Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN GRANT THOUGHT HE LOVED
Madison called me at 2:13 in the morning.
Her voice was shaking.
“Eleanor.”
I almost hung up.
Then I heard Lily crying in the background.
“Where is my daughter?”
“Alive.”
“Put her on.”
“I can’t.”
“Madison—”
“My father has her.”
Grant moved closer.
I put the call on speaker.
Madison went silent when she heard him.
“Grant.”
He looked physically sick.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That Charles is my father.”
Nothing.
Then Madison laughed once.
A broken sound.
“That’s not funny.”
“No.”
Her breathing changed.
“Oh my God.”
For the first time since I had known her, Madison Vale sounded genuinely destroyed.
Grant turned away.
I didn’t.
“Where is Lily?”
“My father took her from Vivian.”
“Where?”
“Blackwell’s old Cambridge research facility.”
Julian was already calling police.
Madison hurried.
“No police. He has access to the chemical storage wing.”
“Why are you helping us?”
“Because he lied to me too.”
Apparently Charles told Madison the plan was to force me from Blackwell temporarily, protect investors from my supposed instability, and position her as chair.
He never told her about Lily’s trust.
Never told her about Grant.
Never told her she was sleeping with her own half-brother.
“You forged the medical report,” I said.
Madison went quiet.
“Yes.”
“You spread rumors about me.”
“Yes.”
“You encouraged Grant to seek emergency custody.”
“Yes.”
“And now you expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
At least she had learned the correct answer.
“But if you want Lily, come.”
The call ended.
Grant looked at me.
“I’m going.”
“So am I.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
He immediately corrected himself.
“I don’t want you near Charles.”
“Lily is my daughter.”
“She’s mine too.”
“Then don’t tell her mother to stay behind.”
His face tightened.
Then he nodded.
Fair.
We reached Cambridge before dawn.
Police remained two blocks away.
Julian coordinated with federal agents.
Grant and I entered through an underground service passage my father once showed me as a teenager.
The facility smelled like dust and old laboratories.
A light glowed at the end of the corridor.
Madison waited.
Her mascara had streaked down her face.
Grant looked at her and immediately looked away.
Neither spoke.
She handed me a key card.
“Lily is upstairs.”
“Charles?”
“In Arthur’s old records room.”
“Vivian?”
Madison’s eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
Then we heard a gunshot.
Grant moved first.
I followed.
We found Charles standing over a locked steel cabinet.
Lily sat behind him, crying but unharmed.
Vivian lay on the floor.
Alive.
Blood on her shoulder.
Charles turned.
“Finally.”
Grant stepped in front of me.
Charles smiled.
“My son.”
Grant’s face hardened.
“Don’t call me that.”
Charles looked toward Madison.
“My daughter.”
She recoiled.
Then Charles raised a pistol.
“Now that the whole family is here, Eleanor can open the trust archive.”
I looked at the cabinet.
My father’s initials were engraved on the lock.
Charles smiled.
“Arthur made one mistake.”
“What?”
“He trusted you enough to make your voice the key.”
I looked at Lily.
May you like
Then at Charles.
And realized my father had expected exactly this kind of day.
