Chapter 3 - THE LIE THAT ENDED A FAMILY
Grant read the address three times.
It did not change.
Victor’s former house in Lake Forest.
A property where Grant had attended dinners, Christmas parties, and his attorney’s daughter’s graduation celebration.
“Could the location data be wrong?”
Owen shook his head.
“Not by forty miles.”
Grant remembered that night perfectly.
He had been sitting alone in his penthouse after screaming at Claire two hours earlier.
Victor had arrived with whiskey and sympathy.
He had told Grant to accept reality.
Claire had chosen someone else.
Then the text arrived.
Do not look for me.
You cared more about Bennett Holdings than you ever cared about us.
It’s over.
Grant had thrown his phone across the room.
Victor had picked it up from the floor.
Grant slowly closed his eyes.
“He was sitting beside me when the message came.”
Owen said nothing.
He did not have to.
Grant opened his eyes again.
“If Claire’s phone was at Victor’s house, Claire didn’t send it.”
Sophie stood silently near the window.
Grant looked at her.
“When was the last time you saw your mother?”
Sophie thought carefully.
“I was four.”
Grant frowned.
“That was three years ago.”
Sophie nodded.
“We lived in a blue house.”
“Mom worked at night.”
“Luke was little.”
“Then a man started watching us.”
Grant asked what he looked like.
Sophie described a tall man with silver hair and a scar near his jaw.
Owen wrote everything down.
“Did your mother know him?”
“She called him Mr. Rourke.”
Owen froze.
Grant saw it.
“You know that name.”
“Calvin Rourke.”
“Former Chicago police detective.”
“What does he have to do with Victor?”
Owen hesitated.
“They served together as witnesses in a corruption case eighteen years ago.”
Grant stared at him.
“Victor was never a police officer.”
“No.”
“But his father was a judge.”
“And Calvin Rourke protected that judge during a bribery investigation.”
The pieces were beginning to connect.
Just not fast enough.
Sophie continued.
“One night Mom woke us up.”
“She told me to put on my shoes.”
“She said we had to leave before Mr. Rourke came back.”
“We got in her car.”
“Then another car hit us.”
Grant went still.
“What happened after the crash?”
“I woke up somewhere white.”
“A hospital?”
“I think so.”
“Luke was crying.”
“Mom wasn’t there.”
“Mrs. Shaw came.”
“She told us Mom died.”
Grant’s chest tightened.
“Did you see her body?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Did anyone show you proof?”
“No.”
“Mrs. Shaw said asking questions would make Luke disappear too.”
Grant turned to Owen.
“Find the crash.”
“I already started.”
Owen opened his laptop.
Within minutes, he located a three-year-old accident report.
Blue Toyota.
Registered to Claire Mercer.
Crash occurred on an isolated county road.
Two children were transported from the scene.
The adult female driver was listed as unidentified.
Grant leaned closer.
“Unidentified?”
Owen scrolled.
“There’s no death certificate attached.”
“Where was she taken?”
Owen followed the report.
Then stopped.
“There should be a hospital transfer record.”
“There isn’t.”
Grant’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted male voice spoke.
“Mr. Bennett.”
Grant looked at Owen.
“Who is this?”
“You took something that doesn’t belong to you.”
Grant’s eyes moved toward Sophie.
“She’s a child.”
“She belongs to Haven House.”
“No child belongs to anyone.”
The man laughed.
“Return Sophie before midnight.”
“Or what?”
A pause followed.
Then Grant heard a small voice crying in the background.
A boy.
“Grant?”
Sophie shot across the room.
May you like
“Luke!”
The line went dead.
