Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Knew LilyGrace sat at the kitchen table while I stood across from her.
Amara slept upstairs under the supervision of two guards.
I wanted answers.
Every answer.
“You worked for my father?”
Grace nodded.
“Not directly.”
“What does that mean?”
“I cleaned one of his private houses.”
“And Daniel?”
“My husband drove for him.”
“You knew Lily.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Grace looked at the table.
“Daniel brought her to our apartment the night she disappeared.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“She was crying.”
My chest tightened.
“What happened?”
“Daniel said someone had tried to kill her.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Grace.”
“I swear.”
She looked at me.
“He said your daughter had seen two men arguing.”
“About what?”
“Money.”
I frowned.
“That sounds like nothing.”
“It wasn't.”
Grace took a breath.
“Daniel said the men were talking about a shipment.”
“What shipment?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why was Lily involved?”
“Because she was hiding behind a door.”
My blood ran cold.
“She heard them.”
“Yes.”
“What did she hear?”
Grace whispered:
“Your father's name.”
I said nothing.
Grace continued.
“Daniel believed Lily remembered one of the men.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn't tell me.”
“Why?”
“He said if I knew, I could become a target.”
I walked toward the window.
Six years.
I had searched every enemy.
Every rival.
Every criminal.
Every corrupt official.
But I had never questioned my own father's inner circle.
Because my father was dead.
And dead men couldn't betray you.
At least that's what I had believed.
My phone rang.
Marcus.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
“Where?”
“Your father's old office.”
I drove there immediately.
The office had been sealed after his death.
The room smelled of dust and old leather.
Marcus stood beside a safe.
“We found this behind the wall.”
He handed me a file.
Inside were financial transfers.
Payments.
Names.
Dates.
And one account appeared again and again.
Hale Family Foundation.
My father's charitable foundation.
Money had been disappearing from it for years.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The transfers continued after my father's death.
Someone was still using his system.
I looked at Marcus.
“Who has access?”
He hesitated.
“Three people.”
“Names.”
“Me. You. And Victor Crane.”
Victor.
My father's former lawyer.
The man who had advised me since I was twenty-one.
The man who had helped me rebuild after Lily disappeared.
I stared at the documents.
Then I noticed something.
One transaction had been made the day before Lily disappeared.
The recipient:
Grace Mercer.
Grace's maiden name.
I looked up.
“Why was your name on my father's account?”
Grace had followed me into the office.
She saw the document.
Her face collapsed.
“I didn't know.”
“You received money.”
“I never asked for it.”
“How much?”
She whispered:
“Enough to disappear.”
I stared at her.
“Why didn't you?”
“Because Daniel told me not to.”
“What did he tell you?”
Grace looked at me.
“He said one day you would come looking.”
“For Lily?”
“No.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“For the truth.”
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