Chapter 3 - THE FIANCÉE'S SECRET
Blair Sutton did not cry when Grant confronted her.
She laughed.
They sat in the library at two in the morning.
Two detectives waited outside.
Daniel stood near the door.
Lily had refused to participate, but Grant insisted she hear the truth.
Grace slept upstairs with Rosa, the housekeeper.
Blair crossed her legs.
“You're destroying our marriage over a maid.”
Grant placed the phone on the table.
“No. You did that.”
“Those messages prove nothing.”
“You told Evan to handle Lily.”
“I meant frighten her.”
Lily felt her stomach turn.
Grant's voice remained quiet.
“Why?”
Blair looked at Lily.
“Because she was becoming a problem.”
“I cleaned your house.”
“You listened.”
“To what?”
Blair smiled.
“My conversations.”
Lily remembered.
Three weeks earlier, she had entered Grant's study to collect coffee cups.
Blair had been on the phone.
Lily heard only one sentence.
The Hudson properties transfer before the wedding.
At the time, it meant nothing.
Now Blair watched her carefully.
“You heard me talking about Hudson.”
Grant turned toward Lily.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“What Hudson transfer?”
Blair stood.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Sit down.”
Grant's voice stopped her.
Lily had never heard him use that tone.
Blair sat.
Grant looked at Daniel.
“Pull every transaction connected to Ashford Hudson Holdings.”
Daniel left.
Blair's confidence weakened.
“Grant, my family has protected you politically for six years.”
“My company existed before I met you.”
“And your reputation was collapsing.”
“So you planned to steal from me?”
“I planned our future.”
Lily looked at Grant.
He seemed almost calm.
That frightened her.
“What did Evan have to do with it?”
Blair's eyes moved toward Lily.
“He is her problem.”
“No,” Grant said. “He entered my estate with your security code. That makes him mine.”
Blair smiled bitterly.
“You really don't know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Who Evan works for.”
Lily frowned.
“Evan doesn't work.”
Blair laughed.
“He works, Lily. Just not at anything respectable.”
Grant understood before she did.
“For your father.”
Blair said nothing.
Charles Sutton.
Former United States senator.
Current chairman of Sutton Capital.
Grant's future father-in-law.
Blair finally sighed.
“My father met Evan in Atlantic City. Evan owed money. Father needed someone invisible.”
“For what?”
“To collect information.”
“On me.”
“Yes.”
Grant leaned back.
The engagement had lasted fourteen months.
For fourteen months, Blair's father had placed a criminal close to his future son-in-law's home.
But Evan had made one mistake.
He had recognized Lily.
“Evan came to me because of Grace,” Lily said.
Blair looked almost sympathetic.
“No. He came because my father told him you worked here.”
Lily's blood went cold.
“He knew?”
“Father investigates everyone on Grant's staff.”
Grant's voice hardened.
“What information did Evan want?”
“Wedding security.”
“Why?”
Blair did not answer.
The library door opened.
Daniel entered carrying a laptop.
His face was pale.
“Mr. Ashford, we found the Hudson transfers.”
“How much?”
“Eight hundred and forty million dollars.”
Lily almost thought she had misheard.
Grant did not react.
“Where?”
“Eleven shell companies. The authorization traces back to your electronic signature.”
“I never approved it.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Blair.
“Someone cloned your credentials.”
Grant understood.
“The wedding.”
Blair closed her eyes.
Grant stood.
“What happens at the wedding?”
“Nothing.”
“Blair.”
She remained silent.
Lily suddenly remembered Evan's request.
Back entrance.
Staff names.
Security schedule.
Not financial theft.
Something physical.
Something that required access.
“He wants to kill Grant,” she whispered.
Everyone looked at her.
Blair's silence answered.
Grant's face emptied.
Lily stepped back.
“Your father is going to kill him.”
Blair began crying then.
Not beautifully.
Not quietly.
Her shoulders shook.
“My father said it would look like an accident.”
Grant stared at the woman he had planned to marry.
“What accident?”
“The balcony.”
The wedding reception was scheduled at the Ashford Manhattan penthouse.
Its west terrace stood sixty floors above the city.
Blair covered her face.
“Evan was supposed to disable the cameras. Father wanted Grant alone on the terrace after midnight.”
“And you agreed?”
“I thought—”
“What?”
Grant's voice cracked for the first time.
“You thought what?”
“That I would inherit the company.”
Silence.
Blair looked up.
“My father said you were going to leave me.”
Grant stared at her.
“I was marrying you.”
“You had a new prenuptial agreement drafted.”
Grant frowned.
“No, I didn't.”
Blair stopped crying.
“What?”
“I never drafted a new agreement.”
“My father showed it to me.”
Understanding entered Lily's mind.
“He lied to you too.”
Blair looked sick.
Grant's phone rang.
Charles Sutton.
Grant answered.
“Charles.”
The older man's voice was calm.
“I heard there was trouble at the estate.”
“Your daughter told me everything.”
Silence.
Then Charles said, “No, she didn't.”
A gunshot exploded outside the library.
Daniel drew his weapon.
Grant pulled Lily down.
The doors opened.
A detective fell into the room.
Blood covered his shirt.
Evan stepped over him.
But this time, he was not alone.
Six armed men followed.
Evan looked at Lily.
“Come here.”
She backed away.
“No.”
“Don't make this hard.”
“You abandoned us.”
“I came back.”
“For money.”
His face tightened.
Grace's voice came from the doorway.
“Mommy?”
Everyone froze.
Rosa stood behind Grace.
One of the gunmen grabbed them.
Lily screamed.
May you like
Evan smiled.
“Now,” he said, “we're going to have a family conversation.”
