Chapter 1 - I Came Home Early
The first thing I heard when I came home was my son screaming, “Stop! Please stop!”
I dropped my overnight bag in the side hall and ran.
The crying came from the east wing, past the formal dining room and the long row of windows that looked over the garden. I had been supposed to spend two more days in Chicago closing a hotel deal. Instead, six words from five-year-old Noah had stayed in my head all night.
Dad, please don’t marry Victoria.
At the end of the marble hallway, I slowed down.
Victoria stood over Grace, Noah’s nanny, with one hand raised. Grace was on her knees, holding Noah against her chest. A red handprint burned across her cheek. Noah’s wrist was bruised where someone had grabbed him.
“You’re an employee,” Victoria snapped. “You don’t get to tell me how to discipline my future son.”
Grace’s voice shook, but she did not move. “He is not your son.”
“He will be when Daniel and I are married.”
Noah buried his face against Grace. “I don’t want you to be my mom.”
Victoria’s mouth hardened. “You’ll learn.”
She lifted her hand again.
I stepped out of the shadows.
“Put it down.”
Victoria spun around. Her face changed so quickly it was almost impressive. Rage disappeared. Fear appeared. Then sweetness slid over both.
“Daniel! Thank God. Grace attacked me.”
I stared at her.
She pointed at Grace. “She was snooping through Rebecca’s things. Noah got upset. Grace shoved him. I tried to stop her.”
Noah looked at me through wet eyes. “Dad?”
I knelt beside him. “I saw everything, buddy.”
His lower lip trembled. “You believe me?”
“I do.” I touched his hair. “And I’m sorry I didn’t believe you sooner.”
Victoria took one step back.
I stood. “The wedding is over.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Security is already on the way.”
She grabbed my arm. “You are destroying our future over one misunderstanding.”
“This wasn’t a misunderstanding. You waited until you thought nobody important was watching.”
The two guards appeared behind me.
Victoria’s eyes jumped from them to Grace. Then something ugly and desperate came alive in her face.
“Fine,” she said. “Throw me out. But before you play hero, ask your precious nanny why she was digging through your dead wife’s bedroom.”
Grace froze.
Slowly, she reached into her pocket.
In her palm lay a small silver key.
“I found this sewn inside Noah’s baby blanket,” she whispered. “And somebody had cut the stitches open recently.”
May you like
I looked at Victoria.
For the first time since I had known her, she looked genuinely terrified.
