Chapter 15 - What Edward Didn't Tell Her
Edward stared at the photograph like it was a weapon pointed at him.
Sophia watched his face carefully.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“Grant admitted it?”
“Not exactly.”
Sophia slammed the photograph onto the table.
“Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Turning every fact into something softer.”
Edward flinched.
Then he finally told her.
Eleven years earlier, Eleanor confronted Grant about a shipment of three gowns that vanished before an insurance inspection. Grant claimed he had only followed Martin’s instructions. Martin denied everything. The argument became ugly.
Eleanor wanted police.
Edward wanted twenty-four hours.
“Why?” Sophia asked.
“Because Martin told me if we went public, our main lender would freeze the credit line. Payroll was due Friday.”
“So you chose the company.”
“I chose time.”
“You chose silence.”
Edward’s eyes filled, but Sophia did not rescue him from the feeling.
“What happened after?”
“Your mother got sick.”
Sophia’s breath caught.
Her mother’s diagnosis had come days later.
Everything changed after that. Hospitals. Treatment. Fear.
The investigation disappeared beneath survival.
Edward whispered, “She made me promise I’d protect you from all of it.”
Sophia looked at the envelope marked in Eleanor’s handwriting.
“Then why leave this?”
“Because she knew I might protect you the wrong way.”
That answer hurt because it sounded true.
Ortiz entered the basement.
“Grant is in custody.”
Sophia turned.
“He never reached Canada. Airport police picked him up after he tried to leave through a service road.”
“And Monica?”
“Still missing.”
Ortiz handed Sophia a printed screenshot from Grant’s phone.
His last outgoing text had been sent to Monica thirty minutes earlier.
May you like
It read:
DON’T RUN. GO TO SOPHIA. SHE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN KEEP YOU ALIVE.
