Chapter 7
The request failed.
That was the first good news.
The trust administrator had frozen all external transactions the moment Evelyn reported the forged signature.
The second piece of good news was even better.
The person who submitted the transfer request had made a mistake.
Grant had used an account tied to Holloway Strategic Consulting.
His company.
Naomi stared at the transaction record.
“He actually tried to move two million dollars into his business account.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Through an authorization we had already flagged as fraudulent.”
Elise gave a humorless laugh.
“Brilliant.”
I didn't laugh.
Grant was reckless now.
Reckless people frightened me more than careful ones.
A careful enemy considers consequences.
A desperate one believes consequences are already coming.
“Where is he?” I asked.
Naomi looked at me.
“We don't know.”
“Sophia?”
“She left earlier.”
“Can we reach her?”
Evelyn nodded toward the hospital door.
“She never actually left the building.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“She has been sitting in the family waiting area.”
I looked toward Everly.
Then at Elise.
“Stay with her.”
Elise nodded.
I found Sophia near the elevators.
She had removed the ring.
It sat in her palm.
When she saw me walking slowly with the help of a nurse, she stood.
“You shouldn't be out of bed.”
“Probably not.”
She glanced at my abdomen.
“I'm sorry.”
I sat across from her.
“For which part?”
Her eyes filled.
“All of it.”
I wanted to hate her.
Part of me did.
She had known Grant was married.
Even if he claimed we were separated, she had accepted a relationship with a man whose pregnant wife still lived under the same roof.
But she also looked like someone whose reality had collapsed in a single morning.
“Why are you still here?”
“I don't know where else to go.”
“You have a home.”
She shook her head.
“I moved out last week.”
“For Grant?”
“He told me I was moving into your house Saturday.”
My stomach turned.
“So you gave up your apartment.”
“Yes.”
“What about family?”
“My parents are in Oregon.”
“Friends?”
“I stopped talking to most of them.”
“Because of him?”
She looked down.
“He said they were jealous.”
I knew that pattern.
Grant had tried it with me too.
He used to complain that Elise was too involved in my life.
That my grandfather controlled me.
That my Army colleagues didn't respect our marriage.
He had never succeeded in isolating me completely.
Maybe because my career made that impossible.
Sophia had not been as protected.
“What did Grant tell you about me?”
She looked ashamed.
“That you were cold. That you cared more about rank than family. That the baby was your idea and you stopped taking birth control without telling him.”
“That is a lie.”
“I know now.”
“He wanted children when we married.”
Sophia wiped her eyes.
“He told me he had been trying to leave you for a year.”
“Another lie.”
“I know.”
“Did he ever talk about my grandfather?”
Her fingers closed around the ring.
“Recently.”
“How recently?”
“About six weeks.”
I leaned forward.
“What did he say?”
“That Everett had hidden assets.”
“Anything else?”
“That once everything was settled, we would never have to work again.”
There it was.
“Did he say how?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you I would sign over money?”
“He said you owed him.”
I laughed quietly.
“For what?”
“For supporting your career.”
The absurdity almost hurt.
My salary had paid our mortgage.
My savings had financed his businesses.
My military health insurance had covered much of my prenatal care.
But in Grant's version, he was the one who had sacrificed.
Sophia looked toward the window.
“He also had me sign documents.”
My pulse jumped.
“What documents?”
“He said they were for his consulting company.”
“Did you read them?”
“No.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course she hadn't.
“What did they look like?”
“Bank forms. Corporate resolutions. Something about a loan.”
Naomi appeared at the end of the hallway.
I waved her over.
Sophia repeated everything.
Naomi's face grew serious.
“Did you give Grant access to your bank accounts?”
“One.”
“How much money is in it?”
“About forty thousand.”
“Check it.”
Sophia opened her banking app.
Her face went white.
“What?”
She turned the phone toward us.
The balance showed $217.
“Where did it go?”
Her hands began shaking.
“I don't know.”
Naomi took over.
Several transfers had moved her savings into Holloway Strategic Consulting over the previous ten days.
Sophia stared at the screen.
“He stole from me.”
I said nothing.
She looked at me.
“You knew he could do this.”
“No.”
“But you aren't surprised.”
I thought about the forged trust paperwork.
“No.”
Sophia covered her mouth.
Then her eyes changed.
“There was another account.”
Naomi leaned closer.
“What account?”
“Grant kept a folder in his car. He called it his contingency fund.”
“Did you see a bank name?”
“Yes.”
She gave it.
Naomi wrote everything down.
“What else?”
Sophia closed her eyes, thinking.
“A storage unit.”
My skin prickled.
“Where?”
“Alexandria.”
“What was in it?”
“He wouldn't tell me.”
“Why do you know about it?”
“I drove him there twice.”
“Did he carry anything in?”
“Boxes. Files. Once a small safe.”
Naomi and I exchanged a look.
Grant had apparently been building a private archive.
Of what, we didn't know.
By evening, police had enough information to seek records related to the fraudulent trust request.
They weren't arresting Grant.
Not yet.
But for the first time, the story existed outside our marriage.
It was becoming evidence.
I returned to my room exhausted.
Everly slept against my chest.
I whispered to her.
“I promise you something.”
Her tiny mouth moved in her sleep.
“You will never have to earn love in this family.”
I kissed her head.
“You will never be called a burden.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered carefully.
“Tessa?”
Grant.
My whole body tensed.
“Where are you calling from?”
He ignored the question.
“You've made a serious mistake.”
“No. I think you did.”
“You sent cops after me.”
“I reported fraud.”
“You're destroying my business.”
“You tried to steal two million dollars.”
Silence.
Then he laughed softly.
“You can't prove that was me.”
I looked toward Naomi.
She signaled for me to keep him talking.
“What do you want, Grant?”
“My daughter.”
The words hit exactly where he intended.
“You didn't even ask if she survived delivery.”
“I know she's fine.”
“How?”
Another silence.
Then I heard something in the background.
A car door.
He lowered his voice.
“You took everything from me.”
“No. You gambled everything.”
“I want half the trust.”
“No.”
“Then I'll take custody.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“You don't want her.”
“I want what gives me leverage.”
There it was.
Naomi's eyes widened.
The call was being recorded legally after proper notice through our counsel's arrangement? I didn't know.
I didn't care.
Grant continued.
“You know what judges think about mothers with jobs like yours.”
Then he whispered the sentence I would remember for years.
“You can keep your twenty million, Tessa.”
May you like
A cold smile entered his voice.
“But if you want your daughter, you're going to pay me for her.”
