Chapter 7 - Grace’s Real Name
I doubled security before sunset.
Noah slept in my room that night, curled beside me with his stuffed dinosaur under one arm. I stayed awake listening to every sound the old house made.
At 2:13 a.m., my phone vibrated.
Melissa had run a full background check on Grace.
CALL ME ALONE.
I stepped into the bathroom and locked the door.
“What did you find?”
“Her name isn’t Grace Bennett.”
My throat tightened.
“What?”
“Her legal name is Grace Holloway. She changed it three years ago.”
“Why?”
Melissa paused. “Her older sister was Emily Holloway.”
The name meant nothing at first.
Then it did.
Emily Holloway had been Rebecca’s executive assistant.
She had died six months before Rebecca in what police called an accidental overdose.
I walked downstairs and found Grace sitting at the kitchen table, fully dressed, a cup of coffee untouched in front of her.
“You knew I’d find out,” I said.
She looked up.
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Grace Holloway.”
“Why did you lie to me?”
“To get into this house.”
Every instinct in me turned hard.
“You used my son.”
Her face cracked. “No. Never Noah.”
“Then explain it.”
She took a breath. “Emily called me three days before she died. She said Rebecca had found proof that someone inside Mercer Holdings was moving money and paying people to keep quiet. Emily was scared. Then she died.”
“You think she was murdered?”
“I know she was threatened.”
“By who?”
Grace shook her head. “She never told me the name.”
I moved toward the security button on the wall.
Grace stood quickly. “Daniel, wait.”
She pulled an old phone from her bag.
“My sister left me one voicemail. I’ve kept it for three years.”
She pressed play.
A frightened woman whispered through static.
Grace, if anything happens to me, don’t trust the Mercer brothers.
I stared at Grace.
The message continued.
Not Daniel. The other two.
I frowned.
“The other two?”
May you like
Grace’s eyes filled with tears.
“You only have one brother, right?”
