett is dangerous.”
Grace lifted her head.
Even in the dark, I saw her flinch at his name.
That told me enough.
“You know her,” I said.
A pause.
Then Charles exhaled.
“I know what she is capable of.”
“What is she capable of?”
“Extortion. Manipulation. Lies.”
Lily whimpered.
My eyes moved to the child.
My child.
Maybe.
No.
Not maybe.
Something in me already knew.
Charles continued.
“She came into your house under false pretenses. She brought that child as leverage.”
Grace’s voice shook.
“You paid the hospital to hide her birth record.”
The silence after that was violent.
Victoria turned sharply toward Grace.
“Shut up.”
I heard it.
Not fear.
Command.
I lowered the phone.
“What hospital?”
Grace tried to stand.
Pain cut across her face.
I moved toward her.
Lily shrank back again.
So I stopped and looked at Clara, my housekeeper, who had appeared in the doorway holding a flashlight.
“Clara, help Grace up.”
Clara rushed forward.
Victoria snapped, “Do not touch her.”
Clara stopped.
I looked at Victoria.
“She is hurt.”
“She is acting.”
Grace struggled to her feet with Clara’s help.
Lily stayed wrapped around her waist.
Charles’s voice came through the phone again.
“Nathan, if you let Grace speak, she will destroy everything.”
I brought the phone back to my ear.
“Then you should have called sooner.”
“What?”
“If she is lying, the camera would have proved it. Someone shut it down before I could watch.”
“Nathan—”
“Was it you?”
He did not answer.
My pulse slowed.
That was how I knew I was angry.
Real anger did not make me loud.
It made me precise.
I turned to Victoria.
“Did you call your father?”
Her mouth opened.
“No.”
Grace whispered, “She did. Before you came in. She told him I brought Lily.”
Victoria spun on her.
“You filthy little liar.”
Lily began crying harder.
I stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Victoria looked wounded.
“Nathan, she walked into our home with some child and a story. You cannot seriously believe—”
“She called me Daddy.”
“Because Grace trained her.”
Lily lifted her face.
Her voice was tiny.
“Mommy didn’t train me.”
Everyone froze.
She held out the photograph again.
“You smiled like this in my bedtime picture.”
Something inside my chest cracked.
Charles spoke again.
“Remove them from the house now.”
I looked at the dead security panel.
At Grace’s bruised shoulder.
At Victoria’s shaking hands.
At Lily’s terrified eyes.
“No,” I said.
Charles went quiet.
I ended the call.
Then I called my head of security from the landline.
May you like
It still worked.
“Marcus,” I said. “Lock the estate. No one enters. No one leaves.”
