Chapter 6 - THE SECRET ELIZABETH SACRIFICED EVERYTHING FOR
Nathaniel stared at Daniel.
“My father died eleven years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then how could Elizabeth make a deal with him?”
Daniel looked away.
“She made it with his people.”
“Who?”
“Your father's private security division.”
Nathaniel's face hardened.
“I thought they were gone.”
“They weren't.”
Daniel stepped inside.
“They had been operating independently for years.”
“Why would Elizabeth give them Grace?”
“She didn't.”
“Then what happened?”
Daniel looked at Maria.
“She saved her.”
Maria lowered her eyes.
Nathaniel turned.
“You knew.”
Maria nodded.
“Elizabeth told me the truth the night before she died.”
“What truth?”
“Grace wasn't safe with you.”
Nathaniel flinched.
Maria continued.
“Not because you would hurt her.”
“Then why?”
“Because someone wanted to use her against you.”
Nathaniel understood.
His father's old enemies.
Competitors.
People who wanted leverage over Cole Freight.
“Who?”
Daniel answered.
“Richard Vale.”
Nathaniel frowned.
“Who is that?”
“A former partner of your father.”
Daniel explained that Richard Vale had controlled a private security network that protected Cole Freight's illegal interests years earlier.
After Nathaniel's father died, Richard wanted access to the company's shipping routes.
Nathaniel refused.
So Richard found another way.
He threatened Elizabeth.
Then Grace.
Elizabeth discovered the threat.
She asked Daniel for help.
Daniel arranged a false death.
The accident was real.
The fire was real.
But Grace had been removed from the vehicle before it caught fire.
Nathaniel's face became white.
“Elizabeth was there?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't she come home?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because Richard had someone inside your security team.”
“Who?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Walter Kane.”
Nathaniel remembered the name.
His father's former security chief.
He had vanished after the accident.
“He knew where Grace was.”
Daniel nodded.
“And he knew where Elizabeth was.”
“Why didn't he kill them?”
“Because he wasn't loyal to Richard.”
Nathaniel stared.
“Then why did he help them disappear?”
“Because Elizabeth made him choose.”
“Choose what?”
“His daughter.”
Nathaniel went silent.
Walter Kane's daughter had been kidnapped years earlier.
Richard had used her as leverage.
Walter was trapped.
Elizabeth offered to protect the girl.
In exchange, Walter helped fake Grace's death.
But something went wrong.
The vehicle caught fire earlier than expected.
Elizabeth returned to retrieve Grace.
She couldn't.
She was forced to leave.
Nathaniel's eyes filled with tears.
“So Elizabeth was alive when I called.”
Daniel nodded.
“She tried to reach you.”
“She left the message.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because she believed your phone was being monitored.”
Nathaniel remembered the missed calls.
The meeting.
The forty million dollar acquisition.
His unanswered phone.
He sat down.
All those years, he had believed he had chosen business over Elizabeth.
Maybe he had.
But Elizabeth had been trying to protect their daughter at the same time.
Then Daniel spoke.
“There was one thing she didn't know.”
Nathaniel looked up.
“What?”
“Grace wasn't the only child involved.”
“What does that mean?”
Daniel took out an old photograph.
It showed two little girls.
One was Grace.
The other was Lily.
Nathaniel stared.
Maria began crying.
“I never wanted this.”
Nathaniel turned toward her.
“Lily was there?”
Maria nodded.
“She was six months old.”
“Why?”
“Her mother died.”
Nathaniel looked at Lily.
“She was my friend's baby.”
Maria explained that Elizabeth had discovered the network was using children as leverage against families who owed money to Richard Vale.
She wanted to get as many children out as possible.
Grace was one.
Lily was another.
But Elizabeth couldn't save them all alone.
She asked Maria to take Lily.
Then she arranged for Grace to be moved to another family.
Nathaniel stared at the photograph.
“So Lily knew Elizabeth.”
“She remembered her voice.”
“But she was a baby.”
Maria nodded.
“Children remember things differently.”
Nathaniel looked toward the stairs.
The little girl had somehow carried a memory across three years.
And Elizabeth had trusted Maria because she knew Maria would never sell Lily out.
Then Daniel said something that changed everything.
“Grace is alive.”
Nathaniel stood.
“Where?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I don't know.”
“You said she survived.”
“She did.”
“Then where is she?”
Daniel's voice broke.
“Elizabeth moved her again.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Where?”
Daniel reached into his coat.
He removed a small envelope.
Inside was a bus ticket.
Boston to Burlington.
The date was two days after the accident.
Nathaniel stared.
“Grace left Boston.”
“Yes.”
“With who?”
Daniel shook his head.
“We only know the name she traveled under.”
Nathaniel turned the ticket over.
A name was handwritten on the back.
Grace Bennett.
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
Then he noticed something else.
The ticket was not for a child.
It was for two passengers.
One adult.
One child.
The adult's name had been scratched away.
But beneath it was one remaining initial.
E.
Nathaniel whispered,
“Elizabeth.”
Daniel nodded.
“That's what we believed.”
Nathaniel looked at him.
“You believed?”
Daniel's face changed.
“There was another photograph.”
“Where?”
“In Elizabeth's possession.”
“Do you have it?”
“No.”
“Who does?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Richard Vale.”
At that exact moment, Maria's phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went white.
Nathaniel took it.
A photograph had arrived.
Lily was standing in the yellow room.
Beside her was a blonde woman.
May you like
The caption contained only five words.
You should have left her alone.
