Chapter 5 - PHASE TWO
Nathan moved Grace and Lily into the secured guest wing that night.
Grace hated it.
"I don't want your money."
"This isn't money. It's a locked door and two guards."
"Same world."
Nathan handed her the key.
"Then you lock me out too if you want."
That stopped her.
Grace had spent five years believing he had abandoned her.
Now he was standing outside a guest suite asking permission to protect his own child.
Detective Ortiz searched Victoria's rooms under warrant.
They found a burner phone hidden inside a cosmetic case.
The messages were mostly between Victoria and Marcus.
One read: SHE'S HERE. NATHAN DOESN'T KNOW YET.
Another: KEEP GRACE TOO TIRED TO THINK.
A third: IF EMMA TALKS, USE HER HUSBAND.
Emma sat down hard when she heard that.
Her husband, Paul Clark, had died two years earlier in what police called a highway accident.
Nathan knew Paul.
Paul had been head of estate security.
Emma's voice shook.
"Three weeks before he died, Paul told me Marcus was moving money through shell vendors."
Nathan stared.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Paul told me not to trust anyone inside the company."
"Including me?"
Emma looked ashamed.
"Especially you. He believed your phone and email were monitored."
Nathan thought of Grace's missing messages.
The room went quiet.
Daniel asked, "What did Paul leave you?"
Emma stood.
"A key."
"To what?"
"I never knew."
She reached beneath her collar and pulled out a small brass key on a chain.
Stamped into the metal were two numbers.
4-17.
May you like
Nathan stopped breathing.
April 17 was the day his father died.
