Chapter 2 - Nobody moved.
Graham heard the old grandfather clock ticking somewhere behind him.
One.
Two.
Three.
Every sound in the foyer suddenly seemed enormous.
“Maisie.”
He crouched in front of her.
“Tell Daddy exactly what you remember.”
Sloane interrupted.
“She has been saying things like this for months.”
Graham turned.
“Don't.”
One word.
Sloane stopped.
Graham looked back at his daughter.
“Who pushed Mommy?”
Maisie’s fingers tightened around the fabric of his suit.
“I don't know.”
“You saw someone?”
She nodded.
“A person.”
“Man or woman?”
Maisie hesitated.
“Woman.”
Sloane stepped backward.
Graham noticed.
He noticed everything now.
“What did she look like?”
Maisie closed her eyes.
“She had red nails.”
Sloane's hands dropped to her sides.
Graham slowly stood.
Sloane's nails were painted pale ivory.
Not red.
Victor stepped forward.
“Graham, this is exactly why Maisie needs professional care.”
“Shut up, Victor.”
The attorney stiffened.
“You're angry.”
“I'm realizing people around my daughter have been lying to me.”
“That is an emotional reaction.”
“Why is my signature on documents I never signed?”
Victor went quiet.
Graham opened his phone.
“I'm calling the police.”
Sloane stared at him.
“Before our wedding?”
“There is no wedding.”
She looked almost offended.
“You'd throw away everything because of a child's fantasy?”
Graham stared at her.
“My daughter had a chain around her ankle.”
Sloane's eyes flashed.
“She tried to bite me.”
“Then you call the police.”
“She was attacking everyone.”
“Then you call a doctor.”
“She needs structure.”
“She needs her father.”
Victor stepped between them.
“Graham, listen to yourself. You are about to make a serious mistake.”
“Maybe.”
Graham pointed at the documents.
“But I know one thing. I didn't sign those.”
He dialed.
The line rang once.
Twice.
Then someone answered.
“Grant security.”
“Lock the gates.”
Victor's expression changed.
“All of them?”
“All.”
Graham looked at Sloane.
“And no one leaves.”
Sloane whispered, “You can't do this.”
“I can.”
The security chief confirmed.
Graham hung up.
For several seconds, the only movement came from Maisie's stuffed rabbit in her arms.
Then Graham noticed a small mark on her wrist.
A bruise.
He took her hand.
“What's this?”
Maisie looked down.
“Sloane held me.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
Graham looked at Sloane.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Graham's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Why?”
“She tried to open the study.”
“Why?”
“She was looking for her mother.”
Graham froze.
“What study?”
Sloane realized her mistake.
The study was his father's old library.
The one room in the house Maisie almost never entered.
Victor's phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
Graham saw the name.
DR. BENNETT MERCER.
Graham grabbed the phone.
“Who is he?”
Victor tried to pull it back.
“It's confidential.”
Graham answered.
“Dr. Mercer?”
Silence.
Then a calm male voice said:
“Mr. Grant, your daughter's transfer was confirmed for 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.”
Graham's blood ran cold.
“I never confirmed anything.”
“You signed the authorization.”
“I did not.”
“Mr. Grant, I personally witnessed your signature.”
“When?”
“August fourteenth.”
Graham looked at Victor.
“What time?”
There was a pause.
“10:20 p.m.”
Graham's mind raced.
August fourteenth.
He had been in Boston.
A business dinner.
Alone.
At least, he thought he had been alone.
“Who brought the documents to you?”
Another pause.
“Your wife.”
Graham stared at Sloane.
“She isn't my wife.”
Dr. Mercer corrected him.
“Not yet.”
The call ended.
Graham lowered the phone.
Sloane was crying now.
But Graham no longer believed the tears.
“Pack your things.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You're leaving.”
“Graham, please.”
“Tonight.”
Victor stepped forward.
“You may regret this.”
Graham looked at him.
“You're next.”
Victor said nothing.
Two security officers entered.
Sloane turned toward them.
“You can't remove me. I have legal authority here.”
Graham frowned.
“What legal authority?”
Sloane pulled a document from her purse.
“This.”
He took it.
His heart sank.
It was a notarized document naming Sloane as Maisie's temporary guardian if Graham became incapacitated.
Graham looked at the date.
Three months earlier.
His signature again.
He hadn't signed that either.
Then Victor said quietly:
“You gave her those rights.”
“I gave her nothing.”
“That's where you're wrong.”
Victor opened his briefcase again.
He pulled out a medical authorization.
Then a banking authorization.
Then a property authorization.
Each document carried Graham's signature.
Each one had a different date.
All within the previous year.
Graham stared at the stack.
For the first time, he wasn't looking at a wedding gone wrong.
He was looking at an operation.
Someone had been collecting his signature.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Piece by piece.
His daughter had not been the beginning.
She had been the final step.
Graham looked at Maisie.
“Daddy?”
He knelt.
“Do you remember anything else about the woman who pushed Mommy?”
Maisie nodded.
“What?”
“She had a bracelet.”
“What kind?”
Maisie pointed toward Sloane.
“Like hers.”
Sloane looked down.
A gold bracelet circled her wrist.
Graham grabbed it.
A tiny engraving was hidden beneath the clasp.
CLAIRE 2004.
Sloane tore her arm away.
Graham stared.
“Why do you have my wife's bracelet?”
Sloane's face had gone completely blank.
Then she said something that made Graham's skin crawl.
“Because Claire gave it to me.”
Graham whispered:
“My wife hated you.”
Sloane looked directly into his eyes.
“No.”
A strange smile appeared.
May you like
“She was afraid of me.”
Then the lights went out.
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