Chapter 7 - WHAT AUDREY DIDGrant couldn't look at Audrey.
They went back to the hotel.
Marcus disappeared before sunrise.
He gave no explanation.
No warning.
Just one instruction.
Do not trust the person who tells you everything you want to hear.
Grant didn't know whether that meant Lenora.
Or Audrey.
Perhaps both.
At 5:40 a.m., Audrey finally spoke.
“I didn't kill your father.”
Grant stared at the wall.
“Then tell me what happened.”
“He had been poisoned.”
Grant turned.
“What?”
“He suspected someone was poisoning him slowly.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I was afraid of Lenora.”
Grant shook his head.
“You gave her the drive.”
“I thought she could save him.”
“She watched him die.”
“I didn't know!”
Grant's voice broke.
“How could you not know?”
Audrey cried.
“Because your father told me to leave.”
Grant looked at her.
“What?”
“He said if I stayed, I would put you in danger.”
“Then why were you in the photo?”
“I came back.”
“Why?”
Audrey wiped her tears.
“Because I heard him scream.”
The room fell silent.
Grant stared.
“What did you see?”
“I saw your mother.”
“With him?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Audrey's hands trembled.
“She was holding a glass.”
“Did she poison him?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what did you see?”
“She poured something into his drink.”
Grant's face went pale.
“And then?”
“Your father collapsed.”
Grant closed his eyes.
Audrey continued.
“I ran.”
“You left him?”
“I was terrified.”
“And you gave the drive to Lenora?”
“Yes.”
Grant looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because she followed me.”
Audrey swallowed.
“She told me if I ever told you, she would make sure you lost everything.”
Grant said nothing.
Audrey reached into her bag.
“I have something.”
She placed a tiny memory card on the bed.
“I made a copy.”
Grant looked at it.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“You said you gave her the drive.”
“I gave her the original.”
“And kept this?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you ever tell me?”
“Because I loved you.”
Grant stared at her.
“And you thought lying was love?”
Audrey looked at him.
“No.”
Her voice was barely audible.
“I thought keeping you alive was.”
Grant took the card.
There was no reader.
He called David.
Twenty minutes later, David arrived.
They watched the video together.
It showed Grant's father sitting in the study.
He looked weak.
Sweat covered his forehead.
He stared directly into the camera.
“Grant.”
The recording continued.
“If you are watching this, then I failed.”
Grant's breath caught.
His father's voice shook.
“Your mother isn't trying to take my company.”
He paused.
“She is trying to take control of the Whitmore Trust.”
Grant frowned.
“Why?”
His father looked toward the door.
“Because she believes the beneficiary is still you.”
Grant's hands tightened.
“But it isn't.”
“No.”
His father leaned closer.
“The beneficiary is your son.”
Grant stared at the screen.
His father's voice dropped.
“That is why Caleb is in danger.”
Audrey covered her mouth.
The video continued.
“Lenora believes if Grant loses legal control of the trust, she can eventually control the child's assets.”
Grant looked at David.
David's face was grim.
His father continued.
“There is one person helping her.”
A pause.
“I was wrong to trust him.”
The screen flickered.
Then his father's face returned.
“Ethan.”
Grant froze.
“He is not my son.”
A long silence.
“He is hers.”
Grant looked at Audrey.
The video ended.
The room was silent.
Then David said:
“Grant…”
Grant didn't hear him.
Because outside the hotel window, a black sedan had stopped.
The driver's door opened.
A man stepped out.
Grant recognized him immediately.
The face from the photographs.
Ethan.
His mother's hidden son.
Grant moved toward the window.
Ethan looked directly up at him.
Then smiled.
His phone rang.
Lenora.
Grant answered.
Her voice was calm.
“You finally know.”
Grant stared at Ethan below.
“Know what?”
“Who your real enemy is.”
Grant's voice hardened.
“Where is my mother?”
Lenora laughed softly.
“With me.”
Grant looked at Audrey.
Then back at the window.
“Let her go.”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“Audrey.”
Grant froze.
Lenora continued.
“Bring me your wife.”
“Why?”
“Because she has something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
A pause.
“The evidence that can put your mother in prison.”
Then Lenora said:
“And if you don't bring Audrey tonight…”
Grant heard something in the background.
A man's voice.
May you like
Ethan.
“Caleb comes next.”
