Chapter 6 - The Father They Invented
Grace laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because her body had run out of normal responses.
“Daniel Price?”
Rebecca’s voice came through the phone.
“Yes.”
“The man who threatened me?”
“Yes.”
“The man old enough to be my father?”
“He’s fifty-four.”
Grace stared at Nathan.
“I was twenty-six when Lily was born.”
Nathan said.
“It’s not supposed to be believable.”
Grace looked at him.
“It only has to create delay.”
Exactly.
Nathan had understood the strategy immediately.
Challenge paternity.
Create competing claims.
Trigger a temporary legal hold.
Freeze the trust.
Keep Lily’s rights uncertain long enough for the Whitmore-Cole merger to proceed.
Grace turned toward the safe-house living room.
Lily sat watching cartoons.
A four-year-old child was at the center of a corporate war she could not understand.
Grace whispered.
“I want out.”
Nathan’s chest tightened.
“Out of what?”
“Everything.”
“The company.”
“The trust.”
“The money.”
“I don’t care.”
“If signing something makes them leave Lily alone, I’ll sign it.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“No.”
Grace’s eyes flashed.
“There.”
“What?”
“That word.”
Nathan stopped.
Grace continued.
“You are deciding again.”
Nathan breathed out.
“You’re right.”
He forced himself to slow down.
“What do you want?”
“I want my daughter safe.”
“So do I.”
“I don’t care about twenty-eight percent of your company.”
“I know.”
“If we can legally renounce it—”
“We need to find out.”
Grace paused.
Nathan continued.
“I am not saying no.”
“I’m saying we ask whether giving it up actually protects her.”
Grace stared.
Then nodded.
Better.
They called Rebecca back.
Her answer was immediate.
“No.”
Grace’s shoulders fell.
“Why?”
“The trust is irrevocable.”
“Lily cannot disclaim it as a minor.”
“You cannot disclaim it for her because you benefit indirectly from the control restrictions.”
Nathan asked.
“What if I relinquish voting custody?”
“That changes who administers the shares.”
“It does not eliminate Lily’s ownership.”
Grace looked exhausted.
“So they’ll keep coming.”
Rebecca answered.
“Unless we prove the fraud and remove the financial incentive.”
Nathan said.
“Then that’s what we do.”
Grace looked at him.
This time she did not accuse him of deciding.
Because he had included her.
The hearing was scheduled for that afternoon.
Too fast.
Deliberately fast.
Marcus’s attorneys requested temporary restrictions preventing Lily from leaving the state.
Rebecca wanted Nathan and Grace to appear remotely.
Grace refused.
“If they’re calling me unstable, I’m not hiding behind a screen.”
Nathan did not argue.
The courthouse swarmed with media.
Nathan hated it.
Grace hated it more.
Lily remained with Eli.
Before Grace entered, Lily hugged her.
“Are you coming back?”
Grace’s face broke for one second.
“Yes.”
She looked at Nathan.
Nathan understood.
He crouched.
“We both are.”
Lily looked at him.
“Promise?”
Nathan thought of all the promises adults had broken around her.
“I will do everything I can.”
Grace looked at him.
Not a fake promise.
Good.
Inside, Marcus was absent.
His attorney presented Daniel’s supposed paternity affidavit.
Daniel appeared by video from the hospital.
The judge asked.
“Mr. Price, are you claiming biological paternity of Lily Bennett?”
Daniel looked straight at the camera.
“No.”
The attorney froze.
The courtroom erupted.
Daniel continued.
“That affidavit is forged.”
Grace stared.
The attorney objected.
The judge silenced him.
Daniel said.
“I met Grace Bennett once before Lily was born.”
“I was hired to intimidate her.”
“I never had sexual contact with her.”
“I never claimed paternity.”
The judge removed her glasses.
“Who hired you?”
Daniel looked directly toward the attorney.
“Charles Whitmore.”
Then he added.
“Marcus Hale later instructed people to create false custody records.”
The lawyer stood.
“Your Honor—”
The judge snapped.
“Sit down.”
For the first time, the machine turned against itself.
Grace looked at Nathan.
He said nothing.
The hearing ended with no custody change.
No paternity restriction.
The judge ordered an independent court-supervised DNA test.
Nathan agreed immediately.
Outside, reporters shouted.
Grace ignored them.
Then a woman stepped from the crowd.
Middle-aged.
Thin.
Scarf over her hair.
Grace stopped.
The woman said.
“Grace.”
Nathan moved in front of her.
The woman raised both hands.
“My name is Marianne Voss.”
Grace froze.
The hospital woman.
The fake social worker.
Police moved toward her.
Marianne said.
“I’m dying.”
Nobody stopped.
She continued.
“Pancreatic cancer.”
“I have weeks.”
Grace stared.
Marianne held out a flash drive.
“I came to tell you what I did.”
Nathan looked at the police.
They searched her.
No weapon.
Grace stepped forward.
“You walked into my hospital room.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You changed Lily’s birth records.”
Marianne’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Grace slapped her.
The sound cracked across the courthouse steps.
Cameras caught everything.
Marianne did not move.
Grace’s chest rose and fell.
Then she said.
“That was for my daughter.”
Marianne nodded.
“I deserved worse.”
Grace looked at the flash drive.
“What is it?”
“Copies.”
“Of what?”
“Everything Charles told me to destroy.”
Nathan took the drive.
Marianne grabbed his wrist.
“Not here.”
“Marcus has people everywhere.”
Nathan stared.
“Come with us.”
Marianne shook her head.
“I cannot be seen with you.”
“You’re already surrounded by cameras.”
A bitter smile.
“Then I’m out of time.”
A black sedan suddenly accelerated from the curb.
Eli shouted.
“Move!”
Nathan grabbed Grace.
The car jumped the curb.
Marianne froze.
Grace did not.
She lunged.
She shoved Marianne aside.
The sedan missed Grace by inches.
Nathan pulled her backward.
The car smashed into a concrete barrier.
Airbags exploded.
The driver fled on foot.
Police pursued.
Marianne lay on the pavement.
Grace knelt beside her.
“You just saved me.”
Grace checked her for injuries.
“No.”
“I saved the person carrying evidence.”
Marianne almost laughed.
Grace’s hands were shaking.
Nathan saw.
He knelt.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Good answer.”
Grace looked at him.
For half a second they smiled.
Then Marianne whispered.
“The lake tapes aren’t enough.”
Nathan turned.
“What?”
“There’s another archive.”
“Where?”
“Albany.”
“Safe-deposit box 417.”
“Key?”
Marianne reached beneath her collar.
A brass key hung from a chain.
Nathan took it.
Marianne continued.
“There’s a file on Adam.”
Nathan stiffened.
“You know about him.”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Portland.”
“His mother is dead.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Another loss.
Marianne whispered.
“And there is one file you need to read before Marcus finds it.”
“What file?”
She looked at Grace.
May you like
Then Nathan.
“Your father’s aircraft.”
