Chapter 10 - GRACE SPEAKS
By noon, Grace Bennett was the most famous waitress in America.
Photographs from the gala spread everywhere.
Grace gripping Vanessa's wrist.
Dominic watching from the shadows.
Margaret in her wheelchair.
News channels replayed the images repeatedly.
Some called Grace brave.
Others called her Dominic's mistress.
A few claimed she had staged the entire incident.
Grace hated all of it.
“They're outside my mother's old hospital.”
She stared at the television.
Reporters surrounded the entrance.
Dominic stood behind her with his wounded shoulder in a sling.
“Which is why she isn't there.”
Grace turned.
“I'm recording the statement.”
“No.”
“Stop saying no.”
“Stop suggesting dangerous things.”
“This is my life.”
“And Sterling is trying to end it.”
“By lying.”
“He's also shooting people.”
Grace took a breath.
“Then we use truth.”
Dominic looked toward Marco.
Marco carefully avoided taking sides.
Grace continued.
“Sterling expects me to hide because that makes me look controlled.”
Dominic knew she was right.
He hated it.
One hour later, Grace sat in front of a camera.
No makeup team.
No polished background.
Just a plain room.
Helen sat beside her.
Margaret appeared on Grace's other side.
Dominic refused to appear.
Grace pressed record.
“My name is Grace Bennett.”
Her voice shook slightly.
She continued.
“Three days ago, I was a banquet waitress worried about losing my job and paying for my mother's cancer treatment.”
Helen squeezed her hand.
“I stopped Vanessa Sterling from striking Margaret DeLuca.”
Grace explained the shooting.
The explosion.
The hospital attack.
She did not mention evidence that could compromise investigations.
Then she looked directly into the camera.
“Senator Sterling says Dominic DeLuca kidnapped me.”
She paused.
“He did not.”
Across the room, Dominic watched.
“He is controlling, irritating, and has a deeply unhealthy relationship with the word ‘no.’”
Marco coughed to hide laughter.
Dominic stared at Grace.
“But he did not kidnap me.”
Grace continued.
“I stayed because someone tried to kill me.”
She explained her father's connection.
Not all of it.
Enough.
Then Margaret spoke.
“For decades, my family carried secrets that allowed dangerous people to remain powerful.”
She looked at the camera.
“That ends now.”
The video went live.
Within thirty minutes, millions watched.
Sterling's office called it coerced.
Then something unexpected happened.
Vanessa contacted Grace directly.
Text.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MY FATHER IS CAPABLE OF.
Grace showed Dominic.
He traced the number.
Burner phone.
A second message arrived.
I WANT OUT.
Dominic frowned.
Grace typed.
THEN TALK.
Response.
ALONE.
Dominic immediately said, “No.”
Grace looked at him.
“You were waiting to say that.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa sent a location.
Navy Pier.
Midnight.
Dominic almost crushed the phone.
“Trap.”
“Obviously.”
“You're not going.”
“Obviously.”
He looked surprised.
Grace smiled.
“We'll make her think I am.”
At midnight, a woman wearing Grace's coat walked toward the arranged meeting point.
She was one of Dominic's security agents.
Grace watched from a surveillance van two blocks away.
Dominic sat beside her.
“You're enjoying this.”
“A little.”
“You're becoming concerning.”
“Says the mob boss.”
He looked at her.
“Alleged.”
Grace laughed.
Then Vanessa appeared.
Alone.
She approached the decoy.
Dominic's team closed in.
Suddenly Vanessa looked directly toward the security camera.
“No.”
Grace whispered.
Vanessa ran.
A car pulled beside her.
She jumped inside.
Marco shouted over radio.
“Move!”
Dominic's convoy followed.
The pursuit tore through downtown.
Grace watched GPS markers.
Then Vanessa's car stopped.
Underground parking structure.
Dominic exited.
Grace grabbed his sleeve.
“Be careful.”
He looked down at her hand.
“I thought you didn't care.”
“Don't make me regret it.”
He left.
Minutes passed.
Gunshots echoed faintly through radio.
Grace's stomach twisted.
Then Dominic's voice.
“We have her.”
Vanessa was brought into the safehouse at 1:30 a.m.
She looked nothing like the woman from the ballroom.
No diamonds.
No arrogance.
Bruised cheek.
Torn sweater.
She stared at Grace.
“You shouldn't have posted that video.”
“Why?”
“Because now everyone knows Margaret is cooperating.”
Margaret remained in another room.
Grace crossed her arms.
“What does your father want?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Everything.”
“Meaning?”
“My grandfather built the system. Judges. Police. Businesses. My father inherited it.”
“And Adrian?”
Vanessa looked confused.
“Adrian isn't the enemy.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Careful.”
“It's true.”
“Then who attacked Grace?”
“My father.”
“And my mother?”
“My father.”
“The federal building?”
Vanessa nodded.
Grace whispered, “Why?”
“Because Adrian came back to expose him.”
Dominic didn't trust her.
“Then why was Adrian manipulating us?”
“To get evidence.”
Vanessa looked at Grace.
“Your father contacted him.”
Grace's heart stopped.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“So Dad is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Vanessa's expression changed.
“My father has him.”
Grace stood.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You said you wanted out.”
“I do.”
“Then help us.”
Vanessa started crying.
“I spent my whole life thinking my father was protecting our family.”
Grace thought of everyone who had said the same thing.
Protection.
Always protection.
Always lies.
Vanessa continued.
“I found recordings.”
“What recordings?”
“Orders.”
“For the gala?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you attack Margaret?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“My father told me to create a distraction near her.”
Grace stared.
“You were supposed to slap her?”
“I was supposed to make security move.”
“The shooter was waiting.”
“Yes.”
Dominic's expression turned murderous.
“You knew she might die.”
“I didn't know they would shoot.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Vanessa looked at Margaret's closed door.
“I deserve whatever she thinks of me.”
Grace asked, “What recordings?”
Vanessa looked at Dominic.
“They're hidden in my father's campaign headquarters.”
“Where?”
“His private office.”
Marco began writing.
Vanessa grabbed Grace's wrist.
“But that's not the worst part.”
Grace pulled free.
“What is?”
“My father isn't trying to escape.”
“He's losing control.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“He wants all of you focused on Chicago.”
Dominic stopped.
“Why?”
Vanessa whispered.
“Because something is happening at Lake Geneva tonight.”
Grace's stomach dropped.
“My mother?”
Helen was in another DeLuca safe property near the lake.
Dominic grabbed his phone.
No answer.
Marco called security.
Nothing.
Grace stood.
“Call again.”
Still nothing.
Then Grace's phone rang.
Video call.
Richard Sterling.
Grace answered.
Her mother appeared on screen.
Tied to a chair.
Grace stopped breathing.
Sterling's face entered frame.
“Hello, Grace.”
Dominic moved beside her.
“What do you want?”
Sterling smiled.
“Not you, Dominic.”
His eyes stayed on Grace.
“Her.”
Grace's voice shook.
“What?”
“Bring me the microfilm Daniel hid inside you.”
“We have copies.”
Sterling smiled wider.
“Yes.”
That smile terrified her.
“But copies don't matter when I have something far more valuable.”
The camera moved.
Daniel Bennett appeared.
Older.
Beaten.
Alive.
Grace screamed.
“DAD?”
His eyes opened.
“Gracie.”
Grace collapsed against the table.
Eighteen years.
Eighteen years of grief disappeared in one impossible second.
Her father looked into the camera.
And whispered.
“Don't come.”
Sterling pressed a gun against his head.
“Midnight tomorrow.”
He smiled.
“Come alone…”
May you like
The camera shifted back to Helen.
“…or choose which parent you want to bury first.”
