Chapter 13 - THE NAME THEY STOLE
Claire had opened accounts using Maria’s identity.
Copies of Maria’s passport, tax forms, and employment records had been stored in the hidden room behind the wine cellar.
For years, Grant and Claire had used Maria as a financial ghost.
If anything surfaced, the trail would point to the housekeeper.
The woman with the least money.
The least power.
The easiest person to blame.
Exactly what Claire had tried to do in Lily’s nursery.
I looked at Maria and finally understood the pattern.
“You were always supposed to take the fall.”
She nodded, crying. “For everything.”
Detective Ortiz’s team traced the South Boston address from Grant’s note. It led to an abandoned print shop.
They entered without me.
The building was empty.
Except for a laptop playing a prerecorded video.
Grant appeared on screen.
“Daniel, you keep making this emotional,” he said. “Emma did too. That was her problem.”
I clenched my fists.
Grant leaned toward the camera.
“The company survives because men like your father understood sacrifice. You inherited his name, not his stomach.”
Then Claire walked into frame.
She looked tired, furious, and frightened.
“Daniel, I’m sorry about Lily,” she said.
I laughed once in disbelief.
On the video, she flinched as if she could hear me.
“I never meant for it to get that bad.”
Maria whispered, “Liar.”
Claire continued. “Grant said we only needed enough evidence to convince the court she required residential treatment. He said no one would really hurt her.”
Then Grant’s hand entered the frame and gripped Claire’s shoulder.
Her face changed.
“Tell him the rest,” he said.
Claire swallowed.
“Daniel… Grant knows where Lily’s emergency safe house is.”
My blood went cold.
Only six people knew the location child services had arranged for the next morning.
One of them was James.
But James was standing beside me.
May you like
Detective Ortiz reached for her radio.
Then the hospital lights went out.
