Chapter 10 - The Night Grant Came for My Daughter
The report was fake.
It had to be.
Independent testing proved it within twenty-four hours.
Grant was Rose's biological father.
Dominic wasn't.
Someone had altered the database.
But why?
Elena found the answer.
The manipulated record had been designed to destroy our credibility in court.
If Grant accused Dominic of falsifying paternity, and Dominic accused Grant, Evelyn's defense could argue that evidence across the entire Northstar investigation was compromised.
One last attempt to create chaos.
It failed.
The original laboratory retained sealed samples.
The chain of custody held.
But the incident forced something unexpected.
Grant and Dominic had to cooperate.
Watching them sit at the same table was surreal.
Grant hated Dominic.
Dominic distrusted Grant.
Both loved Rose differently.
One because she was his daughter.
The other because he loved her mother.
That distinction mattered.
Grant looked at Dominic.
"If Claire chooses you, don't make her smaller."
Dominic's eyebrows rose.
"You're giving me relationship advice?"
"I'm giving you a warning from someone who learned too late."
I almost threw both men out.
Instead I laughed.
They looked at me.
"Neither of you gets to negotiate my life."
Dominic nodded immediately.
Grant followed.
Progress.
Then Rose developed a fever.
Everything else vanished.
We rushed to the hospital.
It was minor.
A common newborn infection.
Treatable.
But for twelve hours, I sat beside her crib convinced the universe was collecting payment for every moment of happiness I'd allowed myself.
Dominic stayed.
Grant stayed.
Margaret stayed.
Nobody fought.
Nobody competed.
We simply watched Rose breathe.
At dawn, her fever broke.
I cried harder than I had during labor.
Grant stood in the hallway afterward.
"I used to think having a child was about legacy."
I looked through the glass at Rose.
"And now?"
"Now I think it's about being terrified forever."
I laughed through tears.
"That sounds closer."
He smiled.
Then his face became serious.
"Claire."
"What?"
"If anything happens to me, everything I own that would have gone to my children goes into trust for Rose."
"Grant—"
"I'm not trying to buy her."
"I know."
"I needed you to know."
That was when I realized I no longer hated him.
Hatred required energy.
Grant had taken enough.
I wanted distance.
Boundaries.
A workable future for Rose.
But not hatred.
That evening, investigators informed us that Victor had requested to see me.
I refused.
Then he sent a handwritten note.
EVELYN LIED ABOUT ANTHONY.
ASK MARGARET WHO OPENED THE GARAGE.
I showed Margaret.
Her face collapsed.
"What?"
She sat down.
"Anthony's accident."
"What about it?"
"I was there."
The room went silent.
Margaret told us Anthony hadn't died immediately.
His car had been tampered with.
But before he drove away, Margaret noticed something beneath the hood.
She tried to warn him.
Evelyn stopped her.
"Why?"
"She had Claire."
My stomach turned.
"You?"
"You were six months old. Evelyn was holding you."
Margaret had chosen me.
Anthony drove away.
He died.
She had carried that guilt for thirty years.
I held her hand.
For the first time, I called her Mom.
She broke.
So did I.
Later that night, someone knocked on my apartment door.
Dominic checked the camera.
Grant.
Alone.
I opened it.
He looked pale.
"What happened?"
"My father escaped custody."
Every muscle in Dominic's body tightened.
"How?"
"Transport."
"Where is he?"
Grant looked at me.
"We think he's coming here."
Then the building lights went out.
Rose began crying in the bedroom.
Dominic drew me behind him.
Grant moved toward the hall.
The emergency lights flickered on.
My apartment door slowly opened.
May you like
And a man's voice came from the darkness.
"Claire."
