Chapter 1 - THE CHILD HE NEVER KNEW
The hockey stick slammed into Grace’s shoulder before she could move.
She crashed onto the kitchen tile.
Pain exploded down her arm.
“Mommy!”
Grace didn’t think.
She threw herself over Lily.
Her five-year-old daughter disappeared beneath her body as Grace curled around her like a shield.
“Stay under me, baby.”
Grace could barely breathe.
“Don’t move.”
Victoria Sterling stood over them.
The woman wore a cream silk blouse, diamond earrings, and the engagement ring Nathan Cole had given her six months earlier.
She looked elegant.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
Except for the hockey stick in her hands.
Victoria smiled.
“Five years.”
Grace stared up at her.
“What?”
“My mother gave you five years to disappear.”
Victoria tightened her grip.
“And somehow, you were stupid enough to come back.”
Grace’s blood turned cold.
“I didn't come for you.”
“No.”
Victoria glanced toward Lily.
“You came for Nathan.”
Grace immediately pulled Lily closer.
“Leave my daughter out of this.”
Victoria laughed.
“Your daughter is the reason this has to end.”
“Please.”
Grace hated the fear in her own voice.
But she would beg if begging kept Lily alive.
“Do whatever you want to me.”
“Just don't hurt my child.”
Victoria lifted the hockey stick.
“Dead women keep secrets.”
The front door flew open.
“Victoria?”
Everything stopped.
Nathan Cole stepped into the kitchen.
His briefcase slipped from his hand.
He had returned from New York twelve hours early because he wanted to surprise his fiancée.
Instead, he found Victoria standing over a woman and child with a hockey stick raised above her head.
Then he recognized the woman on the floor.
“Grace?”
His voice almost disappeared.
Victoria lowered the stick.
“Nathan.”
Grace slowly looked up.
Nathan hadn't seen her in five years.
Not since the morning she vanished from his life.
No goodbye.
No explanation.
No phone call.
Nothing.
For two years, Nathan had searched for her.
For another year, he had hated her.
Then he had forced himself to move on.
At least, that was what he told himself.
Now Grace was bleeding on his kitchen floor.
“Jesus Christ.”
Nathan rushed toward her.
Grace flinched.
Nathan stopped.
The reaction hurt more than he expected.
“Grace.”
“What happened?”
Victoria stepped between them.
“She broke into the house.”
Nathan looked at the hockey stick.
“With a five-year-old?”
“She attacked me.”
Grace gave a broken laugh.
Victoria snapped toward her.
“Shut up.”
Nathan's head turned.
“Don't speak to her like that.”
Victoria stared at him.
“Nathan, you don't know what she—”
“I know what I walked into.”
His voice became dangerously quiet.
“You were standing over her with a weapon.”
Victoria's expression changed.
For the first time, fear appeared.
Nathan knelt beside Grace.
“Can you move your arm?”
“I think so.”
Then the little girl beneath Grace lifted her head.
Nathan stopped.
The child had dark brown hair.
Brown eyes.
A tiny crease between her eyebrows when she was frightened.
And a dimple beside the left corner of her mouth.
Nathan stared.
Something inside him shifted.
He had seen that dimple every day of his life.
In the mirror.
The little girl stared back.
Grace noticed.
She closed her eyes.
Not yet.
Please.
Not like this.
Nathan whispered, “Who is she?”
Grace didn't answer.
“Grace.”
Victoria suddenly grabbed Nathan's arm.
“Don't.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Don't what?”
Victoria released him.
Too late.
Nathan looked back at the child.
“How old is she?”
Grace swallowed.
“Five.”
Nathan's face slowly lost its color.
Grace had disappeared five years and eight months earlier.
He did the math.
Once.
Then again.
“No.”
Grace began crying.
“Nathan…”
“Who is her father?”
Victoria stepped forward.
“She doesn't know.”
Grace's eyes flashed.
“Don't you dare.”
Nathan stared between them.
“Grace.”
His voice cracked.
“Who is her father?”
Grace looked down at Lily.
For five years, she had imagined this moment.
Sometimes Nathan screamed.
Sometimes he hated her.
Sometimes he didn't believe her.
In her kinder dreams, he simply held Lily and cried.
But none of those dreams happened on a kitchen floor while the woman he planned to marry stood three feet away.
Grace finally looked at him.
“You are.”
Nathan stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Lily is your daughter.”
Silence.
Nathan looked at the little girl.
Then back at Grace.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Nathan—”
“You disappeared.”
“I know.”
“You disappeared while you were pregnant with my child?”
Grace's face crumpled.
“I didn't have a choice.”
“Everyone has a choice.”
“Not when your father threatens to take your baby away.”
Nathan froze.
Victoria's eyes widened.
Grace saw it.
So did Nathan.
He turned toward his fiancée.
“Why did you react to that?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I didn't.”
“You did.”
“Nathan, she's manipulating you.”
Grace laughed bitterly.
“Ask Victoria when she first learned Lily existed.”
Nathan stared at her.
Victoria went pale.
“What is she talking about?”
“Nathan—”
“What is she talking about?”
Grace pushed herself upright.
Pain tore through her shoulder.
She ignored it.
“Three months ago, Victoria came to Ohio.”
Nathan slowly turned.
Grace continued.
“She stood outside Lily's preschool.”
“She told me I had forty-eight hours to disappear again.”
Nathan looked at Victoria.
“Is that true?”
Victoria said nothing.
“Victoria.”
Nothing.
Nathan stepped closer.
“Did you know I had a daughter?”
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
“You don't understand.”
That was the answer.
Nathan staggered backward.
“Oh my God.”
“Nathan, listen—”
“You knew.”
“My mother handled it.”
“You knew.”
“I was trying to protect our future!”
Nathan's expression changed.
“Our future?”
He pointed at Lily.
“That is my child.”
Victoria's face hardened.
“And what do you think happens now?”
Nathan stared at her.
“What?”
“You think Grace came back because she loves you?”
“She came back because your father is dead.”
“She knows what that child is worth.”
Grace looked at her.
“Lily isn't worth money.”
Victoria laughed.
“To you, maybe.”
Nathan's phone rang.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Then Grace's phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went white.
Nathan noticed.
“What?”
Grace turned the phone toward him.
A breaking-news alert filled the screen.
POLICE SEARCH FOR WOMAN ACCUSED OF ABDUCTING FIVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL.
Grace's photograph appeared beneath the headline.
Beside it was Lily's.
Nathan stared.
“What the hell?”
Grace opened the article.
Police claimed she had kidnapped Lily from the child's legal guardians.
They claimed Grace was using false identification.
They claimed she had purchased two plane tickets to Mexico.
They even had photographs.
Nathan looked at Grace.
“Is any of this true?”
“No.”
Victoria moved toward the doorway.
Grace saw her.
“You knew this was coming.”
Victoria stopped.
Nathan turned.
“Victoria?”
She didn't answer.
Then someone pounded on the front door.
“CHICAGO POLICE!”
Lily screamed.
Grace pulled her close.
“Mommy?”
“It's okay.”
But Grace knew it wasn't.
Nathan looked at Victoria.
Victoria looked back at him.
And for one terrible second, the mask slipped.
She smiled.
Nathan finally understood.
Grace hadn't returned to destroy his wedding.
Someone had known she was coming.
May you like
Someone had prepared for it.
And the woman Nathan planned to marry had been waiting for her.
