Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Had Prepared for the Truth
Graham called Willa that evening.
She answered after the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
For a moment, he could not speak.
Her voice sounded calm, distant, and unfamiliar. It was the voice of someone who had learned how to live without waiting for him.
“Willa, I need your help.”
There was a pause.
“Is Lorraine safe?”
He looked across the living room, where his mother rested beneath a blanket.
“She is with me now. How did you know something was wrong?”
“Because she called me three weeks ago from a neighbor’s phone.”
Graham gripped the phone more tightly.
“Why did you not tell me?”
“I tried. You blocked my number after Mallory said I was interfering.”
He remembered doing it.
Mallory had been sitting beside him when he pressed the button.
“Willa, I was wrong.”
“Yes, you were.”
She did not soften the truth to protect him.
“Can you come here?” he asked.
“I will come for Lorraine, not for you.”
An hour later, Willa arrived with her attorney, Soren Beckett, and a private financial investigator named Paige Ellison.
Willa wore a navy coat and carried a slim black case. She looked composed, but Graham noticed the tension in her eyes when she saw Lorraine.
Lorraine stood and opened her arms.
“My dear girl.”
Willa crossed the room and held her carefully.
“You are safe now.”
Graham watched the two women embrace and realized that Willa had continued caring for his mother even after he had treated her like an enemy.
Mallory came downstairs carrying two suitcases.
When she saw Willa, her face hardened.
“Why is she here?”
May you like
Willa placed the black case on the dining table.
“Because your plan involved my family, my son, and a company I helped save.”
