Chương 4
“I don’t know yet,” he said.
Grace looked away.
The answer hurt.
Not because she expected him to fix everything in one night.
Because after all these years, uncertainty was still the thing she feared most.
Nathan noticed.
“I’m sorry.”
Grace gave a small, tired smile.
“You don’t have to apologize for not knowing what happened.”
“I should have known something was wrong.”
“You were married.”
The way she said it made him look at her.
There was no accusation in her voice.
Only a fact.
A painful one.
Nathan leaned against the counter.
“Did you hate me?”
Grace took a moment before answering.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised him.
Then she continued.
“And no.”
Nathan looked down.
“That’s complicated.”
“Most things are.”
She picked up the cold coffee and held it without drinking.
“I hated that you weren’t there.”
A pause.
“I hated that Lily learned how to walk without you.”
Nathan swallowed.
“But?”
Grace looked toward the stairs.
“But every time she laughed, I wondered if you would have laughed the same way.”
The answer stayed with him.
Not because it made him feel better.
Because it made him feel worse.
A person could be missed and still be responsible for the absence.
Nathan had spent years thinking of himself as someone who had been abandoned by circumstances.
Now he had to consider another possibility.
Maybe he had simply failed to look closely enough.
The sound of footsteps interrupted them.
Victoria entered the kitchen wearing a different expression.
Her makeup was still perfect.
Her posture was still controlled.
But something had changed.
She looked smaller.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
“You received a message.”
Nathan looked at her.
He did not ask how she knew.
That was the problem.
Victoria always knew more than she should.
“Yes.”
She nodded once.
“From Daniel?”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“You know who sent it.”
Victoria said nothing.
Grace looked between them.
“Who is Daniel?”
Victoria’s eyes moved toward her.
The old anger returned.
“He is someone who wants money.”
Nathan stood.
“Answer the question.”
Victoria looked at him.
“You think one photograph means you know everything?”
“No.”
His voice stayed calm.
“That’s why I’m asking.”
Victoria laughed softly.
“You sound like a lawyer.”
“I sound like someone who wants the truth.”
For a moment, Victoria seemed like she might say something.
Instead, she walked to the refrigerator and poured herself water.
The normal action felt almost disturbing.
Like someone trying to pretend a fire was not burning because they were still holding a glass.
“Daniel worked for my father.”
Nathan waited.
“He handled private matters.”
“What kind of matters?”
Victoria looked at the water.
“The kind rich families pay people to handle.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
She put the glass down.
“It isn’t.”
Grace watched her.
“You knew about Lily.”
Victoria did not respond.
That was response enough.
Nathan turned slowly.
“You knew.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
“I suspected.”
“You knew.”
“I knew Grace was pregnant.”
The room changed.
Nathan felt it physically.
Like the air had become heavier.
“When?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Before we got married.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Even though she already knew Victoria had been involved, hearing it said aloud still hurt.
Nathan’s voice dropped.
“Before we got married?”
Victoria nodded.
“Yes.”
The silence afterward was worse than shouting.
Nathan stepped back.
“How?”
Victoria looked at the floor.
“Because Grace came to see me.”
Grace stared.
“I never told you that.”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice was quiet.
“You didn’t.”
The memory returned to Grace immediately.
A rainy afternoon.
A small apartment.
Victoria standing at the door wearing an expensive coat and a calm expression.
Grace had been terrified.
Not of Victoria.
Of what Victoria represented.
A life Grace had lost.
“You told me Nathan was building a future,” Grace said.
Victoria looked at her.
“He was.”
“And you told me I would ruin it.”
“I told you the truth.”
“No.”
Grace’s voice strengthened.
“You told me what you wanted me to believe.”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“You were nineteen weeks pregnant, alone, and sleeping on a borrowed mattress.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
The detail hurt.
Not because it was shameful.
Because he had never known.
Victoria continued.
“You think I was cruel because I asked you to leave.”
Grace looked at her.
“What do you call it?”
Victoria hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
“I call it protecting Nathan.”
Nathan stared at her.
“From what?”
Victoria looked at him.
“From becoming someone else.”
The answer confused him.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“I already did.”
The words came out before she could soften them.
And everyone heard what they meant.
Victoria had not protected him.
She had controlled him.
Nathan walked away from the counter.
“Why?”
Victoria looked tired.
For the first time, she looked like someone who had been carrying an argument inside herself for years.
“Because I knew what happened when people found out.”
“What happened?”
“They judged.”
Nathan frowned.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then help me.”
She looked at him.
“My mother had a child before she married my father.”
Nobody spoke.
Victoria continued.
“She gave him away because my grandfather said the family name mattered more than a person.”
Grace’s expression changed.
Victoria rarely spoke about her family.
Almost never.
“My mother spent the rest of her life pretending it didn’t happen.”
A pause.
“She smiled at dinners.
She donated money.
She appeared in magazines.”
Victoria swallowed.
“And every night she drank herself to sleep.”
Nathan said nothing.
The explanation did not erase what she had done.
But it showed the shape of the wound.
“I saw what secrets did,” Victoria said.
“So you created one.”
Her eyes met his.
“Yes.”
Nathan looked away.
The honesty was almost harder to handle.
“You thought hiding my daughter was protecting me.”
“I thought I was protecting the life we built.”
Grace shook her head.
“That wasn’t your life to protect.”
Victoria looked at her.
“No.”
A quiet moment passed.
May you like
“It wasn’t.”
The admission landed strangely.
