Chapter 2 - THE NIGHT GRANDMOTHER DIEDI couldn't move.
My grandmother had been dead for twenty-six years.
Everyone had told me the same story.
She suffered a sudden heart attack at sixty-one.
She had been under enormous stress.
She had a weak heart.
She died peacefully in her sleep.
I had believed them.
Because I was six years old.
Because my mother cried at the funeral.
Because my father held my hand.
Because grief makes children trust adults.
Now I understood something terrifying.
My childhood had been built around a lie.
“Where is the medical report?” I asked.
My grandfather looked at Harrison.
“In my office.”
“Then we're going.”
My mother stepped forward.
“No.”
I looked at her.
She had stopped crying.
Her face was pale.
“You are not leaving with him.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather is manipulating you.”
Harrison's expression turned cold.
“Still doing it.”
Eleanor glared at him.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I know exactly what I'm talking about.”
He looked at me.
“Your grandmother didn't die naturally.”
My mother whispered:
“Father.”
“Enough.”
His voice cut through the room.
“You stole her medication.”
My mother froze.
My father looked at her.
“Eleanor…”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Harrison continued.
“You altered her medical records.”
“No.”
“You convinced the family doctor to sign a false death certificate.”
My mother began trembling.
“That isn't true.”
“Then why did you destroy the original autopsy report?”
Silence.
Every guest in the ballroom was listening.
Julian stepped closer.
“Vivienne, we should leave.”
I looked at him.
“Did you know?”
He looked away.
That was the second betrayal.
I stepped closer.
“How much did you know?”
“Not everything.”
“But enough.”
He didn't answer.
I removed my engagement ring.
His eyes widened.
“Vivienne.”
I placed the ring in his hand.
“This isn't an engagement anymore.”
My mother gasped.
“You can't do this.”
“I just did.”
Then I walked out.
Harrison followed.
The private elevator took us to the top floor.
His office overlooked Manhattan.
He closed the door.
“Sit.”
I remained standing.
“Tell me everything.”
He sighed.
“Your grandmother discovered that your mother and father had been stealing from Vance Holdings.”
“How much?”
“Almost twenty million dollars.”
I stared.
“And she confronted them?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They claimed it was temporary.”
“Was it?”
“No.”
“What did Grandma do?”
“She planned to remove them from the company.”
I swallowed.
“Then she died.”
“Yes.”
“And after that?”
“Your father took control of the company.”
“And my mother controlled me.”
Harrison nodded.
“Because the trust was designed to transfer to you at twenty-six.”
I stared at him.
“They needed me to remain powerless until then.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if you knew about the trust, you could have challenged their control.”
I sat down.
The realization was crushing.
Every time my mother had called me irresponsible.
Every time she told me I couldn't manage money.
Every time she laughed when I mentioned starting a business.
Every time she reminded me that I needed her.
It had all been deliberate.
She wasn't raising a dependent daughter.
She was managing an asset.
My grandfather opened a drawer.
He removed a small black box.
“This belonged to your grandmother.”
Inside was a flash drive.
And a photograph.
My grandmother stood beside a younger man.
I recognized him.
“Who is that?”
Harrison's expression changed.
“Your grandmother's attorney.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared two days after her death.”
I looked closer.
Something was written on the back.
If anything happens to me, find Daniel Cross.
I looked at Harrison.
“Is he alive?”
“I don't know.”
My phone buzzed.
A text message appeared from an unknown number.
He is.
Then another.
And he knows who killed your grandmother.
A third message appeared.
But your parents know where he is.
I looked toward the door.
My father was standing outside.
He was watching me through the glass.
His face was expressionless.
Then he lifted his phone.
Mine rang.
I answered.
His voice was quiet.
“Vivienne, whatever you think you know…”
He paused.
“You are not ready for the truth.”
I stared at him.
“Then why are you afraid?”
He hung up.
For the first time, I saw something I had never seen in my father.
May you like
Fear.
And that frightened me more than anything else.
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