Chapter 2 - THE NIGHT OF THE CRASH
The officers stopped walking.
Grant looked as though someone had struck him.
Renata stopped fighting.
Her sudden stillness frightened me more than her rage.
Grant turned toward Lily.
“What did she put in the car?”
Lily covered both ears.
“I don’t know.”
Her voice was tiny.
“I saw her in the garage.”
Renata began shaking her head.
“She was five years old.”
“She had just lost her mother.”
“You cannot trust the memories of a traumatized child.”
Nadia looked at Grant.
“Claire’s accident report said the brakes failed.”
Grant stared at her.
“You told me the road was wet.”
“The official report blamed weather and excessive speed.”
“Did the brakes fail?”
Nadia hesitated.
“The front brake line was damaged.”
The words hit the room like an explosion.
Grant stepped toward her.
“Why was I never told?”
“The report called it crash damage.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Nadia’s face tightened.
“The original investigator closed the case in forty-eight hours.”
Renata gave a broken laugh.
“Because it was an accident.”
Grant turned to the officers.
“Take her.”
Renata’s expression sharpened.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“You burned my daughter.”
“I was styling her hair.”
“You threatened her.”
“I was frustrated.”
“She just accused you of murdering her mother.”
“She is confused because that woman manipulated her.”
Renata pointed at me.
“She wants your money.”
“She wants your attention.”
“She wants my place in this house.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
Instead, I pulled Lily closer.
“I would have left tonight if Lily had been safe.”
Renata’s mouth curled.
“But she isn’t safe with you.”
Grant walked to the doorway.
“Remove her from the property.”
The officers led Renata into the hall.
As she passed me, she leaned close.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Your mother will die before you prove anything.”
My blood turned cold.
I stepped after her.
“What did you say?”
Renata smiled.
Then the officers pulled her away.
Grant heard me.
“What did she say?”
I looked toward Lily.
She had suffered enough for one night.
“Nothing.”
Grant knew I was lying.
But he did not challenge me.
Nadia handed the tablet to one of the officers.
“The footage will be copied and preserved.”
The officer nodded.
“We’ll need statements from everyone.”
Grant turned toward Nadia.
“Open Claire’s accident file.”
“I already tried.”
“What do you mean?”
“The digital records were deleted from our internal archive six months after her death.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“Who had access?”
“Three people.”
“You.”
“Me.”
Nadia paused.
“And Malcolm Callahan.”
Grant’s uncle.
Vice chairman of Callahan Industrial Group.
The man Grant trusted more than anyone alive.
Grant walked to the window.
Below us, luxury vehicles were arriving for the gala.
Hundreds of guests were entering a mansion where a child had just accused the future hostess of murder.
Grant pulled out his phone.
“Cancel the gala.”
Nadia shook her head.
“You can’t.”
Grant turned.
“What?”
“The board members are already downstairs.”
“So?”
“They called an emergency meeting twenty minutes ago.”
Grant stared at her.
“Why?”
Nadia checked her phone.
Then her expression changed.
“Renata sent photographs of her injuries to the board.”
“She claims you ordered Emma to attack her.”
“That’s absurd.”
“She also claims Lily is being held against her will.”
Grant’s phone began ringing.
The name on the screen was Malcolm Callahan.
Grant answered.
“What?”
His uncle’s voice was loud enough for me to hear.
“Come downstairs immediately.”
“Renata has accused you of assault, child endangerment, and mental instability.”
Grant’s face hardened.
“She burned Lily.”
“She says the nanny did it.”
“We have video.”
There was a pause.
Then Malcolm spoke more quietly.
“You should have checked the entire recording.”
The bathroom lights suddenly went out.
The tablet in the officer’s hand turned black.
Nadia looked down at her phone.
“All security systems just went offline.”
From somewhere downstairs, a woman screamed.
Then the estate’s alarm began to sound.
Nadia ran to the hallway.
“The police car is gone.”
Grant followed her.
“What about Renata?”
May you like
Nadia looked toward the open front doors.
“She was inside it.”
