Chapter 8 - THE OTHER FAMILY
Her name was Rebecca Mercer.
She had two sons.
Evan had married her eighteen months after abandoning Lily.
Then abandoned Rebecca too.
“He used women as hiding places,” Rebecca said.
Lily understood immediately.
Evan had left the Sutton chip with her because police would never search a pregnant waitress.
He left stolen cash with Rebecca.
He left documents with another woman in Pennsylvania.
Every relationship was camouflage.
Rebecca handed Lily a photograph.
Evan stood beside Charles Sutton.
A third man appeared behind them.
Grant recognized him.
“Thomas Vane.”
The vice chairman of Ashford Industries.
The man currently controlling Grant's company.
Charles was in prison.
But his takeover continued.
Thomas Vane had been the inside man.
Grant called an emergency board meeting.
Vane denied everything.
Then Rebecca testified.
Marianne testified.
Blair testified.
Finally, Evan accepted a federal deal and testified.
Thomas Vane was arrested before leaving the boardroom.
Grant regained control of Ashford Industries.
He resigned forty-eight hours later.
Everyone thought he had lost his mind.
Lily found him packing his office.
“You fought for a year to come back.”
“Yes.”
“And now you're leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grant looked around the corner office.
“My father died in this room.”
Lily became quiet.
“He worked until his heart stopped. I spent my life believing that meant the company mattered.”
Grant closed a box.
“Then Grace asked about a bruise at dinner.”
Lily's throat tightened.
“And?”
“I realized I could own buildings in twenty states and still fail to see what was happening twenty feet from me.”
He walked toward her.
“I don't want to become the richest man in a room where I cannot see my own family.”
There was that word again.
Family.
Lily looked at him.
“Grant.”
He reached into the box.
Grace appeared behind him.
She wore a pink dress.
And held a ring box.
Lily stared.
Grant looked at Grace.
“You were supposed to wait.”
“She said Mommy slow.”
“I did not say that!”
Grace giggled.
Grant took the box.
Lily began crying before he opened it.
“This is badly organized,” he said.
“You involved a three-year-old.”
“She was persuasive.”
Grant knelt.
“Lily Harper, I cannot promise the life around me will always be simple.”
She laughed through tears.
“I noticed.”
“But I can promise that no one will ever make you survive quietly in my home again.”
Her face crumpled.
“I love you.”
Grant opened the box.
“Marry me.”
Grace bounced.
“Say yes!”
Lily looked at her daughter.
Then at Grant.
“Yes.”
Grace screamed louder than she had the night she exposed the bruise.
This time, everyone laughed.
But happiness was not the final surprise.
Three days later, Lily received a letter from Evan in prison.
May you like
One sentence was underlined.
GRACE IS NOT MY DAUGHTER.
