Chapter 4
Charles Harrington had built companies through recessions, lawsuits, hostile takeovers, and scandals.
None of that prepared him for his granddaughter looking at him like a stranger.
Emily stood across the conference table.
“You sent her away.”
Charles nodded.
“The morning she died?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard remained silent.
Agent Mitchell remained silent.
Everyone seemed to understand that this answer belonged to Emily.
Charles slowly sat.
“Grace came to my house before sunrise.”
Emily did not move.
“She was terrified. She had you with her.”
“I was there?”
“You were four.”
Emily had no memory of it.
“Grace said Gabriel had found her. She said she needed somewhere safe.”
Emily swallowed.
“And you told her to leave.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“I didn’t understand.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I thought she was trying to manipulate me.”
“Why?”
“Because we had spent years fighting.”
Emily stared.
“Over Daniel?”
“Over everything.”
Charles looked at his hands.
“Your mother hated the life I wanted for her. The schools. The company. The people I expected her to marry. She said every choice I offered was just another version of obedience.”
Emily could almost hear Grace saying it.
“And when she chose Daniel?”
“I told her she was throwing away her future.”
“You mean your version of her future.”
“Yes.”
The admission surprised Emily.
Charles continued.
“She left. We barely spoke afterward.”
“Until that morning.”
“Yes.”
“What did she ask?”
“She asked me to take you.”
Emily’s breath caught.
“Just me?”
“For a few days.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Charles’s voice cracked.
“Because I was angry.”
Emily stared at him.
“I believed she had created another crisis and expected me to rescue her.”
“So you refused.”
“Yes.”
“What did Mom say?”
Charles looked toward the dark windows.
“She said, ‘One day you’re going to understand what this costs you.’”
Emily felt tears slide down her face.
“She was right.”
“Yes.”
“What happened after she left?”
“I called Richard.”
Richard looked up.
Charles continued.
“I asked whether Grace had contacted him. He lied.”
Richard nodded.
“I told Charles I hadn’t heard from her.”
“Then?”
Charles looked at Emily.
“Four hours later, the police called.”
No one spoke.
Emily walked to the window.
Her reflection stared back.
Twenty-four years of her life had been built around an accident.
Now every memory seemed contaminated.
Daniel crying at the funeral.
Charles absent.
Richard silent.
Gabriel alive.
Her mother afraid.
Emily pressed her forehead against the glass.
“What happened to me after the crash?”
“Daniel arrived before I did,” Charles said.
“He was your legal father. He took you home.”
“And you let him.”
“I believed that was what Grace wanted.”
“You didn’t fight for me?”
“No.”
Emily turned.
“Why?”
Charles looked destroyed.
“Because I thought you would be safer without me.”
Emily almost laughed.
“Everyone was protecting me.”
Nobody answered.
“And somehow I’m the last person who knew anything.”
Agent Mitchell stepped forward.
“There may be someone else who can answer questions.”
Emily wiped her face.
“Who?”
“Your father’s attorney.”
“Daniel had an attorney?”
“Not exactly.”
Mitchell handed her a photocopied letter.
“After Daniel died, a sealed instruction was delivered to a small law office in Vermont. It specified that if anyone reopened questions about Grace’s death, the attorney should contact you.”
Emily stared.
“Why didn’t he?”
“He tried.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
Emily looked at Charles.
The exact time Charles had found her.
“You knew?”
Charles frowned.
“No.”
Michael looked through the documents.
“What’s the attorney’s name?”
“Samuel Price.”
Richard suddenly sat upright.
“What?”
Everyone looked at him.
“You know him?” Emily asked.
Richard looked uneasy.
“I knew a Samuel Price twenty-five years ago.”
“How?”
“He was Gabriel’s attorney.”
The room chilled.
Agent Mitchell said, “The Vermont Samuel Price is seventy-two. Same man.”
Emily stared at the letter.
“Where is he?”
“Missing.”
That word landed heavily.
“Since when?”
“Yesterday morning.”
Emily’s phone vibrated again.
She almost jumped.
This time it was a text.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
GO HOME.
Emily showed Mitchell.
“Trace it.”
A technician began working.
Charles stood.
“You are not going back to your apartment.”
Emily looked at him.
“I’m tired of people giving me orders.”
“This isn’t about control.”
“It always sounds like that when someone else is controlling me.”
“Emily.”
She looked at his face.
Fear.
Real fear.
Her anger weakened.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Stay somewhere secure tonight.”
“Where?”
“My townhouse.”
Richard immediately said, “No.”
Charles turned.
“Excuse me?”
“If Gabriel knows your security procedures, your house is the first place he’ll expect.”
Agent Mitchell agreed.
“He may be right.”
Richard looked at Emily.
“There’s another place.”
Charles frowned.
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
Emily looked between them.
“What place?”
Richard hesitated.
“My wife’s family owns a property north of the city.”
“Absolutely not,” Charles said.
“It’s been empty for years.”
“No.”
“No corporate records connect Emily to it.”
Charles stepped closer.
“I am not putting her under your protection.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“You trusted me with financial accounts for twenty years.”
“And look where that got us.”
Emily interrupted.
“I’ll decide.”
Both men stopped.
She looked at Richard.
“Who knows about the property?”
“My wife. Victoria. Me.”
“Staff?”
“One caretaker.”
Agent Mitchell asked for the address.
Richard provided it.
Mitchell made calls.
Twenty minutes later, she returned.
“We can secure it.”
Charles still looked unhappy.
Emily looked at him.
“I’m going.”
“Emily.”
“You don’t get to hide me again.”
“This isn’t hiding.”
“It feels like it.”
He said nothing.
Emily turned to Richard.
“Victoria comes too.”
Richard blinked.
“What?”
“If I’m staying in a house owned by your family, your daughter stays there.”
“That’s unnecessary.”
“No.”
Emily looked directly at him.
“If you’re lying to me, you won’t put Victoria somewhere dangerous.”
Richard understood.
“You don’t trust me.”
“Should I?”
“No.”
“Then she comes.”
Richard nodded.
“I’ll tell her.”
Victoria did not react well.
“You want me to hide in the woods with her?”
She stood inside a private lounge twenty minutes later, still wearing her gala dress.
Her attorney looked exhausted.
Emily crossed her arms.
“You can stay here.”
Victoria looked toward the windows where reporters gathered forty floors below.
“Wonderful.”
Richard said, “Victoria.”
She spun toward him.
“Did you know she was a Harrington?”
“No.”
“Did you know about her mother?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know someone might have killed her?”
Richard hesitated.
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.
“Oh my God.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Emily looked away.
Victoria noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
Emily looked back.
“That phrase is getting repetitive tonight.”
Victoria’s face twisted.
“You think you’re better than me.”
“No.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep asking.”
Victoria stepped toward her.
“You ruined my life tonight.”
Emily stared at her.
“You tore my clothes off in front of a hundred people.”
“I tore your dress.”
“In front of cameras.”
Victoria’s confidence flickered.
Emily continued.
“You called me trash because you thought nobody important cared about me.”
“I didn’t say trash.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Victoria looked away.
“I was angry.”
“At what?”
Silence.
Emily waited.
Victoria finally said, “You were wearing my mother’s dress.”
Emily looked down.
“What?”
“The silver gown.”
Emily frowned.
“I bought it from a vintage shop.”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice became quieter.
“My mother wore that dress when she was twenty-seven.”
Richard’s face changed.
“Victoria.”
She looked at him.
“It disappeared after she died.”
Emily went still.
Victoria’s mother, Catherine Ashford, had died when Victoria was thirteen.
Cancer.
At least publicly.
“Where was the shop?” Richard asked.
Emily gave the address.
Richard’s fear returned.
“That store is owned by a Vale holding company.”
Agent Mitchell looked sharply at him.
“How do you know?”
“I investigated Gabriel after Grace died.”
Emily stared.
“You told us you were too afraid to go to police.”
“I was.”
“So you investigated alone?”
“Yes.”
Charles looked furious.
“And said nothing.”
Richard looked at him.
“I thought Gabriel disappeared.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
Emily remembered buying the dress two weeks earlier.
The shop owner had insisted it fit perfectly.
She had given Emily a strange discount.
Had Gabriel arranged everything?
The invitation.
The dress.
The gala.
Emily felt suddenly manipulated.
“This entire night was planned.”
Mitchell said, “Possibly.”
“By him?”
“We don’t know.”
Victoria looked sick.
“So he wanted me to see my mother’s dress?”
Richard moved closer.
“Victoria.”
She backed away.
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
Victoria looked at Emily.
“What did my mother have to do with Grace?”
Emily turned to Richard.
“Yes.”
Richard’s silence was enough.
Victoria whispered, “Dad.”
Richard sat down.
“Catherine and Grace were friends.”
Victoria frowned.
“No, they weren’t.”
“They were.”
“Mom never mentioned her.”
“She couldn’t.”
“Why?”
Richard rubbed his face.
“Because Catherine helped Grace collect evidence against Gabriel.”
Victoria’s anger disappeared.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
Emily stepped closer.
“How much did she know?”
“Enough.”
“Did Gabriel threaten her too?”
Richard looked at Victoria.
“Yes.”
Victoria’s face crumpled.
“All my life you told me Mom died hating you because you worked too much.”
“She did hate me.”
Richard’s voice broke.
“But not for that.”
Victoria looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because when Grace asked for help…”
He struggled.
“I chose you over her.”
Victoria whispered, “What does that mean?”
Richard’s eyes filled.
“I told Catherine I wouldn’t risk our family.”
“So Mom helped Grace without you.”
“Yes.”
Victoria turned away.
The arrogance she had worn like armor all evening disappeared.
For the first time, Emily saw someone else beneath it.
A daughter.
Confused.
Angry.
Afraid.
Emily knew that feeling too well.
The drive north began shortly before three in the morning.
Two armored SUVs.
Federal agents.
Harrington security.
Emily sat in the second vehicle.
Victoria sat opposite her.
Neither spoke.
Rain tapped lightly against the windows.
After forty minutes, Victoria finally broke the silence.
“I’m sorry.”
Emily looked up.
Victoria stared at her hands.
“For the dress.”
Emily waited.
Victoria continued.
“I know that sounds stupid now.”
“It wasn’t stupid when you did it.”
“No.”
“Why did you?”
Victoria looked out the window.
“Because everyone was watching.”
“That made it better?”
“No.”
“It made you cruel.”
Victoria swallowed.
“Yes.”
Emily had not expected agreement.
Victoria looked back.
“My whole life, if I wasn’t the most interesting woman in the room, I felt invisible.”
Emily said quietly, “So you made me smaller.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t make me forgive you.”
“I know.”
Silence returned.
Then the SUV stopped.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
The security officer in front touched his earpiece.
“What happened?”
No answer.
The lead SUV sat fifty yards ahead.
Its lights were on.
The road beyond disappeared into darkness.
The driver said, “Stay inside.”
Emily looked toward the trees.
Victoria whispered, “Why did we stop?”
The security officer reached for his weapon.
Then every light on the road went out.
Both SUVs.
Streetlights.
Everything.
Darkness swallowed them.
Victoria grabbed Emily’s arm.
“What is happening?”
A phone began ringing.
Not Emily’s.
Not Victoria’s.
A phone neither woman had seen before.
It was sitting on the floor between them.
The screen glowed in the darkness.
One word appeared.
GRACE.
May you like
Emily stared at it.
The phone kept ringing.
