Chapter 7
Grant moved Lily into his bedroom that night.
She refused her own room.
He understood now.
Renata had entered it too often.
He sat on the floor beside the bed while Lily held Olivia’s old music box.
“Did Renata tell you not to talk?”
Lily nodded.
“About Mommy?”
Another nod.
“What did she say would happen?”
Lily stared at the blanket.
“Daddy fall.”
Grant’s throat tightened.
“Anything else?”
“No food.”
There it was.
Renata had used the same tools repeatedly.
Fear.
Food.
Abandonment.
Lily continued.
“Bad girls sleep alone.”
Grant closed his eyes.
How many nights had he believed Lily simply preferred the nanny?
How many mornings had she refused breakfast because someone had already threatened it away?
He looked at her.
“You never lose food again.”
Lily stared.
“Even bad?”
“You can make mistakes.”
Grant’s voice softened.
“You still eat.”
She thought about that as if it were revolutionary.
Then:
“Mommy ate?”
Grant frowned.
“Of course.”
Lily shook her head.
“Renata said Mommy lost dinner too.”
Grant felt cold.
Olivia had been dead before Renata moved into the house.
So Renata was not describing something she did after.
She was referencing something from before Olivia died.
He left Lily with his most trusted housekeeper and went downstairs.
Renata sat under guard.
No tears now.
Grant stood across from her.
“Did you withhold food from Olivia?”
Renata laughed.
“What kind of question is that?”
“Answer.”
“She was an adult.”
“Answer.”
Renata rolled her eyes.
“One dinner.”
Grant said nothing.
“She was snooping.”
One dinner became admission.
“You punished my wife in my house?”
“She refused to leave my business alone.”
“What business?”
Renata’s face tightened.
Grant leaned closer.
“What did Olivia discover?”
Renata smiled.
“You know what your problem is?”
“No.”
“You think love made her honest.”
Grant remained still.
Renata continued.
“Olivia hid things from you constantly.”
“The key?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
Renata stopped.
Grant caught it.
“What else?”
Silence.
Then Marcus laughed from the study.
“She hid a man.”
Grant turned.
Renata shouted:
“Marcus!”
He smiled through the open doorway.
“There. Now we’re finally talking.”
Grant looked at him.
Marcus continued.
“Your perfect dead wife met someone behind your back.”
Grant didn’t react.
That disappointed him.
“Gray-haired man?” Grant asked.
Marcus’s smile weakened.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Marcus leaned back.
“She was planning something.”
“What?”
“Leaving you.”
Grant almost smiled.
Olivia had hidden a phone.
Recorded Marcus.
Warned Lily.
None of that looked like escape.
Marcus continued.
“She wanted protection.”
“From whom?”
He said nothing.
Grant understood.
“From you.”
Marcus laughed.
Grant corrected.
“No.”
His eyes moved between the siblings.
“From both of you.”
Renata went pale.
Then Grant’s phone buzzed.
His guard from the attic.
A small compartment had been found beneath the wardrobe.
Inside was a single object.
A silver signet ring.
Grant recognized it immediately.
It belonged to one of his senior capos.
Victor Dane.
May you like
A man who had comforted him at Olivia’s funeral.
And suddenly the gray-haired man had a name.
