Chapter 2 - THE SECRET BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR"Get away from that door, Nathan. He's trying to protect your cheating cook!"
Vivian's voice echoed through the narrow hallway.
I ignored her.
There was something in Eli's eyes I had never seen before.
Fear.
Not the ordinary fear of being caught doing something embarrassing.
This was the kind of fear I remembered seeing on a man's face when our office building caught fire years earlier and he realized someone was still trapped upstairs.
"Eli," I said quietly, "is someone injured?"
He nodded.
"Badly."
"Then we need an ambulance."
"She already received medical attention last night. Grace is arranging further treatment."
My chest tightened.
"Grace?"
Eli stepped aside.
"Please come in."
I entered the room expecting to find something that would break my heart.
Instead, what I saw broke something entirely different.
A woman lay curled on Eli's narrow bed.
She was perhaps thirty-five years old, with dark hair tangled around her face.
One eye was swollen.
A thick bandage covered part of her left arm.
Her right ankle was wrapped in a towel, and there were several bruises around her wrist.
A half-empty bottle of water sat beside a bowl of untouched soup.
The woman tried to sit up when she saw me.
Eli immediately moved toward her.
"Leah, it's okay."
She shook her head.
"Who is he?"
"He's Nathan Reed. He owns this property."
The woman's eyes widened.
She grabbed Eli's arm.
"No. You said nobody from the Reed family would know."
My stomach dropped.
"What does my family have to do with this?"
She stared at me as though I had just walked into her nightmare.
Behind me, Vivian entered the room.
"Oh, my God," she exclaimed dramatically. "What happened to her?"
The woman's expression changed instantly.
Her face drained of color.
"Get her out."
Vivian blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"Get that woman away from me!"
Eli stepped between them.
"Miss Cross, you need to leave."
Vivian raised her hands.
"I haven't done anything."
The injured woman began breathing faster.
"No, no, no. Please. Don't let her call him."
I turned toward Vivian.
"Outside. Now."
"But Nathan—"
"Now!"
For once, she obeyed.
I closed the bedroom door behind her.
The room fell silent except for the injured woman's uneven breathing.
I pulled a chair closer but kept enough distance not to frighten her.
"My name is Nathan. You're safe here."
She gave a bitter laugh.
"That's what everyone says before they decide how much my silence is worth."
I looked at Eli.
"Start talking."
He sat on the edge of a dresser.
"Her name is Leah Morales. She's an accountant."
"An accountant for whom?"
Eli hesitated.
"Cross Civil Works."
My eyes narrowed.
That company belonged to Victor Cross.
Vivian's father.
Victor had been my father's closest business partner and was still chairman of the Reed Family Trust, our charitable foundation.
He had attended my college graduation.
He had spoken at my father's funeral.
He called me his son.
"Why would someone from Victor's company be hiding in my cottage?" I asked.
Leah looked away.
"Because I found something I wasn't supposed to find."
"What?"
"Money."
I frowned.
"How much?"
She pressed her lips together.
"Eighteen million dollars."
For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood.
"Eighteen million?"
She nodded.
"It belonged to families who lost their homes during the Marsh Point floods."
I knew about the floods.
Everyone in coastal Georgia remembered them.
In 2012, severe storms had devastated Marsh Point, displacing hundreds of families and damaging roads, homes, and businesses.
My father had helped establish a charitable recovery fund.
I had attended fundraising dinners for it when I was younger.
Millions had been raised.
Or so I believed.
Leah watched my expression carefully.
"Your family name is on the original trust documents."
"That doesn't mean my family stole anything."
"I didn't say it did."
She winced and shifted against the pillows.
"But someone moved money through three construction companies, approved invoices for buildings that were never repaired, and buried the transactions under emergency recovery expenses."
I felt sick.
"Did you report it?"
"To my supervisor."
"What happened?"
"He told me I was looking at an old accounting error."
"And?"
"The next morning, my office computer disappeared."
Eli folded his arms.
"She made backup copies before they took it."
Leah nodded.
"Two nights ago, a man followed me from work. Yesterday afternoon, someone broke into my apartment. Last night, a black SUV forced my car off a service road near the port."
I stared at her injuries.
"Did you see who attacked you?"
"Not clearly."
"Then how did you end up here?"
Eli answered.
"I knew Leah's older brother. We worked together years ago. After he died, I promised his family I'd help if they ever needed anything."
He paused.
"She called me from the roadside. Grace was awake when I got back, and she helped me bring Leah inside."
I looked toward the empty doorway.
"Grace stayed with her?"
"Most of the night. Leah was in terrible pain. She couldn't stop crying."
The noises Vivian claimed to have heard suddenly made perfect sense.
They hadn't been sounds of pleasure.
They had been sounds of suffering.
I felt ashamed for even allowing Vivian's accusation into my head.
"Where is Grace now?"
Eli checked his watch.
"She took Leah to a private urgent care clinic before sunrise. They're expecting us there for follow-up treatment."
I turned back toward Leah.
"Why didn't you go directly to the hospital?"
She glanced at Eli.
"Someone accessed my medical insurance information after the first break-in. I didn't want to make it easier for them to locate me. I know I need treatment, but I have a daughter, and I was scared."
"A daughter?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Maya. She's nine."
"Where is she?"
"With my sister."
Eli handed Leah a glass of water.
"Grace contacted the clinic anonymously first. The doctor agreed to examine her without involving her employer's insurance."
I stood.
"You should have told me immediately."
Eli met my gaze.
"Would you have believed me?"
The question hurt because I knew the answer wasn't as simple as I wanted it to be.
I remembered Vivian's words.
She's in his bed.
Your precious little cook.
I had almost walked into this room prepared to judge Grace.
And I hadn't even asked where she was.
Before I could respond, footsteps approached outside.
The bedroom door opened.
Grace stood in the doorway.
Her dark curls were pulled into a messy bun. She wore faded jeans, white sneakers, and a blue cardigan over her shirt.
There was a small smear of dried blood on her cuff.
She froze when she saw me.
"Nathan?"
For a second, neither of us spoke.
Then her eyes moved toward Leah.
"Is she okay?"
Eli nodded.
"She's been resting."
Grace hurried to the bedside.
"Leah, I brought your medication. The clinic also wants to see you again this afternoon."
Leah reached for her hand.
"Thank you."
Grace smiled gently.
"You don't have to thank me."
Something shifted inside my chest.
All morning, Vivian had tried to convince me that Grace was hiding an affair.
But the woman standing in front of me had spent the night helping someone who had nowhere else to go.
And she hadn't asked for recognition.
She hadn't asked for money.
She had simply helped.
Grace finally turned toward me.
"I know how this looks."
I shook my head.
"No. I don't think I knew anything about how this looked."
She studied my face.
"Did Vivian tell you something?"
"Yes."
Her expression hardened.
"What did she say?"
"It doesn't matter anymore."
"It matters to me."
I took a slow breath.
"She suggested you spent the night with Eli."
Grace stared at me.
Then she looked at Eli.
For one absurd second, the two exchanged glances.
And Grace laughed.
Not because the situation was funny.
Because the accusation was so ridiculous that she couldn't help herself.
"Is that what she came up with?"
I lowered my eyes.
"I'm sorry."
Grace's laughter faded.
"You believed her?"
"I came here to find out the truth."
"That's not what I asked."
I looked directly at her.
"For a few minutes, I was afraid it might be true."
Grace stepped back.
The disappointment in her eyes was worse than anger.
"Nathan, I thought you knew me better than that."
I wanted to answer.
But Leah suddenly reached beneath her pillow.
"Grace, give him the envelope."
Grace turned.
"Are you sure?"
Leah nodded.
"He needs to see it."
Grace hesitated before removing a large brown envelope from her handbag.
She handed it to me.
"Leah found this among the old financial records."
I opened it.
Inside was a photocopied document bearing the familiar letterhead of the Reed Family Trust.
There were several typed paragraphs.
A transfer authorization.
A date from twelve years earlier.
And at the bottom, beneath the approval stamp, was a signature I knew better than my own.
Richard Reed.
My father.
I read the document once.
Then again.
My hands began to shake.
Because the document authorized the transfer of millions of dollars from the flood recovery fund.
And the date beside my father's signature was the day after an accounting office burned to the ground.
An office where a woman named Clara Ellis had died.
I looked at Grace.
Her face had gone completely still.
"Grace," I whispered, "who was Clara Ellis?"
She swallowed.
May you like
Then she gave me an answer that made the room seem to tilt beneath my feet.
"She was my mother, Nathan. And your family told the police she started the fire that killed her."
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