Chapter 11 - THE TRIAL OF A PERFECT FAMILY
The Holloway scandal became national news within hours.
Every television station replayed the moment Grace struck Olivia at the wedding.
Some commentators called Grace courageous.
Others called her unstable.
Old photographs from her medical records appeared online.
Anonymous sources claimed she had threatened Nathan and Lily.
The company’s attorneys released a statement suggesting Grace had voluntarily entered treatment.
Grace knew the war had changed.
The weapons were no longer pills and locked doors.
They were headlines.
Jonah arranged for Grace and Lily to stay in a secure apartment.
Lily slept beside Grace every night.
Sometimes she woke screaming.
Sometimes she asked for Nathan.
Grace never told her she could not miss him.
Love did not disappear simply because someone had failed you.
Three weeks later, the preliminary hearings began.
Olivia entered the courtroom wearing a gray uniform.
Nathan sat at another table in a dark suit.
Charles attended in a wheelchair after surviving the gunshot.
Beatrice remained hospitalized under guard.
Dr. Mercer had vanished.
The prosecution presented medical records proving Grace had been held without legal review.
Camila testified about forced medication.
Technology experts confirmed the videos had been manipulated.
Financial investigators traced payments from Charles and Beatrice to St. Augustine.
Then Olivia testified.
She confessed to drugging Grace.
She confessed to editing the videos.
She confessed to intercepting the letters.
However, she denied planning the clinic fire.
“That was Beatrice,” Olivia said.
Beatrice shouted from the defense table.
“You lying little parasite.”
The judge ordered silence.
Olivia looked toward Grace.
“I wanted her life.”
Grace held her gaze.
“I thought if she disappeared, Nathan would eventually love me.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Olivia continued.
“But he never did.”
She smiled bitterly.
“He loved the memory of Grace more than he ever loved the woman sitting beside him.”
Grace felt no satisfaction.
Olivia had stolen six years and still believed Nathan’s love was the greatest thing she had lost.
The prosecutor asked when Nathan learned Grace was alive.
Olivia looked at him.
“Three years ago.”
“Did he know she was being held against her will?”
“Yes.”
Nathan’s attorney objected.
The judge allowed the answer.
Olivia described the meeting inside Beatrice’s private office.
Dr. Mercer had shown Nathan a recent photograph of Grace.
She was thin and heavily sedated.
Nathan asked whether she could recover.
Mercer said she might.
Beatrice warned that Grace would destroy the company if she returned.
Nathan authorized the payment.
Olivia began crying.
“He told us to make sure Grace remained comfortable.”
Grace nearly laughed.
Comfortable.
She remembered cold showers.
She remembered restraints.
She remembered nurses forcing pills beneath her tongue.
Nathan stood unexpectedly.
“I never ordered anyone to hurt her.”
His attorney tried to pull him down.
Nathan looked directly at Grace.
“I knew you were alive.”
The courtroom became silent.
“I knew there was a chance you could come home.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“And I chose the life I already had.”
Grace felt Lily’s hand slide into hers.
Nathan continued.
“I told myself I was protecting our daughter.”
His voice broke.
“But I was protecting myself.”
Reporters rushed from the courtroom.
The perfect father had finally destroyed his own image.
Then Jonah received a message.
He leaned toward Grace.
“They found Dr. Mercer.”
“Where?”
May you like
Jonah’s expression darkened.
“Inside your father’s house.”
