Chapter 8 - GRACE’S BIRTHDAY
Grace would have been six months old on a Tuesday.
Hannah closed the bakery.
She told everyone the ovens needed maintenance.
Nobody believed her.
Adrian arrived at noon carrying no flowers.
He had learned.
Grief did not always want decoration.
Sometimes it wanted company.
They drove to the cemetery.
Hannah placed one small loaf of honey bread beside Grace’s grave.
“My mother made this whenever somebody came home,” she explained.
Adrian stood beside her holding Lucas.
“I know she never came home. But…”
Her voice failed.
Adrian said nothing.
Lucas reached toward Hannah.
She took him.
He pressed his warm cheek against her neck.
For months, Hannah had feared loving Lucas somehow betrayed Grace.
That afternoon she finally understood.
Love was not a container.
Giving some away did not empty what remained.
She kissed Lucas’s forehead.
“I wish you knew her.”
Adrian looked at the grave.
“So do I.”
Behind them, Marco waited beside the car.
Hannah glanced at him.
Adrian noticed.
“You should go to dinner with him.”
She almost dropped Lucas.
“What?”
“I’m observant.”
“You didn’t notice your CFO was plotting against you.”
Adrian looked offended.
“That was unnecessarily specific.”
She laughed.
That evening, Hannah accepted Marco’s invitation.
Their first date was terrible.
Marco chose an expensive restaurant where everyone recognized him.
Hannah spilled wine.
Marco received three security calls.
A waiter dropped a plate when Adrian unexpectedly appeared because he had “business nearby.”
Hannah marched outside.
“You followed us?”
“I was hungry.”
“You hate French food.”
“I’m expanding my palate.”
Marco came outside laughing.
“You know, boss, most fathers do this when their daughter dates.”
“She isn’t my daughter.”
“Cousin, then.”
“You’re missing the point.”
Hannah folded her arms.
“What is the point?”
Adrian considered it.
“I don’t trust him.”
Marco stared.
“I’ve taken bullets for you.”
“That demonstrates poor judgment.”
Hannah laughed so hard she cried.
And once the tears began, they changed.
Suddenly she was crying for Grace.
For Isabel.
For the months she had lost.
Marco did not panic.
He simply held her.
Adrian quietly returned inside.
That was when Hannah knew Marco might be someone worth trusting.
Weeks became months.
Julian’s trial approached.
Victor agreed to testify against him in exchange for consideration in his own sentencing.
Elena Ruiz entered witness protection.
Samuel Bennett pleaded guilty to kidnapping and several related offenses but cooperated extensively, helping prosecutors reconstruct the conspiracy.
Then Julian escaped during a medical transfer.
The news reached Adrian at 5:40 a.m.
By six, the estate was locked down.
By seven, Hannah was furious.
“I am not moving back into your house.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Marco entered.
“She’s moving.”
“Traitor.”
“Hannah, Julian has nothing left.”
“Exactly.”
Marco’s face became serious.
“A man with nothing left is harder to predict.”
She moved into the estate.
Again.
This time her room contained photographs.
Grace.
Her parents.
The bakery staff.
Lucas.
One photograph showed Adrian covered in flour.
He threatened to burn it.
Hannah made copies.
For four days, nothing happened.
On the fifth, Julian called.
Not Adrian.
Hannah.
“I want to see my cousin’s daughter.”
“You’ve seen me.”
“I want to tell you what happened to Nicholas.”
Her biological father.
Hannah’s chest tightened.
“Why should I care what you say?”
“Because Adrian’s father killed him.”
The call ended.
Hannah told Adrian immediately.
He went pale.
Victor Vale, Adrian’s father, had died years earlier.
But the possibility was believable.
Nicholas had wanted to leave the family.
Victor had considered defection betrayal.
Adrian opened old files.
Theresa supplied memories.
Eventually, they found evidence.
Victor had indeed ordered Nicholas’s boat sabotaged.
Adrian sat alone for hours afterward.
Hannah found him at sunset.
“My father killed yours.”
“Your father isn’t you.”
“He made me what I became.”
“No. He taught you what to become. There’s a difference.”
Adrian looked toward Lucas.
“What if I teach him the same?”
“Then teach him something else.”
Simple words.
An enormous task.
Adrian nodded.
The next morning, federal agents found Julian.
He had returned to the cemetery where Nicholas Vale was buried.
He carried a weapon.
But he never fired it.
He surrendered.
When asked why, Julian gave only one answer.
“I’m tired.”
For Hannah, it was almost disappointing.
After so much destruction, evil did not end with thunder.
Sometimes it ended with an exhausted man placing a gun on wet grass.
May you like
Julian returned to custody.
And this time, there would be no escape.
