Chapter 1 — The Girl Who Called Him Daddy
Chapter 1 — The Girl Who Called Him Daddy
The hockey stick was still lying on the kitchen floor.
For several seconds after Victoria dropped it, nobody moved.
Not Grace.
Not Lily.
Not even Nathan.
The only sound in the enormous kitchen was the little girl's crying.
A soft, broken sound.
The kind that made something inside Nathan's chest twist painfully.
He stared at her.
Four years old.
Dark curls tangled around her tear-streaked face.
One tiny hand gripping the front of Grace's black-and-white uniform.
And those eyes.
Those enormous brown eyes.
Nathan had seen them before.
Not on a child.
On himself.
He had inherited them from his mother.
At least, that was what everyone had always told him.
But the little girl was looking directly at him with the same eyes.
Then she whispered again.
"Daddy."
Nathan forgot how to breathe.
Victoria moved first.
"Nathan, don't listen to her."
Her voice was too fast.
Too frightened.
Nathan slowly looked at her.
"Why?"
Victoria swallowed.
"She's confused."
Grace tried to sit up.
Pain shot through her shoulder.
She gasped.
Nathan immediately stepped toward her.
"Don't move."
Grace stared at him.
For the first time since he had entered the kitchen, she looked less afraid of Victoria than she was of him.
That hurt.
"Where is she hurt?" Nathan asked.
Grace didn't answer.
Her arms tightened around Lily.
Nathan crouched several feet away.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
Grace's eyes filled with tears.
"You need to take her."
"I will."
"Please."
She looked toward Victoria.
"Just don't let her near my daughter."
Victoria's face hardened.
"How dare you."
Nathan stood.
"Victoria."
"What?"
"Step away from them."
She stared at him.
"I didn't mean to hit her."
Nathan looked at the hockey stick.
"You were holding a hockey stick."
"I lost my temper."
"You nearly killed her."
Victoria's eyes widened.
"She was attacking me."
Grace laughed bitterly.
"I was trying to get Lily away from you."
Nathan looked between them.
"What happened?"
Victoria opened her mouth.
Grace spoke first.
"She found Lily."
Victoria's expression changed.
Nathan noticed.
"Found her?"
Grace nodded.
"She knew who she was."
Victoria's silence was answer enough.
Nathan looked at his fiancée.
"You knew this child?"
"No."
"Victoria."
"I've seen her before."
"How many times?"
She hesitated.
"Once."
Grace shook her head.
"That's a lie."
Victoria glared at her.
"You've been manipulating him for years."
Grace's face went pale.
Nathan turned toward her.
"Years?"
Grace looked down.
"I didn't want this."
"Didn't want what?"
"Any of it."
Nathan's voice became quieter.
"Then tell me the truth."
Grace looked at Lily.
The little girl had stopped crying.
She was staring at Nathan.
Something about the way she looked at him made Grace's expression collapse.
She knew the moment had arrived.
There was no hiding anymore.
"She's your daughter."
The words seemed to echo through the kitchen.
Nathan stared.
"No."
Grace nodded.
"Lily is your daughter."
Victoria shook her head violently.
"That's impossible."
Nathan didn't look at her.
He couldn't.
His eyes remained on the little girl.
"My daughter?"
Grace nodded.
"Yes."
"When?"
Grace swallowed.
"Four years ago."
Nathan's mind went blank.
Four years.
He counted backward.
His relationship with Victoria.
His father's illness.
The acquisition.
The night he had been drunk after a business failure.
And then—
Grace.
A woman he had once known.
A woman he had loved.
A woman who had disappeared.
He looked at her.
"Grace?"
She nodded.
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Her lips trembled.
"Because your father made sure I couldn't."
Nathan felt something cold settle inside him.
"What did my father do?"
Grace looked at Victoria.
"Not here."
Nathan followed her gaze.
Victoria had gone completely still.
"Tell me."
Grace shook her head.
"I can't."
"You can."
"No."
"Grace."
She looked at him.
"I tried."
Nathan frowned.
"What?"
"I tried to tell you."
"When?"
"Five years ago."
The kitchen seemed to tilt.
"You never called me."
"I did."
"I never got anything."
"Because your father intercepted everything."
Nathan stared at her.
"My father was in the hospital."
"Not then."
Grace's voice cracked.
"He wasn't sick when he came to see me."
Nathan's heart began pounding.
"What did he say?"
Grace closed her eyes.
"He said if I ever contacted you again, he would destroy my family."
Victoria stepped forward.
"She's lying."
Nathan turned.
"Don't."
Victoria stopped.
Nathan's voice was different now.
Cold.
Controlled.
"Not another word."
The ambulance arrived eleven minutes later.
Grace refused to let the paramedics touch Lily.
Nathan understood why.
The child wouldn't let go of her.
So he carried both of them.
Grace's body was trembling.
Lily rested her head against her mother's chest.
Nathan had never held a child before.
Not his own.
The realization hit him with such force that he almost stumbled.
His daughter.
His daughter had been living in this house.
Working around him.
And he hadn't known.
For three months, Grace had cleaned his kitchen.
She had polished his dining room.
She had folded shirts that cost more than her yearly salary.
And every day, his daughter had been somewhere nearby.
Nathan felt sick.
"Why did you work here?" he asked.
Grace looked at him.
"I needed money."
"You could have told me."
"I was afraid."
"Of me?"
"No."
She glanced at Victoria.
"Of what would happen if she found out."
Nathan looked at Victoria.
She was standing beside the kitchen island.
Perfect white dress.
Perfect makeup.
Perfect posture.
Only her eyes betrayed her.
Fear.
She was afraid.
Nathan had never seen Victoria afraid.
That frightened him more than anything else.
At the hospital, doctors examined Grace's shoulder.
A fracture.
Severe bruising.
No internal bleeding.
Lily had no physical injuries.
But the pediatrician recommended observation because of the trauma.
Nathan sat outside the examination room.
Victoria sat several chairs away.
She had called her lawyer.
Nathan noticed.
He said nothing.
His phone kept vibrating.
His father's former attorney.
Board members.
Security.
Reporters.
He ignored all of them.
Finally, the door opened.
A doctor stepped out.
"Mr. Cole?"
"Yes."
"Your daughter is fine physically."
The word hit him again.
Your daughter.
"Can I see her?"
"Her mother is with her."
Nathan nodded.
"Of course."
The doctor hesitated.
"There is one thing."
"What?"
"The child seems extremely attached to you."
Nathan looked through the window.
Lily was sitting on the hospital bed.
Grace was beside her.
Lily kept looking toward the door.
"She's never met me."
The doctor looked confused.
"She says she has."
Nathan frowned.
"What?"
"She said you've been in her dreams."
Nathan felt a chill.
"What else?"
"She called you Daddy."
Nathan looked away.
"Yes."
The door opened.
Grace appeared.
Her shoulder was immobilized.
She looked exhausted.
"She wants you."
Nathan stared.
"Me?"
Grace nodded.
"She keeps asking where you are."
Nathan entered.
Lily looked up.
Her face changed immediately.
"Daddy."
Nathan stopped.
He had imagined this moment thousands of times without knowing it.
Not like this.
Not with fear.
Not with a woman he had failed.
Not with a fiancée who had nearly destroyed them.
He sat beside the bed.
"Hi."
Lily stared at him.
"You're Daddy."
Nathan swallowed.
"Yes."
Grace looked away.
Nathan held out his hand.
Lily slowly took it.
Her fingers were tiny.
Warm.
Real.
He looked at their hands together.
Something broke inside him.
"I'm sorry."
Grace turned.
"For what?"
Nathan looked at Lily.
"For missing everything."
Grace's eyes filled with tears.
"You didn't know."
"I should have."
"You couldn't."
"My father—"
"Yes."
Nathan looked at her.
"Tell me everything."
Grace shook her head.
"Not tonight."
"Why?"
"Because you're angry."
"I have every reason to be."
"That's exactly why."
She sat beside Lily.
"Tomorrow."
Nathan nodded.
"Tomorrow."
At midnight, Nathan stood alone in the hospital parking garage.
Victoria was waiting beside his car.
He stopped.
"What are you doing here?"
"We need to talk."
"No."
"Nathan."
"You knew."
She stared at him.
"I suspected."
"You knew."
"I knew there was a child."
His jaw tightened.
"How long?"
"Six months."
Nathan laughed once.
It was humorless.
"Six months."
"I was trying to protect you."
"From what?"
"From her."
He stared at Victoria.
"Grace?"
"Yes."
"She is the mother of my child."
"Exactly."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Victoria stepped closer.
"Do you know what happens if she gets custody?"
Nathan said nothing.
"Your father's estate changes."
"What?"
"Lily becomes a legal heir."
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know that?"
Victoria hesitated.
"Because I investigated."
"Why?"
She looked at him.
"Because I was going to marry you."
"That doesn't explain it."
"It does."
"No."
Nathan stepped closer.
"You weren't worried about me."
Victoria's eyes filled.
"I love you."
"Then why were you holding a weapon over my daughter's head?"
"I lost control."
"You've been losing control for six months?"
Victoria looked away.
Nathan's phone vibrated.
A message.
He opened it.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: ASK VICTORIA WHO PAID GRACE TO DISAPPEAR.
Nathan slowly looked up.
Victoria saw his expression.
"What?"
He turned the screen toward her.
Her face went white.
"Who sent that?"
"I don't know."
Nathan stared at her.
"Neither do I."
At 1:17 a.m., another message arrived.
This time, there was an attachment.
A photograph.
Grace, five years earlier.
Pregnant.
Standing outside a courthouse.
Beside her was Nathan's father.
Charles Cole.
Nathan stared at the image.
His father was holding a document.
Grace looked terrified.
The message underneath contained only one sentence.
Your father didn't make her disappear alone.
Nathan's blood ran cold.
He looked toward the hospital.
Grace was inside.
Lily was inside.
His entire life was inside that building.
And suddenly he understood something.
Victoria's attack wasn't the beginning.
It was the end of a five-year plan.
A plan his father had started.
A plan Victoria had continued.
And a plan someone else was desperate to finish.
The next morning, Nathan arrived before sunrise.
Grace was awake.
Lily was asleep.
He sat beside the window.
"I know."
Grace looked at him.
"Know what?"
"About the courthouse."
Her face changed.
"How?"
He showed her the photograph.
She closed her eyes.
"I was hoping you'd never see that."
"Who took it?"
"Your father."
Nathan felt his stomach turn.
"What happened that day?"
Grace looked at Lily.
"Your father gave me a choice."
"What choice?"
"Disappear."
"And if you didn't?"
"He would take Lily."
Nathan clenched his fists.
"How?"
"He had connections."
Grace's voice became quieter.
"He said he could have me declared unfit. He said he could make the court believe I was unstable. He said he could make it look like I abandoned my child."
Nathan looked at Lily.
"He planned this from the beginning."
Grace nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
Grace hesitated.
"Because Lily isn't just your daughter."
Nathan looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
Grace stared at him.
"She's the last thing your father couldn't control."
Nathan frowned.
"What?"
"Your father's inheritance plan."
Grace took a breath.
"Lily was going to inherit something he never wanted you to know existed."
Nathan's heart began pounding.
"What?"
Grace whispered:
"Control of the Cole empire."
Silence.
Nathan looked at his daughter.
The tiny girl slept peacefully beneath a hospital blanket.
His father had spent five years trying to erase her.
Not because she was unwanted.
Because she was dangerous.
Because she was his.
And because somewhere inside the empire his father had built, there was something worth more than money.
Something that belonged to Lily.
Nathan stood.
"I need to find out what it is."
Grace looked frightened.
"Nathan."
"What?"
"Your father is dead."
"I know."
"People who protected him aren't."
Nathan froze.
"What are you saying?"
Grace looked toward the hospital door.
"I was never afraid of your father alone."
She lowered her voice.
"I was afraid of the people who would continue his work after he died."
Nathan stared at her.
"Who?"
Grace shook her head.
"I don't know."
Then Lily stirred.
Her eyes opened.
She looked at Nathan.
"Daddy?"
Nathan immediately went to her.
"I'm here."
She reached for his hand.
He took it.
This time, he didn't let go.
Outside the hospital window, three black cars pulled into the driveway.
Nathan watched them arrive.
And he suddenly understood.
Finding his daughter had not ended the danger.
It had announced her existence to everyone who had spent five years trying to make sure she never came home.
He looked down at Lily.
Then at Grace.
May you like
"I promise you," he whispered, "nobody is taking you away from me again."
But somewhere beyond the hospital walls, someone was already making plans to prove him wrong.
