Chapter 2 - Five Years Missing
Nathan locked the kitchen door.
Not because he wanted to trap anyone.
Because he suddenly trusted no one outside it.
Victoria stared at him.
“You cannot seriously believe her.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
“Start from the beginning.”
Grace was sitting in a chair now with an ice pack pressed to her shoulder.
Lily sat in her lap.
Nathan had wanted to call an ambulance.
Grace had refused until she finished talking.
Five years earlier, Grace Bennett had been twenty-four.
She worked in accounting for Cole Meridian, the company Nathan’s father, Charles Cole, had built into one of the largest private logistics companies in California.
Nathan had met her during an internal expansion project.
They had fallen in love quietly.
For eleven months, almost nobody knew.
Then Nathan left for Singapore to oversee an acquisition.
Three days after he left, Grace learned she was pregnant.
She tried calling him.
His number had been changed.
She emailed.
Every message bounced.
Then Charles Cole appeared at her apartment.
“He brought two lawyers.”
Grace stared at the floor as she spoke.
“He knew about us.”
Nathan felt sick.
“He told me you had already agreed to marry into the Vale family.”
Nathan looked toward Victoria.
Her family.
Grace continued.
“I said I didn’t believe him.”
“So what did he do?”
“He showed me photographs.”
Nathan frowned.
“What photographs?”
“You and Victoria.”
Nathan’s eyes widened.
Victoria spoke quickly.
“We attended charity events together.”
Grace nodded.
“That’s what I learned later.”
Nathan felt anger building.
Grace looked at him.
“Your father told me you had used me.”
“I never said that.”
“I know that now.”
“Why didn’t you find me?”
“I tried.”
Grace’s voice cracked.
“Your father had me fired.”
“He owned the company.”
“He had my apartment lease terminated.”
Nathan stared.
“He could do that?”
“He owned the building through another corporation.”
Victoria’s lips tightened.
Grace continued.
“Then he told me if I contacted you again, his attorneys would accuse me of corporate theft.”
Nathan’s stomach dropped.
“I had access to financial records.”
“And something was already missing.”
Grace nodded.
“Three million dollars.”
Nathan looked at Victoria.
She said nothing.
Grace hugged Lily closer.
“Your father said he could make the evidence point anywhere he wanted.”
Nathan whispered.
“Why?”
“Because you marrying Victoria was part of a merger.”
Nathan looked toward his fiancée.
Victoria finally spoke.
“Our families discussed business.”
“Discussed?”
Nathan stepped toward her.
“You knew Grace was pregnant.”
“No.”
Grace reached into her pocket again.
This time she removed an old photograph.
Charles Cole stood beside a black car.
Beside him was Victoria’s father, Richard Vale.
Between them stood Victoria.
The picture had been taken outside Grace’s apartment building.
The date printed in the corner was five years old.
Nathan felt something cold settle inside him.
Victoria stared at the photograph.
“That proves nothing.”
Grace turned it over.
Three words were written on the back.
Deal with her.
The handwriting belonged to Charles Cole.
Nathan recognized it instantly.
Grace looked at him.
“That was slipped under my apartment door the night before I disappeared.”
Nathan stared at the silver key still resting beside her.
“What does the key open?”
Grace looked toward the hallway.
“Your father’s private archive.”
Nathan frowned.
“There is no private archive.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Grace whispered.
“Yes, Nathan.”
May you like
“There is.”
“And it’s underneath this house.”
