Chapter 13 - The Door They Locked
Sabrina was arrested in her father’s private elevator.
Victor was found in the underground garage.
He had two passports, three phones, and an expression of injured importance.
By noon, their attorneys were describing a misunderstanding.
By evening, investigators had warrants for their offices and accounts.
Ethan watched the news with the sound off.
Onscreen, Sabrina shielded her face.
Her engagement ring flashed under the camera lights.
Grace stood near the doorway.
“You should turn it off before Lily comes down.”
He did.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Ethan asked the question he had been avoiding.
“Why didn’t you tell me who you were when you started?”
Grace set down the laundry basket.
“Because I thought you’d call Miles.
Or Sabrina.”
He flinched.
“That’s fair.”
“It wasn’t all noble.
I wanted answers.
I was angry that Olivia’s message had gone nowhere.
I thought if I could get close enough—”
She stopped.
Ethan waited.
“I didn’t expect Lily to be so alone.”
The words hurt.
He let them.
“Neither did I,” he said.
“That’s the part I have to live with.”
Before Grace could answer, a crash came from the service corridor.
The alarm chirped once.
Then stopped.
Grace put down the basket.
Ethan was already standing.
Mrs. Alvarez appeared at the stairs with Lily behind her.
“Upstairs,” Grace said.
“Take your phone.
Lock the room.”
A man stepped through the kitchen doorway.
He wore a delivery jacket.
Grace recognized him from the house’s contractor log.
He had worked on the garage doors months earlier.
In one hand, he held a heavy wrench.
“Give me the card,” he said.
Ethan moved in front of the stairs.
“The police have it.”
The man’s eyes flicked toward the hall.
Outside, tires crunched over gravel.
The officer stationed at the front had heard the broken window and was coming around.
The man knew it.
He grabbed Grace’s arm.
She turned with the pull, drove his wrist against the counter, and knocked the wrench loose.
It clattered across the tile.
He shoved her hard.
Her shoulder struck the pantry door.
Ethan seized the fallen laundry basket and drove it between them.
The kitchen door burst open.
“Hands where I can see them!”
The man stopped.
Breathing hard.
Cornered.
Grace slid down against the cabinet.
From upstairs, Lily called for her father.
Ethan started toward the stairs.
May you like
Then the man looked at him.
“Victor said the girl still had the original.”
