Chapter 8 - VICTORIA'S LAST MOVE
Grace wanted to go immediately.
Ethan refused.
“No.”
“He's my father.”
“And Victoria wants you emotional.”
“She has him.”
“Which is exactly why you're not walking into whatever she's prepared.”
Grace grabbed her coat.
Ethan stood between her and the door.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Ethan.”
“You can hate me afterward.”
Grace glared at him.
“I don't need another wealthy person deciding what's best for me.”
That stopped him.
He moved aside.
“You're right.”
Grace wasn't expecting that.
Ethan picked up his phone.
“But making your own decision doesn't mean you have to make it alone.”
Together they contacted federal agents.
The phone sent instructions twenty minutes later.
An abandoned Caldwell-owned hotel.
Midtown.
Scheduled for demolition.
Victoria wanted Grace on the thirty-second floor.
Alone.
Agents surrounded the building secretly.
Grace entered wearing a microphone.
Her heart hammered.
The lobby smelled like dust.
Elevators were disabled.
She climbed service stairs.
Thirty-two floors.
By the time she reached the top, her legs shook.
“Victoria?”
A light turned on.
David sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Victoria stood behind him.
No designer suit now.
Jeans.
Dark coat.
Hair pulled back.
A gun in her hand.
Grace stopped.
“Let him go.”
Victoria laughed.
“You really do think life works like television.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“Police have it.”
“A copy exists.”
Grace knew.
Investigators had scanned everything.
“You think I carry federal evidence around?”
“I think your mother was paranoid enough to create backups.”
Victoria raised the gun.
David spoke.
“Grace, leave.”
Victoria struck the back of his chair.
“Quiet.”
Grace forced herself not to react.
“You hate my mother.”
Victoria's smile disappeared.
“Your mother destroyed everything.”
“No.”
Grace stepped closer.
“You did.”
“You know nothing about me.”
Victoria's voice cracked.
For the first time Grace saw something beneath the arrogance.
Rage.
Desperation.
Victoria had grown up wealthy, but the Ashford fortune had been collapsing for years.
Her father's debts were enormous.
Properties mortgaged.
Businesses failing.
Marrying Ethan was supposed to save everything.
Then Victoria discovered Richard Caldwell's old fraud.
She decided leverage was better than marriage.
If Ethan ever left her, she wanted enough information to destroy him.
Then greed expanded the plan.
She recruited Samuel.
Manipulated Nathan.
Moved money.
Built accounts.
Everything spiraled.
“You could have walked away,” Grace said.
“People like you always say that.”
“People like me?”
“People who have nothing.”
Grace almost laughed.
“I have more than you think.”
Victoria's face hardened.
“You served drinks for minimum wage.”
“And somehow I slept just fine.”
The words landed.
Grace continued.
“My mother died with people who loved her around her.”
Victoria's grip tightened.
“You had three hundred guests at your engagement party and not one person stepped forward when you were escorted out.”
Silence.
“You think money made you powerful,” Grace said. “But you spent years becoming someone nobody would choose if they weren't getting something.”
Victoria aimed the gun toward her.
David shouted.
Then Ethan's voice came from the doorway.
“She isn't alone.”
Victoria spun.
Ethan stood there.
Grace's eyes widened.
He wasn't supposed to enter.
Victoria smiled bitterly.
“Of course.”
Ethan lifted his hands.
“Let them go.”
“You always did love dramatic entrances.”
“I learned from you.”
“Do you love her?”
Grace froze.
Victoria looked between them.
“That's what everyone wants to know.”
Ethan didn't answer.
Victoria laughed.
“How disappointing.”
Then sirens became audible below.
Her face changed.
“You brought police.”
Grace said, “Of course I brought police.”
Victoria stared at her.
For one long moment, rage battled reality.
Then she lowered the gun.
Just slightly.
David moved.
He kicked the chair backward into Victoria.
Grace rushed sideways.
Ethan lunged.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Federal agents burst through the stairwell.
Within seconds Victoria was restrained.
It was over.
Truly over.
Grace rushed toward David.
“You okay?”
He nodded.
“I'm getting too old for family reunions.”
She laughed and cried simultaneously.
Ethan stood nearby.
Grace looked toward him.
“You weren't supposed to come up.”
“I know.”
“That was stupid.”
“Extremely.”
“You could have gotten killed.”
“Yes.”
Grace stared at him.
Then, before she could overthink it, she hugged him.
Ethan froze.
Then his arms wrapped gently around her.
For several seconds the billionaire, the former maid and the father who had been dead for twenty-one years stood in the ruined shell of a hotel while federal agents photographed evidence around them.
Life, Grace decided, had a strange sense of humor.
Victoria was taken away again.
This time there would be no bail.
Outside, reporters had gathered.
Grace stopped before leaving.
Ethan looked at her.
“Ready?”
“No.”
“Neither am I.”
They walked out anyway.
Cameras exploded.
Questions flew.
“Grace!”
“Mr. Caldwell!”
“Are you two together?”
“Was Victoria trying to kill you?”
“Grace, what's next?”
Grace stopped.
That question reached her.
What's next?
For months, her entire life had centered on finishing her mother's fight.
Now the fight was almost over.
She suddenly had no idea who she was when she wasn't chasing answers.
Grace looked at Ethan.
Then at her father.
Then toward hundreds of cameras.
“I don't know yet.”
May you like
And for the first time, uncertainty didn't frighten her.
It felt like freedom.
