I just need access first.
Not access to me.
Not only to my money.
Access to Melissa’s daughters.
I called Grace.
She did not answer.
I called again.
Nothing.
Lily said, “She’s probably sleeping.”
I called a third time.
Straight to voicemail.
My entire body tightened.
“Where is she?”
“At her apartment.”
“Alone?”
“With her roommate.”
Ben was already reaching for his keys.
“I’ll go.”
“No.”
“Mom—”
“No one goes anywhere alone tonight.”
I called Grace’s roommate.
She answered groggily.
“Mrs. Walker?”
“Is Grace there?”
“Yeah. She’s asleep.”
Relief nearly dropped me to the floor.
“Wake her.”
“What?”
“Please.”
Thirty seconds later, Grace came on.
“Mom?”
“Do you have Melissa’s flash drive?”
Silence.
Then: “Yes.”
“Put it somewhere safe.”
“Why?”
“Because Nathan knows about your mother’s trust.”
Grace became completely awake.
“What?”
“I’ll explain later. Do not leave your apartment. Do not open the door for Nathan or Linda.”
“Mom, you’re scaring me.”
“I know.”
“Are you still marrying him?”
I stared at the wedding gown hanging in the dining room doorway.
“Yes.”
Ben spun toward me.
I held up one hand.
“Not legally.”
Grace was silent.
Then she said, “That sounded terrifying.”
For the first time that night, I almost laughed.
“Good.”
By two in the morning, my house had turned into a command center.
Rebecca arrived in sweatpants under a wool coat.
Ben made coffee nobody drank.
Lily and Grace joined us by video.
Elise called twice from her apartment while restructuring the wedding timeline.
Rebecca contacted a private investigator she trusted.
I kept hearing Nathan’s laughter.
Every twenty minutes or so, grief would surge unexpectedly.
A memory would stab me.
Nathan teaching Grace to parallel park.
Nathan rubbing sunscreen onto my shoulders.
Nathan telling me on our first anniversary, “I’ve never felt more at home.”
Each memory became contaminated.
By three fifteen, the investigator called.
His name was Marcus Shaw.
He sounded half-awake but focused.
“I ran the aliases your son found.”
“And?”
“Nicholas Bennett is real.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning Nathan Brooks did not exist before approximately twelve years ago.”
