Chapter 3 - GRACE'S SECRET
Daniel found Grace sitting on the back steps.
Morning sunlight touched the garden, but she seemed unaware of it.
“Why did you call the doctor?”
Grace wiped her cheeks.
“I thought you were actually dying.”
Daniel sat beside her.
“You knew I was pretending?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why were you crying?”
“Because I thought you were dead.”
Daniel looked away.
For some reason, those words hurt more than he expected.
Grace continued.
“When you fell, I saw blood everywhere. You weren't moving.”
“I was conscious.”
“I didn't know that.”
Daniel nodded.
“Thank you.”
Grace looked at him.
“Why did you do it?”
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
“To find out who I could trust.”
She gave a sad smile.
“And?”
“I found out.”
Grace looked down.
“Then you should leave.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because whoever is behind this won't stop.”
“You know who it is.”
Grace didn't answer.
“Grace.”
She closed her eyes.
“My husband.”
Daniel stared.
“You're married?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Grace swallowed.
“My ex-husband.”
Daniel waited.
“His name is Caleb.”
“What does he have to do with Vanessa?”
“Everything.”
Grace explained.
Caleb had worked for Whitfield Development years earlier.
He had been fired after falsifying financial records.
But Grace discovered something Daniel didn't know.
Caleb had not acted alone.
Someone inside the company had helped him.
Someone powerful.
Someone who had never been investigated.
“Who?”
Grace looked at him.
“Richard Whitfield.”
Daniel went still.
“My uncle?”
“Yes.”
“Why would Richard work with Caleb?”
“Because Caleb stole money.”
“How much?”
Grace whispered,
“Twenty-three million dollars.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“That's impossible.”
“Your father discovered it.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“My father?”
Grace nodded.
“Before he died, he was investigating Richard.”
Daniel remembered his father's final months.
The mood changes.
The late-night phone calls.
The locked office.
The arguments.
He had always believed his father had been overwhelmed by business.
Maybe he hadn't.
“Why didn't my father tell me?”
“Because he was afraid.”
“Of Richard?”
Grace shook her head.
“Of Vanessa.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What does Vanessa have to do with my father's death?”
Grace's voice broke.
“I don't know.”
“You said she was involved.”
“I said your father was afraid of her.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
Grace stood.
“I need to go.”
Daniel caught her wrist gently.
“Please.”
She looked at him.
“I can't keep lying.”
“Then don't.”
Grace hesitated.
“My father worked for your father.”
Daniel blinked.
“What?”
“He was his personal driver.”
Daniel remembered.
Thomas Parker.
A quiet man who had driven his father for almost fifteen years.
“He died two years ago.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Daniel looked at her.
Grace whispered,
“It wasn't an accident.”
Daniel stood.
“What are you saying?”
“My father was driving your father the night before he died.”
Daniel felt cold.
“My father died at home.”
“Yes.”
Grace's voice trembled.
“But the night before, they went somewhere.”
“Where?”
Grace reached into her purse.
She removed an old photograph.
Daniel took it.
It showed his father standing beside Thomas Parker.
Behind them was an old warehouse.
Daniel recognized it.
Whitfield Development's original storage facility.
It had burned down seven years earlier.
“What's inside this photograph?” he asked.
“My father left me a message.”
“What message?”
“He said if anything happened to him, I should find the woman in the red coat.”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
There were people in the background.
A woman stood near the warehouse entrance.
Red coat.
Daniel zoomed in mentally.
He recognized her.
Vanessa.
But she looked younger.
Much younger.
Daniel's blood ran cold.
“Where did you get this?”
“My father gave it to me the night before he died.”
“Why didn't you show me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Vanessa?”
Grace nodded.
“Why?”
“Because she found out I had it.”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
Suddenly, a loud crash came from inside the house.
They ran.
The study door stood open.
Daniel's safe was exposed.
Someone had broken into it.
Marcus rushed in.
“Sir!”
Daniel looked inside.
The envelope containing his father's old documents was gone.
And on the desk was a single red rose.
Vanessa's favorite flower.
Daniel picked it up.
There was a tiny smear of blood on the stem.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted voice said,
“You should have let the bracelet disappear.”
Daniel's grip tightened.
“Who are you?”
“You've already met me.”
“Tell me your name.”
A pause.
Then:
“Ask Grace why her father really died.”
The call ended.
Daniel turned toward Grace.
She was staring at the rose.
Her face had gone white.
Because she recognized it.
May you like
And she whispered,
“Caleb is alive.”
