Chapter 4
Grant sat upright.
Caroline stirred beside him.
“What’s wrong?”
He opened an email marked CONFIDENTIAL — IMMEDIATE BOARD ACTION REQUIRED.
His face drained.
The independent directors had called an emergency meeting.
The external auditors had been notified.
Two lending institutions had requested clarification regarding potentially unauthorized corporate amendments.
And Evelyn Mercer had demanded preservation of every email, financial record, photograph, and communication related to the Domestic Continuity Amendment.
Grant read the final paragraph.
Then he read it again.
Caroline sat up.
“Grant?”
He whispered, “She’s trying to destroy me.”
His phone rang.
Raymond.
Grant answered.
“What the hell is happening?”
His uncle sounded unusually calm.
“Your wife has become a problem.”
“You told me she’d never challenge the board!”
“I told you she wouldn’t challenge a properly executed amendment.”
“What does that mean?”
A pause.
“Come to my office. Alone.”
Grant looked at the papers on his phone.
Then at Caroline.
For the first time, he wondered whether the woman beside him had been part of a plan he had never fully understood.
By nine that morning, Evelyn was back in Cleveland.
She entered a quiet private residence near the hospital and found Grace sleeping in a white bassinet.
The nurse smiled.
“She had a good night.”
Evelyn washed her hands, lifted her daughter carefully, and sat by the window.
Snow fell beyond the glass.
Grace opened her eyes.
They were dark blue.
Just like Grant’s.
Evelyn felt a sudden ache.
“You deserved a better beginning,” she whispered.
Her daughter stretched one tiny hand.
Evelyn kissed her forehead.
“But I promise you something. You will never have to earn your place in this family.”
Her phone vibrated.
Daniel.
“We found the source,” he said.
Evelyn held Grace closer.
“Of what?”
“The medical information.”
Her stomach tightened.
“Tell me.”
“Raymond hired a private investigation firm to follow your trips to Cleveland. They obtained photographs outside the hospital and records of your visits. We’re still investigating whether anyone unlawfully accessed confidential medical information.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Does he know about Grace?”
“We believe he knows a child was born. We don’t know how much else.”
“Why the guardianship clause?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Because the Mercer family trust gives special consideration to direct descendants. Raymond may have been trying to establish a mechanism for controlling the child’s interests before anyone could challenge him.”
Evelyn looked down at Grace.
A tiny girl who had spent the first weeks of her life fighting to breathe.