Chapter 4 - The Debt That Was Never HersLydia returned to the estate three days later.
Her arms were wrapped in clean medical dressings, and her movements were cautious.
Grant had arranged for a nurse to visit twice daily.
He had also ordered that she no longer be expected to attend family events or perform any household duties.
The kitchen staff would handle everything.
Yet Lydia found herself standing in the kitchen that afternoon, staring at the stockpot.
The damaged handle had been removed.
A new pot sat in its place.
“Mrs. Holloway?”
Margaret approached quietly.
“Are you all right?”
Lydia nodded.
“I just wanted some water.”
Margaret filled a glass.
Then, after looking toward the hallway, she lowered her voice.
“There's something you should know.”
Lydia turned.
“What?”
“I saw Mrs. Holloway moving papers from the study the morning after Thanksgiving.”
“Celeste?”
Margaret nodded.
“She asked me to destroy an old folder. I didn't. I thought it might be important.”
She handed Lydia a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Daniel Mercer.
Richard Holloway.
And a third man Lydia recognized immediately.
Her father's former business partner, Thomas Vale.
On the back, three names were written in blue ink.
Daniel Mercer.
Richard Holloway.
Thomas Vale.
Below them was a sentence:
One man stole the money. One man covered it up. One man paid the price.
Lydia's hands trembled.
She had spent years believing her father had ruined his life through bad business decisions.
He had never explained the debts.
He had simply apologized repeatedly and told her she deserved a better future.
When she confronted him shortly before his death, he had cried.
“Some mistakes don't belong to the person who gets blamed for them,” he had told her.
She had thought it was the confusion of a dying man.
Now the words sounded different.
That evening, Lydia found Grant in his office.
He was reading a thick file.
“What are you investigating?” she asked.
He looked up.
“Your father.”
She placed the photograph on his desk.
“I think you should see this.”
Grant studied it.
His expression changed when he noticed the handwriting.
“Where did you get this?”
“Margaret found it.”
He turned the photograph over.
“Daniel, Richard, Thomas,” he murmured.
“Do you know who Thomas Vale is?”
Grant nodded.
“He was my father's chief financial officer. He disappeared shortly after the investigation.”
“Disappeared?”
“He left the country. Nobody heard from him again.”
Lydia sat down.
“My father never stole two million dollars.”
Grant looked at her carefully.
“I don't know that yet.”
She flinched.
“I understand.”
“Lydia, I'm not accusing him. I'm telling you I need evidence.”
She looked down at her bandaged arms.
“I spent six months thinking I had to be grateful because you paid my father's debts. What if those debts were never his?”
Grant closed the file.
“Then I'll make sure you don't pay them.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Lydia asked the question she had been avoiding.
“Why did you choose me?”
Grant leaned back.
“I found your father's name in an old financial report. I wanted to know whether you had inherited anything.”
“So you married me to investigate him?”
“Partly.”
The answer hurt more than she expected.
“Partly?”
Grant rubbed his forehead.
“When I first met you, you were working at a diner. You were helping an elderly customer count his change while your manager yelled at you for being behind schedule. You gave him your own money when he was short.”
Lydia remembered the customer.
She remembered Grant sitting in the corner booth.
“I didn't know who you were.”
“I know.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because everyone who knows my name wants something from me. You were the first person in years who treated me like I was nobody important.”
Lydia swallowed.
“That doesn't explain why you married me.”
“No,” he admitted. “It doesn't.”
He opened a drawer and removed a document.
It was their marriage contract.
He placed it between them.
“I want to change something.”
Lydia looked at him.
“What?”
“The agreement says our marriage ends after one year. I'm willing to terminate it now. Your father's debt is gone. You owe me nothing.”
She stared at the paper.
“You're offering me a divorce?”
“I'm offering you a choice.”
Lydia's eyes filled.
For six months, she had dreamed of being free.
Now that freedom was sitting in front of her, and she wasn't sure she wanted to take it.
Before she could answer, Grant's phone rang.
His investigator.
“Sir, we found Thomas Vale.”
Grant stood.
“Where?”
“Chicago. He's been living under another name.”
“Bring him in.”
There was another pause.
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“Mr. Vale says he won't speak to you.”
Grant's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
The investigator lowered his voice.
“Because he says your father wasn't the only Holloway involved in the fraud.”
Lydia looked up.
“Who else?”
May you like
The answer came through the speaker.
“Your mother, sir.”
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