Chapter 4 - The Secret Grace Carried
The farmhouse stood beyond a narrow road lined with pine trees.
Julian arrived before sunrise.
Grace sat beside him.
Ronan drove.
Four security vehicles remained several minutes behind them because Julian wanted the approach quiet.
Grace had argued about coming.
Julian refused to leave her behind.
“You're the only person Rebecca might trust.”
“And if Mercer is there?”
Julian looked through the windshield.
“Then he makes the mistake of meeting me.”
They reached the address at 5:41 a.m.
The farmhouse looked abandoned.
Windows dark.
Porch sagging.
No vehicles.
Julian stepped out.
Grace followed.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, everything smelled of dust.
But not abandonment.
Someone had left recently.
A half-empty glass sat beside the sink.
Fresh footprints marked the back door.
Grace moved toward a child's drawing attached to the refrigerator.
Her breath caught.
Julian came beside her.
Three people were drawn beneath a yellow sun.
A woman.
A small girl.
And another little girl with dark curls.
Amara.
Julian stared.
“How does Sophia know your daughter?”
Grace touched the page.
“I don't know.”
Then she turned it over.
Two words were written in adult handwriting.
ASK GRACE.
Julian slowly looked at her.
Grace stepped backward.
“I swear—”
“Tell me everything.”
“I have.”
“No.”
Julian held up the drawing.
“Not everything.”
Grace began crying.
Not loudly.
Almost angrily.
“I promised Rebecca.”
“I don't care.”
“You will.”
“Grace.”
She shut her eyes.
“Rebecca came to me nine months after the fire.”
Julian waited.
“She wasn't alone.”
His heartbeat quickened.
“Sophia?”
Grace shook her head.
“No. A woman named Claire.”
“Who is Claire?”
“Elias Mercer's daughter.”
Ronan muttered something under his breath.
Grace continued.
“Claire wanted out. Her father had kept Sophia hidden, moving her between properties. Claire realized he wasn't protecting her anymore.”
“Why was he keeping her?”
“Insurance.”
Julian understood.
Against him.
Against Vincent.
Against anyone who might threaten Mercer.
Grace wiped her face.
“Claire helped Rebecca move Sophia somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“I wasn't told.”
“Why?”
“Because Rebecca said the fewer people who knew, the safer Sophia would be.”
“And the drawing?”
Grace stared at it.
“Rebecca brought Sophia to my apartment once.”
Julian's face hardened.
“When?”
“Eleven months ago.”
His voice became frighteningly soft.
“My daughter was in Pittsburgh eleven months ago?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't call me.”
“I was afraid.”
“You had my daughter in your home.”
“For forty minutes.”
Grace's voice cracked.
“She wouldn't talk to anyone. She hid behind Rebecca. She cried when a man walked past the window.”
Julian's anger weakened.
“What did she call herself?”
“Lily.”
He looked away.
Of course.
They'd changed her name.
“She remembered me?”
Grace hesitated.
“Pieces.”
“What pieces?”
“A black car.”
Julian swallowed.
“Strawberry pancakes.”
He closed his eyes.
“Someone reading her the same book every night.”
That had been him.
“Anything else?”
Grace looked at him.
“She remembered a man calling her Princess Moon.”
Julian sat down.
Nobody else had used that nickname.
Sophia loved the moon.
When she was two, she couldn't say Sophia clearly and called herself Fia Moon.
Julian had called her Princess Moon ever since.
Grace crouched a few feet away.
“She remembers you.”
He rubbed his face.
“Why didn't she come home?”
“Because Rebecca believed Mercer had people inside your organization.”
Julian looked toward Ronan.
Ronan didn't react.
But the possibility sat between them.
Someone close.
Again.
Julian stood.
“Search the house.”
They found the clue upstairs.
Inside a bedroom closet was a suitcase containing children's clothes.
Most were too small for Sophia now.
Beneath them lay a library card.
Name: Lily Bennett.
Grace stared.
“My last name.”
Julian flipped it over.
Branch location.
Erie.
Ronan was already calling contacts.
A librarian remembered them.
A woman and a little girl.
They'd visited every Thursday for nearly seven months.
Stopped coming six weeks ago.
Security footage still existed.
When Ronan brought the image up, Julian stopped breathing.
A little girl walked beside Rebecca.
Dark hair.
Elena's eyes.
Seven now.
Sophia.
Alive.
Julian touched the screen.
He had imagined this moment thousands of times.
But in those fantasies, Sophia was always four.
His child had kept growing without him.
That hurt in a completely new way.
Grace stood quietly nearby.
“She looks like Elena.”
Julian nodded.
The girl in the footage carried three books.
One about horses.
One about planets.
One titled The Secret Garden.
Julian remembered reading that book with her.
“She still likes stories.”
His voice broke slightly.
Nobody commented.
Ronan's phone buzzed.
“Got something.”
He showed Julian a vehicle plate captured outside the library.
Registered to Rebecca Bennett.
Traffic cameras tracked it east six weeks earlier.
Then north.
Last capture near a small lakeside town called Bellweather.
Julian looked at Grace.
“We're going.”
They reached Bellweather that afternoon.
This time Julian left most security outside town.
He didn't want Sophia seeing a convoy.
Didn't want uniforms.
Didn't want fear.
Grace walked with him toward a small blue house near the lake.
Children's wind chimes moved above the porch.
Julian stopped at the gate.
For the first time in his adult life, he was afraid to knock on a door.
Grace touched his arm.
“She may not remember everything.”
“I know.”
“She may be scared.”
“I know.”
“She may not want you near her.”
Julian stared at the front window.
“I know.”
He knocked.
Nothing.
Again.
A curtain moved upstairs.
Julian's heart pounded.
Then the door opened.
Rebecca Bennett stood there.
Older than the photograph.
Thin.
Exhausted.
Alive.
Grace gasped.
Rebecca began crying.
“I'm sorry.”
Julian couldn't speak.
“Where is she?”
Rebecca looked behind her.
“She isn't here.”
His hope collapsed.
“Where?”
Rebecca stepped outside.
“Claire moved her yesterday.”
“Why?”
“Mercer's men found us.”
Julian clenched his jaw.
“Where did Claire take her?”
“I don't know.”
Grace snapped.
“Rebecca!”
“I couldn't know.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“That was the plan.”
Julian looked through the open doorway.
A pink backpack rested on a chair.
Sophia's?
He walked inside.
On the coffee table sat another drawing.
A black-haired man at a huge table.
One empty chair beside him.
Julian stared.
“How does she remember that?”
Rebecca wiped her face.
“She asks about you.”
He turned.
“What do you tell her?”
“The truth I can.”
“Which is?”
“That her father loved her.”
Julian's throat tightened.
Rebecca continued.
“She thinks you stopped looking.”
“I never stopped.”
“I know.”
“Does she?”
Rebecca said nothing.
That answer was enough.
Julian sat.
“Why did Mercer take her?”
Rebecca looked toward Vincent, who had been brought under guard and remained outside.
“Because Vincent made a deal.”
Julian's eyes sharpened.
“What deal?”
“Elena had evidence connecting Hale companies to accounts Mercer controlled. Vincent wanted the evidence destroyed. Mercer wanted protection from your father’s old enemies.”
“So Sophia?”
“Leverage.”
Grace covered her mouth.
Rebecca nodded.
“Elena discovered it. She tried to get Sophia out.”
“And you helped.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to Elena?”
Rebecca's eyes filled.
“She went back.”
Julian stared.
“Why?”
“To retrieve a hard drive.”
His wife had returned to a burning house for evidence.
Rebecca continued.
“She told me if anything happened, get Sophia away.”
“Why not bring her to me?”
“Because Elena believed Vincent controlled your security.”
Julian looked toward Ronan again.
Something uncomfortable appeared in Ronan's expression.
Julian saw it.
“What?”
Ronan looked down.
“Vincent recruited me.”
Grace stared.
Julian slowly stood.
“When?”
“Twenty-two years ago.”
“Did you know?”
“Not about Sophia.”
Julian's jaw tightened.
“But?”
Ronan removed his badge.
“I reported your movements to Vincent for years.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“He said he was protecting you from your own impulses.”
Julian looked at the man who'd guarded his life for two decades.
“Leave.”
“Julian—”
“Leave before I decide differently.”
Ronan placed the badge down and walked outside.
Another piece of Julian's world broke.
Rebecca handed him a phone.
“One thing Claire left.”
A recorded message.
Julian pressed play.
A little girl's voice filled the room.
Older.
Careful.
“Rebecca says my real name is Sophia.”
Julian's knees almost failed.
“I don't remember everything. I remember Daddy's hands because they're big. I remember he cuts strawberries wrong.”
Julian covered his mouth.
Grace turned away, crying.
Sophia continued.
“I remember a table.”
A pause.
“And a chair beside him.”
Julian stared at the drawing.
“Rebecca says Daddy is looking for me now.”
Another pause.
“Tell him I'm not mad.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Then Sophia whispered:
“But tell him Mr. Mercer found us.”
A man's voice sounded suddenly in the background.
Claire screamed.
The recording ended.
Julian stood.
The grief disappeared from his face.
Something harder replaced it.
He finally knew the truth.
Sophia was alive.
But the man who'd stolen two years of her childhood had found her again.
May you like
And this time Julian knew exactly who he was hunting.
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