Chương 4
I said nothing.
“It means everyone gets to sound reasonable except the person behind the locked door.”
A contraction hit harder this time.
The knife clattered onto the landing.
Grace grabbed the railing with both hands.
I took one involuntary step.
“Don’t.”
I stopped.
She bent forward, eyes squeezed shut.
I counted silently.
Thirty seconds.
Forty.
Almost a minute.
When it passed, she stayed folded over the railing.
“We need help.”
“I need you to get out.”
“I can do that after someone else gets here.”
“Your mother sent people here before.”
“What people?”
Grace straightened slowly.
“Two men from security.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Why?”
“To move me.”
“From the estate?”
“From here.”
My skin went cold.
“Where?”
“She never told me.”
“How did you stop them?”
“I didn’t.”
Grace’s mouth tightened.
“Henry did.”
That surprised me.
“He followed the car from the estate.”
I glanced toward the front windows.
“Henry was here?”
“He came after they brought me.”
“Why didn’t he take you out?”
“Because one of the men had a gun.”
I looked back at her.
“They had orders not to let me leave until morning.”
“Where are they now?”
“One left around noon.”
“And the other?”
Grace’s eyes shifted toward the back of the house.
A sound came from somewhere beyond the kitchen.
A door closing softly.
I turned.
Grace shouted, “Daniel!”
A man stepped out from the hallway behind me.
I recognized him as Victor Sloan, one of my mother’s private security contractors.
He had worked our family events for years, usually standing near ballroom entrances looking bored in expensive suits.
Tonight he wore jeans, boots, and a black rain jacket.
His right hand was inside the jacket.
“Don’t,” I said.
Victor looked up at Grace.
“Mrs. Hale, step away from the stairs.”
Grace backed into the railing.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Following instructions.”
“Whose?”
He didn’t answer.
“Take your hand out of your jacket.”
“Daniel.”
“Do it.”
Victor’s expression remained calm.
That bothered me.
Men who wanted to frighten you performed.
Men who had already decided what they were willing to do didn’t need to.
He removed his hand.
There was no gun in it.
Instead, he held a small radio.
“I’m not here to hurt anybody.”
Grace laughed from upstairs.
“You locked the doors.”
Victor glanced at her.
“I was told you were a flight risk.”
“She’s not a prisoner.”
“I know that.”
“Then why are you still here?”
His jaw shifted.
“Because Mrs. Hale told me her daughter-in-law was experiencing a psychiatric crisis and might leave while medically unstable.”
Grace’s face went white.
“That’s what she told you?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed her?”
Victor looked uncomfortable for the first time.
“I believed Dr. Mercer signed off.”
“He didn’t.”
I watched his eyes.
That landed.
I picked up the duplicate phone from the floor.
“My mother used this to impersonate me.”
Victor stared at it.
“She confined Grace at the estate for twelve days.”
His gaze moved upstairs.
“She told us Grace had agreed to voluntary isolation.”
Grace whispered, “The door locked from the outside.”
Victor’s shoulders dropped slightly.
The radio crackled in his hand.
A woman’s voice came through.
“Victor, status.”
I recognized my mother immediately.
Victor looked at me.
“Don’t answer,” I said.
The radio crackled again.
“Victor.”
Grace gripped the railing.
Her breathing changed.
Another contraction.
This one doubled her over.
A low sound escaped her throat.
Victor’s professionalism vanished.
“Oh, hell.”
“Call 911,” I said.
Grace shook her head.
“No.”
I looked at her.
“Grace.”
“They’ll take me to St. Augustine.”
Victor said, “That’s the nearest.”
“My mother sits on the foundation board.”
Victor’s face went still.
“I didn’t know that mattered.”
“It matters to me.”
I grabbed my phone from beneath the table.
“There’s a hospital in Lake Forest.”
“Twenty-five minutes,” Victor said.
“Call them.”
Grace said, “No ambulance.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother will find out where they take me.”
“She already knows we’re here.”
The radio crackled.
“Victor, answer me.”
Grace stared at it.
Her fear was no longer abstract.
It sat visibly in her body.
I understood then that arguing facts would not help.
She had spent nearly two weeks having every reasonable-sounding person explain why her own judgment could not be trusted.
I put my phone down again.
“Grace, you choose.”
She blinked.
“You choose the hospital.”
Her face tightened.
“You choose who comes with you.”
Another breath.
“You choose whether I’m in the room.”
I had to stop before my voice broke.
“You choose everything from here.”
The silence that followed felt enormous.
Victor looked away.
Grace stared at me for several seconds.
Then she said, “Northwestern.”
“That’s farther.”
“I know.”
“There’s one in Lake Forest affiliated with—”
“I said Northwestern.”
“Okay.”
She swallowed.
“Downtown.”
“Okay.”
Victor frowned.
“That could take an hour in this weather.”
Grace looked at him.
“Then drive fast.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she made a sharp sound and grabbed her stomach.
Water splashed onto the upstairs floor.
For one confused second, none of us moved.
Grace looked down.
“So.”
Her voice shook.
“I guess that answers one question.”
I was already reaching for my phone.
She pointed at me.
“Wait.”
I froze.
She looked pale and furious and exhausted.
“Victor calls.”
Victor stared at her.
“Me?”
“You’re the one person here who hasn’t lied to me yet.”
He nodded once.
“Fair.”
He dialed emergency services and put the call on speaker.
The dispatcher asked for the address, then Grace’s age, weeks of pregnancy, contraction interval, bleeding, complications, and whether this was her first child.
Grace answered until another contraction stole her voice.
Victor filled in the address.
I stood uselessly beside the staircase, hating every inch between us.
The dispatcher said an ambulance was being sent.
Grace said, “Not St. Augustine.”
The dispatcher explained that destination depended on medical condition and transport protocols.
Grace’s eyes filled with panic.
“No.”
I picked up my keys.
“Then I drive.”
Victor shook his head.
May you like
“That’s a terrible idea.”
“It’s her decision.”
