Chapter 5 - Someone Inside the House Wanted Grace Gone
Grace refused to believe it.
“Mrs. Price?”
Marcus placed the access records on Adrian's desk.
“The printer requires an employee card.”
Grace shook her head.
“She helped me.”
“Maybe,” Marcus said. “Or maybe she wanted you to trust her.”
Adrian remained silent.
Mrs. Price had served the Blackwood family for twenty-three years.
She had helped raise Adrian.
She had held Lily hours after she was born.
If Eleanor Price was involved, there was almost nobody left Adrian could trust.
They confronted her before dawn.
Mrs. Price looked at the photograph.
Then she sat down.
“I printed it.”
Grace felt betrayed.
“Why?”
Mrs. Price's eyes filled with tears.
“Because they told me they would kill my son.”
Silence.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Who?”
“Victor.”
Mrs. Price began to cry.
For months, Victor had forced her to report Grace's movements.
He feared Lily's growing attachment to the maid.
Not because Grace mattered.
Because Lily was beginning to recover.
And if Lily recovered, she might speak.
Victor's greatest protection had always been the child's silence.
“Why didn't you come to me?” Adrian demanded.
Mrs. Price looked at him sadly.
“Because your uncle taught all of us that you belonged to him.”
The words hit harder than Adrian expected.
Victor had built his influence slowly.
After Adrian's father's death, he had become mentor, adviser and surrogate parent.
He controlled information.
Security.
Accounts.
Even people.
Catherine had apparently discovered the truth.
Victor had been siphoning millions from Blackwood companies and secretly partnering with rivals.
But money wasn't the worst secret.
Catherine had discovered that Victor was planning to manipulate Adrian into a violent conflict that would leave Victor controlling the empire.
Vanessa knew.
She had helped him.
Not because she loved Victor.
Because he promised her Adrian.
A marriage.
Status.
Access to the Blackwood fortune.
Catherine stood between them.
So Catherine had to disappear.
Grace listened in horror.
“Did Vanessa kill her?”
Mrs. Price shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Adrian asked, “What do you know?”
Mrs. Price looked toward Lily's bedroom.
“Catherine gave me something before she died.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
“A key.”
“Where is it?”
“I hid it.”
Mrs. Price led them into the old nursery.
Behind a loose panel inside a wardrobe was a tiny brass key.
Attached to it was a tag.
C.B. 317
Adrian recognized the initials.
Catherine Blackwood.
But not the number.
Marcus did.
“Grand Central.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Locker?”
“Possibly.”
By sunrise, they had an answer.
Locker 317 no longer existed.
But archived records showed Catherine had rented a private storage box through a secure luggage service two days before her death.
Its contents had eventually been transferred to a long-term storage facility.
The box was still there.
Inside were financial records.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten letter addressed to Adrian.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Catherine had known she was in danger.
She had discovered Victor's betrayal.
She had discovered Vanessa was secretly meeting him.
And she suspected someone had tampered with her car.
But the final paragraph was different.
If anything happens to me, protect Lily from them. She heard more than they realize. Do not let Victor convince you that loyalty and blood are the same thing. And Adrian—do not become harder because you lose me. Lily will need the part of you that you hide from everyone else.
Adrian stopped reading.
Grace quietly turned away to give him privacy.
He wiped his eyes.
Then Marcus inserted the flash drive.
Most files were financial documents.
One was an audio recording.
Victor's voice.
Vanessa's voice.
Catherine had secretly recorded them.
Vanessa said, “Once she's gone, he’ll be vulnerable.”
Victor replied, “Then make yourself indispensable.”
Grace felt sick.
The recording continued.
Vanessa laughed.
“And the child?”
“Children adapt.”
“She hates me.”
“Then give her a reason to need you.”
Adrian stopped the recording.
Nobody spoke.
But there was still no direct confession to murder.
Enough to expose betrayal.
Not enough to prove who caused Catherine's crash.
Then Grace noticed a file marked LILY.
Inside was a photograph.
Catherine.
Lily.
And Grace.
Grace stared.
“That’s impossible.”
The photograph had been taken years earlier.
Grace was standing in the background of a children's hospital fundraiser.
She had been volunteering while studying education.
Catherine was kneeling beside Lily only several feet away.
Grace didn't remember them.
But Catherine apparently remembered Grace.
Attached to the photograph was a note.
The volunteer in this picture calmed Lily during her panic attack. Find her if anything happens to me. Her name is Grace Bennett.
Grace couldn't breathe.
Adrian stared at her.
“You met Catherine.”
“I didn't know.”
Lily entered quietly.
She saw the photograph.
Then smiled.
“Mommy knew Grace.”
Adrian crouched beside her.
“Do you remember this?”
Lily nodded.
“She sang.”
Grace's eyes filled with tears.
The lullaby.
The same lullaby she had hummed in the library.
Suddenly everything made sense.
Lily had not called Grace Mommy because she thought Grace was Catherine.
She associated Grace with one of the last moments she had felt safe with her mother.
Grace covered her mouth.
Adrian looked at her differently now.
Not as an employee.
Not even simply as the woman helping his daughter.
As someone Catherine herself had once noticed.
Then Marcus's phone rang.
His expression changed.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“Vanessa's gone.”
Adrian stood.
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
Marcus looked toward the flash drive.
“And Victor's gone too.”
A second later, the estate lights went out.
Lily screamed.
Grace grabbed her.
A window shattered downstairs.
Men shouted.
Then came a single gunshot.
Adrian pushed Grace and Lily behind the desk.
“Stay here.”
He reached the door.
Grace caught his arm.
“Adrian.”
He turned.
“Come back.”
For the first time, his hard expression cracked.
“I will.”
He disappeared into the darkness.
And from somewhere downstairs came Victor Blackwood's voice.
“Bring me the drive, Adrian.”
May you like
A pause.
“Or tonight, your daughter loses another parent.”
