Chapter 4 - THE KISS THAT BECAME SOMETHING WORSE
Grant vomited in my father’s bathroom.
I did not comfort him.
That may sound cruel.
But I was still carrying the image of his mouth on Madison’s.
Some truths hurt too much to reorganize immediately.
When he returned, his face had lost all color.
“This has to be wrong.”
Julian examined the report.
“The laboratory existed. We can verify chain of custody.”
Grant stared at me.
“I didn’t know.”
“I believe that part.”
He closed his eyes.
It was the first mercy I had offered him all night.
Then my phone rang again.
Vivian.
This time Grant took it.
“What did you do?”
His voice shook.
“Where is Lily?”
“She’s safe.”
“Is Charles Vale my father?”
Silence.
That answered everything.
Grant gripped the phone tighter.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And Madison?”
“She does not know.”
I looked at Grant.
That mattered.
Vivian continued.
“Charles never publicly acknowledged you. Your father Edward raised you.”
“He wasn’t my father.”
“He loved you.”
“Why did Arthur Blackwell know?”
“Because Charles used the truth to blackmail him.”
My father had kept Vivian’s fraud hidden partly to protect Grant from becoming collateral damage.
Twenty-five years of secrets.
All converging on one gala.
Then Lily spoke faintly in the background.
“Grandma, can I talk to Mommy?”
I grabbed the phone.
“Lily?”
“I’m okay, Mommy. Grandma said we’re playing a hiding game.”
My chest tightened.
“Where are you?”
Vivian returned.
“No.”
“Vivian, if you love her at all—”
“I do.”
“Then bring her back.”
“I can’t until Charles is contained.”
“Where is Madison?”
Another pause.
“With him.”
That contradicted the garage footage.
“What do they want?”
“The original Blackwell research trust.”
Julian looked sharply at me.
I had never heard of it.
Vivian continued.
“Your father created a secondary trust tied to the company’s founding patents. Charles has been trying to locate it for years.”
“What does Lily have to do with it?”
“Everything.”
My stomach dropped.
“The beneficiary line passes from Arthur to you.”
I knew that much.
“And then?”
Vivian whispered:
“To Lily.”
Blackwell’s most valuable early patents were not technically owned by the company.
They belonged to a private family trust.
My daughter’s inheritance was worth hundreds of millions.
Charles needed me declared unstable.
Grant installed as temporary controller.
Then Grant compromised through Madison.
And finally Lily under Vale influence.
It was not an affair.
Not primarily.
It was a succession attack.
Grant looked shattered.
“I brought Madison into our house.”
“Yes.”
“You promoted her.”
“Yes.”
“I helped them.”
“Yes.”
I wanted every word to land.
Then Julian’s phone buzzed.
Police had found Vivian’s sedan.
Abandoned.
Blood on the driver’s seat.
Lily’s silver hair ribbon on the pavement.
And inside the trunk:
May you like
Vivian’s emerald bracelet.
Broken.
