Chapter 2 - Grace’s First Lie
Grace asked me to send Noah upstairs.
This time, he did not argue.
He was frightened by the expression on her face.
I promised him I would come to his room as soon as I understood what was happening.
The moment the door closed behind him, I faced Grace.
“What didn’t you tell me?”
She stared at Claire’s frozen image on the laptop.
“I wasn’t originally hired to be Noah’s nanny.”
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“What?”
“Claire hired me.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if you know what I used to do.”
Grace reached beneath her sweater and removed a thin chain from around her neck.
A small identification badge hung from it.
I recognized the logo immediately.
Mercer Holdings.
My company.
Grace turned the badge over.
The photograph was almost six years old.
Her title was printed underneath.
INTERNAL COMPLIANCE ANALYST.
I looked from the card to her face.
“You worked for me?”
“I worked for the company.”
“Why don’t I remember you?”
“Because Ethan made sure you wouldn’t.”
Victoria stopped struggling against the guards.
Grace continued.
“Five years ago, I was assigned to review payments from one of the private investment divisions Ethan controlled.”
My throat tightened.
“What did you find?”
“Shell companies.”
“Fake consulting contracts.”
“Money disappearing into accounts that had nothing to do with Mercer Holdings.”
Victoria shook her head.
“She’s lying.”
Grace ignored her.
“I reported it to Claire because I didn’t trust anyone else.”
“Why Claire?”
“Because she had already noticed Ethan asking questions about Noah’s trust.”
I stared at my wife’s image.
Claire had known.
Long before I had known.
“What happened after you told her?”
“Someone broke into my apartment.”
Grace’s voice became quieter.
“My computer disappeared.”
“My files disappeared.”
“And the next morning, Ethan called me into his office.”
I felt anger rising inside me.
“What did he say?”
“He told me my position had been eliminated.”
Grace looked directly at me.
“Then he offered me two hundred thousand dollars to leave the state.”
Victoria gave a nervous laugh.
“This is ridiculous.”
Grace reached into her pocket.
She placed a small digital recorder on the desk.
“I refused the money.”
I stared at it.
“You recorded him?”
“Claire told me to.”
My stomach tightened.
Grace pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then Ethan’s younger voice emerged.
“You have no idea what you stepped into.”
Grace’s recorded voice answered.
“I know money is being stolen.”
Ethan laughed.
“Money belongs to whoever is smart enough to control it.”
Then he said something that made every person in the room freeze.
“If Daniel dies before Noah turns eighteen, the trust becomes complicated.”
Grace’s recorded voice sharpened.
“Are you threatening your brother?”
Ethan replied calmly.
“I’m explaining estate law.”
The recording stopped.
I could hear my own breathing.
Victoria had stopped protesting.
Grace looked toward the laptop.
“Claire was afraid Ethan was preparing for something.”
I swallowed.
“Then why did you become Noah’s nanny?”
Grace’s eyes filled with guilt.
“Because after Claire died, I believed Ethan might come for Noah next.”
My heart hammered.
“You think Claire was murdered?”
Grace did not answer immediately.
She looked at Victoria.
Then she looked back at me.
“I think Claire discovered something the night before her accident.”
“What?”
Grace reached for the silver key.
“There was supposed to be another compartment inside that drawer.”
My eyes moved toward Claire’s desk.
May you like
Grace whispered the final words.
“And whatever was inside it disappeared before we opened it tonight.”
