CHAPTER 3 THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
For several seconds, Nathan couldn't move.
His gun remained pointed at Edward.
But his eyes were fixed on the photograph.
His mother.
Grace.
A newborn Lily.
And a date that shouldn't have been possible.
Six months before Lily was born.
Nathan's voice came out barely above a whisper.
“Where did you get that?”
Edward didn't answer.
Nathan stepped forward.
“I asked you a question.”
Edward's eyes shifted toward Richard.
“Your father knows.”
Nathan turned sharply.
“Dad?”
Richard looked older than he had five minutes ago.
Much older.
The confidence that had defined Richard Cole for decades was gone.
Nathan lowered the gun slightly.
“What is this?”
Richard stared at the photograph.
Then he closed his eyes.
“Your mother took that picture.”
Nathan's stomach tightened.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
“Yes.”
“Then how was she holding Lily?”
Richard didn't respond.
Nathan's voice rose.
“How?”
Grace stepped closer.
She looked at the photograph again.
Something about it bothered her.
Not Lily.
Not Nathan's mother.
Something in the background.
A hospital bracelet.
She leaned forward.
“Wait.”
Nathan looked at her.
Grace pointed.
“Zoom in.”
Edward smiled faintly.
“You noticed.”
Nathan took the photograph from him.
He examined it.
Behind his mother's shoulder was a hospital bassinet.
A small handwritten label was attached.
BABY C-17.
Grace's face drained of color.
“No.”
Nathan looked at her.
“What?”
Grace shook her head.
“That's not possible.”
“What isn't?”
“I saw that hospital.”
Richard suddenly stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Nathan grabbed his father's collar.
“No.”
His voice shook.
“You're done telling me what is enough.”
He shoved Richard against the wall.
“You lied about Grace.”
“You lied about Lily.”
“You lied about my mother.”
Nathan slammed his fist against the wall beside Richard's head.
“And now I'm looking at a photograph that says my dead mother knew my daughter before she was even born.”
Richard said nothing.
Nathan's eyes filled with fury.
“Tell me the truth.”
Richard looked at Grace.
Then Lily.
Then his son.
Finally, he whispered:
“Your mother didn't die when you thought she did.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“She died three years later.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Nathan released his father.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
Richard shook his head.
“That is what we told you.”
Nathan stared.
“No.”
“You were twelve when we told the world she died.”
“But she was alive.”
“Yes.”
“For three years?”
“Yes.”
Nathan stepped backward.
His face went pale.
“Why?”
Richard looked toward Edward.
“Because your mother discovered what the company was doing.”
Edward's expression changed.
Richard continued.
“She discovered the agreements.”
“What agreements?”
“The ones that controlled the heirs.”
Nathan frowned.
“I don't understand.”
Richard's voice lowered.
“Cole Global wasn't simply a business.”
Nathan waited.
“It was a system.”
“A system for what?”
Richard hesitated.
“Control.”
Edward laughed quietly.
Richard glared at him.
“You still don't understand, Nathan.”
Edward stepped forward.
“The Cole family didn't build its fortune by owning companies.”
He pointed toward the files.
“They built it by owning people.”
Grace's blood ran cold.
Edward continued.
“Judges owed them favors. Politicians owed them money. Executives owed them their careers. Hospitals owed them contracts.”
Nathan looked at the wall of names.
“And my mother found out.”
“She found something worse,” Richard said.
Nathan turned.
“What?”
Richard swallowed.
“She discovered the inheritance agreement.”
Nathan stared blankly.
“What inheritance agreement?”
Richard's voice trembled.
“The Cole heir could only inherit the controlling shares if he produced a legitimate successor.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“What does that have to do with Lily?”
“Everything.”
Grace pulled Lily closer.
Richard continued.
“Your grandfather created the agreement decades ago. Whoever controlled the Cole bloodline controlled the company.”
Nathan stared at him.
“So?”
“So your marriage was never supposed to be about love.”
Nathan went still.
Richard looked at him.
“You were supposed to marry Victoria.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“You arranged that?”
“Yes.”
Grace's expression hardened.
“Of course.”
Richard ignored her.
“But then you met Grace.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“You knew.”
“I knew everything.”
“You knew I loved her.”
“Yes.”
“And you separated us.”
Richard looked away.
“I had to.”
Nathan stepped toward him.
“No.”
Richard's voice cracked.
“You don't understand what would have happened.”
“What happened?”
Richard's silence answered him.
Grace stepped forward.
“You threatened me.”
Richard looked at her.
“I offered you protection.”
“You threatened my life.”
“I threatened your freedom.”
“And Lily?”
Richard's face tightened.
“I threatened to take her.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
“You were pregnant when you left.”
Grace nodded.
“I was six months pregnant.”
Nathan's eyes closed.
Six months.
He remembered that period.
The arguments.
Grace suddenly becoming distant.
The day she disappeared.
His father telling him she had taken money.
Nathan had spent years believing he had been abandoned.
But Grace had been carrying his child.
Alone.
Edward suddenly spoke.
“And that wasn't the worst part.”
Nathan turned.
“What?”
Edward reached into his coat again.
This time he pulled out a small envelope.
He handed it to Nathan.
“Your mother left this for you.”
Nathan stared at it.
His name was written across the front.
NATHAN.
His mother's handwriting.
He recognized it immediately.
His fingers trembled.
“Why didn't I get this?”
“Because your father intercepted it.”
Nathan slowly looked at Richard.
Richard didn't deny it.
Nathan opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
He unfolded it.
The first line made his heart stop.
Nathan, if you're reading this, I'm already dead.
His breathing became shallow.
He continued.
Your father will tell you that I died because I was sick.
Nathan looked up.
Richard's face was stone.
He looked back down.
That is a lie.
Grace moved closer.
Nathan continued reading.
I discovered what the Cole family has been doing to women who become pregnant outside the approved bloodline.
Grace covered her mouth.
Nathan's hands began shaking.
The next sentence was worse.
Grace Carter is not the first woman they tried to erase.
Nathan stopped.
He looked at Grace.
She was crying silently.
He kept reading.
There were seven before her.
The room went silent.
Nathan whispered:
“Seven…”
Richard said nothing.
Edward's eyes remained fixed on him.
Nathan continued.
If Grace has your child, they will come for her. They will tell you she abandoned you. They will manufacture evidence. They will make everyone believe she is unstable.
Nathan's eyes widened.
He looked at the folder containing the fake documents portraying Grace as an unfit mother.
His voice cracked.
“They planned this years ago.”
Edward nodded.
“Exactly.”
Nathan read the final lines.
Do not trust your father.
A pause.
Then another sentence.
And never let Nathan meet Victoria.
Nathan slowly lowered the letter.
His face was blank.
“Why Victoria?”
Edward didn't answer.
Nathan looked at him.
“Why did my mother warn me about Victoria?”
Edward glanced at Richard.
Richard whispered:
“Because Victoria's family was part of the agreement.”
Grace suddenly remembered something.
A conversation from five years ago.
Victoria's father had visited her apartment.
He had placed a folder on the table.
And said:
Give up the child.
Grace had refused.
He had smiled.
Then Nathan will never know you existed.
Grace looked at Nathan.
“Your mother knew Victoria's family.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“How?”
Grace shook her head.
“I don't know.”
A sound came from above.
Three sharp knocks.
Everyone froze.
Edward looked at the ceiling.
Nathan raised his weapon.
“What was that?”
Edward's expression changed.
“They found the entrance.”
Richard immediately moved toward a control panel.
“There's another exit.”
Nathan grabbed Lily.
“Where?”
Richard pressed a button.
A section of the wall slid open.
A narrow tunnel appeared.
“Take Grace and Lily.”
Nathan didn't move.
“What about you?”
Richard looked at his son.
“I'll slow them down.”
Nathan stared.
“You expect me to leave you?”
Richard gave a bitter smile.
“You've spent your whole life trying to become the man I wanted.”
He stepped aside.
“Don't make the same mistake twice.”
A violent explosion shook the room.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Lily screamed.
Grace covered her.
Nathan pulled them into the tunnel.
But before he entered, he looked back at Richard.
“Dad.”
Richard looked up.
Nathan's voice was cold.
“If Lily gets hurt…”
He raised his gun.
“…I'll come back for you.”
Richard nodded.
“I know.”
Nathan disappeared into the tunnel.
Grace followed.
Edward stayed behind.
Richard looked at him.
“You're going to kill us all.”
Edward smiled.
“No.”
He glanced toward the tunnel.
“I'm going to show Nathan what his father did.”
Richard's expression hardened.
“What do you mean?”
Edward reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a second photograph.
This one was older.
Much older.
It showed Nathan's mother standing in front of a hospital.
Beside her was a young Grace.
And in Grace's arms was a baby.
But the baby wasn't Lily.
Edward placed the photograph on the table.
Richard stared at it.
Edward whispered:
“Because Lily wasn't the first child.”
Richard's face turned white.
“And Nathan isn't the only heir.”
Then, from somewhere deep inside the tunnel, Grace suddenly heard a child's voice.
A voice she had never heard before.
“Mommy?”
Grace stopped dead.
Nathan turned.
“What?”
The voice came again.
Closer this time.
“Mommy… help me.”
Grace's heart stopped.
Because she knew that voice.
May you like
And it was impossible.
It belonged to the little girl she had been told died five years ago.
