Chapter 3 - The Secret Grace Buried
Grace looked as though the floor had vanished beneath her.
Lily stared up at her mother.
“Mom?”
Adrian held the photograph between two fingers.
His younger brother, Michael Moretti, stood beside Grace in the image.
Alive.
Smiling faintly.
Nine years younger.
Adrian had not seen that face outside photographs since a plane crash over the Atlantic had supposedly killed Michael and three others.
Grace’s lips trembled.
“Lily, go with Vincent.”
“No.”
The child gripped her mother’s hand.
“I’m staying.”
Adrian studied Grace.
“Is Lily Michael’s daughter?”
Grace shut her eyes.
That was answer enough.
Vincent whispered a curse.
Lily looked from one adult to another.
“Who’s Michael?”
Grace crouched.
“Someone I should have told you about a long time ago.”
“Is he my dad?”
Grace began crying.
“Yes.”
The word changed the room.
Adrian had believed for seven years that his brother left no child.
No heir.
No unfinished responsibility.
No little girl who had been growing up beneath his own roof while he remained completely unaware.
He turned away.
Anger rose first.
Then grief.
Then something worse.
Betrayal.
“How long have you worked here?”
“Four years.”
“You came into my house knowing who I was.”
“Yes.”
“And said nothing.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“From me?”
“No.”
“Then from who?”
Grace looked at the unconscious maintenance worker.
“From the people who killed Michael.”
The estate became silent.
Even Vincent stopped moving.
Adrian faced her.
“My brother died in an accident.”
“No.”
“You know that how?”
“Because three days before the plane went down, Michael came to see me.”
Grace’s voice shook, but she continued.
“He said people were watching him. He said he had discovered something about the Moretti family trust. Something involving shell companies, missing money and signatures that weren’t real.”
Adrian thought of the stolen document upstairs.
“What did he give you?”
“Nothing.”
“Grace.”
“He wanted to. I refused.”
“Why?”
“Because I was pregnant.”
Lily’s fingers tightened around hers.
Grace looked at her daughter.
“I was scared.”
Adrian asked, “Did Michael know?”
“Yes.”
“And he never told me?”
“He planned to.”
Grace wiped her eyes.
“He said he needed to make sure you weren’t involved first.”
That hurt more than Adrian expected.
Michael had suspected him.
“Who was he investigating?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“He kept saying one name.”
“What name?”
Grace looked toward the windows.
“Vale.”
Adrian felt his pulse slow.
“Celeste’s family?”
“I don’t know.”
Vincent walked toward the maintenance worker.
“We need this man awake.”
The security officer checked his pulse.
“Still breathing.”
“Get him downstairs. Medical room. Restrain him.”
Adrian looked at Grace again.
“Why did you come work here?”
“Because after Michael died, people started following me.”
“When?”
“When Lily was a baby.”
“What happened?”
“I moved three times.”
Grace swallowed.
“Every time, someone found us. Then four years ago I saw your household position advertised.”
“You thought hiding inside my home would protect you.”
“I thought nobody looking for Michael’s daughter would imagine she was living with Michael’s brother.”
Adrian almost laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the plan had been insane.
And brilliant.
“Why use your real name?”
“Because Michael never registered himself as Lily’s father.”
Adrian looked at Lily.
The child was watching him carefully.
“So nobody could connect her to him.”
Grace nodded.
“Until now.”
Vincent’s phone buzzed.
He looked at it.
“Lab team is here.”
Adrian turned toward Lily.
“Stay with your mother.”
He went downstairs.
The two glasses were photographed, swabbed and sealed.
The senior technician pulled Adrian aside.
“We can do preliminary chemical screening on site.”
“How long?”
“Thirty minutes.”
“Make it twenty.”
Adrian returned to the study.
The hidden safe had been professionally opened.
No drilling.
No forced lock.
Which meant whoever opened it possessed the code.
Adrian knew only three people should have known it.
Himself.
His attorney, Samuel Reed.
And Michael.
Not Celeste.
Adrian stopped.
Earlier, he had told Vincent Celeste knew of the document.
But she did not know the safe code.
Unless someone had given it to her.
Or Michael had.
Seven years after supposedly dying.
Adrian called Samuel.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Vincent entered.
“Maintenance guy is waking up.”
They went downstairs.
The man’s wrists were restrained.
He opened his eyes.
Saw Adrian.
And smiled.
“You look like your brother.”
Adrian stood over him.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who should’ve retired.”
“What did you do to the glass?”
The man laughed quietly.
“You really think this is about poisoning you?”
“What is it about?”
“Inheritance.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
The man glanced toward the ceiling.
“Michael was supposed to solve the problem when he died.”
Adrian grabbed his shirt.
“What problem?”
The man smiled again.
“The little girl.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“If anyone touches her—”
“Too late.”
Adrian’s grip tightened.
“What does that mean?”
The man’s confidence flickered.
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
He looked genuinely surprised.
Then laughed.
“Michael never told you.”
Adrian slammed him back against the medical bed.
“Told me what?”
The man leaned close enough that Adrian could smell blood on his breath.
“The Moretti estate isn’t yours.”
Adrian released him slowly.
The man whispered, “It belongs to Michael’s child.”
Upstairs, Lily suddenly screamed.
Adrian ran.
He found Grace outside Lily’s temporary bedroom.
The window was open.
Curtains whipping in the storm.
Lily stood safely near the bed.
But something had been placed on her pillow.
A small silver necklace.
Michael Moretti’s necklace.
Adrian recognized it because he had identified it among his brother’s recovered possessions after the crash.
Lily stared at it.
“Mom…”
Grace covered her mouth.
Adrian picked up the necklace.
Attached to the chain was a tiny waterproof memory capsule.
Vincent entered behind him.
“What is that?”
Adrian twisted it open.
Inside was a microSD card.
Michael had hidden something inside the necklace before he died.
Something nobody had discovered.
Adrian looked at Grace.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
They inserted the card into an isolated computer.
One video file appeared.
The date was three days before Michael’s plane disappeared.
Adrian pressed play.
Michael appeared on screen.
Alive.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this, Adrian, then I failed.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Michael continued.
“And if Grace finally trusted you enough to give you this, protect my daughter.”
Lily moved closer to the screen.
Michael leaned toward the camera.
“There’s someone inside our family who has spent twenty years stealing from us.”
May you like
Then Michael said the sentence Adrian would remember for the rest of his life.
“And Adrian… the person who arranged my death is probably standing beside you.”
