Chapter 6
Grace felt every bit of air leave her lungs.
“What did you say?”
Lily looked confused by the adults staring at her.
“The man comes sometimes.”
Grace crouched in front of her.
“Where do you see him?”
“Outside.”
“Outside our apartment?”
Lily nodded.
“He looks in the window.”
Grace’s face went white.
Their apartment was on the ground floor.
Nathan turned to the detective.
“You need officers there now.”
“We already sent a unit.”
Grace hugged Lily.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought he was Mommy’s friend.”
“He is not my friend.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
“Did I do bad?”
“No.”
Grace immediately kissed her forehead.
“You did nothing wrong.”
Nathan stood behind them, furious.
The detective asked Lily a few gentle questions.
She remembered seeing Caleb three or four times.
Once near her preschool.
Once outside their apartment.
Once inside the hallway of their building.
Then Lily said something else.
“He gave Miss Victoria my picture.”
Grace looked up.
“What picture?”
Lily pointed toward Grace’s purse.
“The school picture.”
Grace opened her bag.
The small preschool photo she always carried was gone.
Her stomach twisted.
Caleb had been close enough to take something from her purse.
Nathan walked away and slammed his palm against the wall.
Grace flinched.
He immediately stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
She said nothing.
His anger wasn’t at her.
But after Victoria, sudden movements felt different.
Nathan saw that.
His expression changed.
“I won’t do that again.”
The detective’s phone rang.
He stepped aside.
A few seconds later, he turned back.
“They found something at your apartment.”
Grace tightened her arms around Lily.
“What?”
“A hidden camera.”
Nathan cursed.
The detective continued.
“It was mounted inside a smoke detector facing the living room.”
Grace looked sick.
“How long?”
“We don’t know.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“She is not going back there.”
Grace looked at him.
“You don’t get to decide where we live.”
“No. But someone was filming you and our daughter.”
“Our daughter?”
Nathan stopped.
Grace’s eyes hardened.
“You learned she existed a few hours ago.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get to walk into her life and start giving orders because you’re angry.”
“I’m not trying to control you.”
“It sounds exactly like control.”
Nathan took a breath.
“You’re right.”
Grace expected an argument.
Instead he stepped back.
“You choose where you go.”
She stared at him.
“But please choose somewhere secure.”
The tension eased slightly.
Martin spoke from across the room.
“I can arrange a hotel under another name.”
Grace shook her head.
“If Victoria knows Nathan’s lawyers, she could trace that.”
The detective agreed.
“A protected location would be better.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
“My mother’s house.”
Grace went still.
Nathan noticed.
“What?”
“You never told her about me.”
“I told her.”
“When?”
“After you disappeared.”
Grace’s expression changed.
“What did she say?”
Nathan hesitated.
“My mother said she tried to find you.”
Grace stared.
“No one came.”
Nathan looked confused.
“She hired an investigator.”
Martin suddenly looked uncomfortable.
Nathan noticed.
“Martin?”
The attorney looked away.
“Your father stopped it.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“What are you talking about?”
Martin sighed.
“Your father was chairman then. He believed Grace was a threat to the family.”
Grace’s face hardened.
Nathan stared at him.
“My father knew?”
“I don’t know how much.”
“You’re lying.”
“I know he ordered the investigator to stop.”
Grace stood.
“Of course.”
Nathan turned toward her.
“Grace—”
“Victoria didn’t create this family by herself.”
Nathan said nothing.
Grace continued.
“People around you made decisions about me because I was a maid.”
Nathan looked ashamed.
“And because they thought I wasn’t good enough to have your child.”
Martin’s silence confirmed it.
Then the detective’s phone rang again.
His expression became serious.
“We found Caleb.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Where?”
“Your old family estate.”
Nathan froze.
“My father’s house?”
The detective nodded.
“He entered thirty minutes ago.”
Grace looked between them.
“Why would he go there?”
Nathan stared toward the dark windows.
His father had died eleven months earlier.
The estate had been empty since.
Then Martin whispered.
“There’s a private records room in that house.”
Nathan turned.
“What records?”
May you like
Martin swallowed.
“Everything your father collected about Grace.”
