Chapter 10 - THE NAME ON THE CERTIFICATEGrace had never lied about Lily’s father.
Not in the way Nathan feared.
But fear was never rational when the Cole family was involved.
Back at the mansion, after doctors checked Lily and police took statements, Nathan and Grace sat alone in the library.
Lily slept upstairs under guard.
The room was quiet except for the crackle of the fireplace.
Nathan placed one document on the table between them.
A copy of Lily’s birth certificate.
He had obtained it through Richard after Evelyn’s final words.
Grace’s hands were folded so tightly her knuckles were white.
Nathan read the father’s name.
Samuel Reed.
Not Nathan Cole.
Not unknown.
A man’s name.
Nathan felt something twist in his chest.
“Who is Samuel Reed?”
Grace closed her eyes.
“My cousin.”
Nathan looked up.
“He helped me.”
Grace nodded.
“When Lily was born, your father’s people were still watching me. I was living under my mother’s maiden name in a town where nobody knew me. I couldn’t put your name down. If I did, the hospital records would alert the private firm Charles hired.”
“So Samuel put his name there?”
“To protect her.”
Nathan stood and walked toward the window.
Grace’s voice shook.
“He never claimed to be her father. He never touched the trust. He never asked for anything. He signed because I was alone and terrified and Lily needed a legal shield.”
Nathan stared out at the dark lawn.
He believed her.
That was the painful part.
He believed every word, but belief did not erase the years.
“Where is he now?”
Grace went silent.
Nathan turned.
Grace looked down.
“He died two years ago.”
Nathan’s anger shifted into confusion.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
The way she said it made the room colder.
Nathan stepped closer.
“Grace.”
She looked up.
“He was going to testify.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“Against my father?”
“Against the firm your father used. He found payments. Copies of threats. Proof they monitored me after Lily was born.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“And then he died.”
Grace nodded.
“The police said black ice. But it was April.”
Nathan’s breath slowed.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Who?” Grace asked, a bitter laugh breaking through. “The police who believed Cole lawyers? The hospital board Charles funded? The judge who signed an emergency order against me twelve hours after Victoria called him?”
Nathan had no answer.
Grace’s voice softened.
“I didn’t keep Samuel’s name from you because I wanted to hurt you. I kept it because every legal document around Lily had become a trap.”
Nathan sat down slowly.
For the first time, the scale of Grace’s survival settled over him.
She had not merely hidden.
She had fought a war with no army.
He reached across the table.
Grace stared at his hand.
After a long moment, she placed hers in it.
Nathan whispered, “We’ll change the certificate.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“And if they fight us?”
Nathan looked at the birth certificate.
Then at the photograph of Lily on the mantel, already placed there by Mrs. Alvarez.
“Then we bury them in the truth.”
At that exact moment, Nathan’s phone rang.
Mason.
Nathan answered.
Mason’s voice was grim.
“We found Victoria.”
Nathan stood.
“Where?”
“At the airport.”
Grace rose too.
Mason hesitated.
“She wasn’t running away.”
Nathan’s hand tightened around the phone.
“She was meeting someone.”
“Who?”
Mason’s answer made Nathan’s blood stop.
“Samuel Reed.”
Grace froze.
“That’s impossible,” she whispered.
May you like
Mason’s voice lowered.
“Then someone wants you to believe a dead man just came back.”
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