Chapter 6 - Anna’s Secret
Grant heard broken porcelain hit the floor.
Anna did not move to clean it.
For once, neither did anyone else.
“Your mother?” Grant asked.
Anna stared at the security image.
“Yes.”
“What’s her name?”
“Margaret Carter.”
Elias began searching.
Anna shook her head.
“You won’t find much under that name.”
Grant turned toward her.
“What does that mean?”
Anna closed her eyes.
“She used to be Margaret Voss.”
Grant went completely still.
“Voss.”
Anna nodded.
“Malcolm Voss is her brother.”
Silence filled the study.
Grant’s trust, newly fragile, snapped taut.
“You knew.”
“I knew he was my uncle.”
“You knew he worked for me?”
“Years ago.”
“You knew he was connected to Northbridge?”
“No.”
Grant stepped back.
Anna heard the distance appear in his voice.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know any of this until today.”
“You worked inside my home for eight months.”
“Because I needed a job.”
“Did Malcolm send you?”
“No.”
“Your mother?”
“No.”
“Rourke?”
“Grant.”
“Answer.”
“No!”
Lily appeared at the doorway.
“Mommy?”
Anna immediately lowered her voice.
“Go upstairs, sweetheart.”
Lily looked frightened.
Grant heard it in her breathing.
His anger disappeared.
“Lily.”
She stopped.
“I’m not angry with your mother.”
Anna looked at him.
It was not entirely true.
But it was what Lily needed.
“Okay,” Lily whispered.
A housekeeper took her upstairs.
Grant waited until she was gone.
Then Anna told him everything.
Her mother had cut ties with Malcolm years earlier.
Anna remembered her uncle as a wealthy man who occasionally sent expensive birthday gifts.
When Anna became pregnant and the father disappeared, Malcolm offered money.
She refused.
Her mother urged her to accept.
Anna refused again.
Three years later, after losing her apartment, Anna found the Mercer housekeeping position through an employment agency.
She had not known Malcolm once worked for Grant until after she arrived.
By then she was terrified that revealing the connection would cost her the only stable home Lily had.
“So you hid it.”
“Yes.”
Grant laughed bitterly.
“Everyone around me hides things.”
Anna flinched.
“That isn’t fair.”
“No?”
“No.”
She stepped toward him.
“I hid an embarrassing family connection. Victor hid your medical prognosis. Cole hid treatment. Thomas hid information for Rourke. Don’t put all of those things in the same box because you’re angry.”
Elias looked away.
Grant’s jaw tightened.
Anna continued.
“I never hurt you.”
“I know.”
“I never lied when you asked me directly.”
“I know.”
“My daughter found the first reason you’ve had to hope in five years.”
Grant’s anger collapsed.
“I know.”
Anna’s eyes filled.
“Then stop treating me like I’m another person waiting to betray you.”
Grant had no answer.
Elias quietly left the room.
Grant heard the door close.
Anna wiped her face.
“I’ll pack tonight.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“No?”
“You’re not leaving.”
“That sounded like an order.”
“It was.”
“Then I’m definitely leaving.”
Grant almost smiled.
“Please stay.”
Anna froze.
Grant Mercer did not say please often.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Her expression softened.
“I understand why you reacted that way.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“No.”
He nodded.
There was that about Anna.
She never rushed to make him comfortable.
Grant found himself valuing it more every day.
“Why would your mother steal my file?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you call her?”
Anna tried.
Disconnected.
They searched Margaret’s apartment.
Empty.
A neighbor said she had left that morning with two suitcases.
Elias found an old address connected to Malcolm Voss in New Jersey.
Grant wanted to go.
Anna insisted on coming.
“No.”
“She’s my mother.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“And she’s still my mother.”
Grant recognized the argument as unwinnable.
They left Lily with trusted staff and two independent guards.
The address led to a closed rehabilitation center.
Inside, they found Margaret.
Alone.
Waiting.
Anna ran toward her.
“Mom!”
Margaret hugged her.
Then she looked at Grant.
“You shouldn’t have come.”
Grant smiled faintly.
“I hear that often.”
Margaret handed Elias Grant’s stolen medical file.
“I took it before Malcolm could.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s something inside that Shaw doesn’t know.”
Grant’s pulse quickened.
Margaret explained that Malcolm had kept copies of Cole’s original reports.
The first scans.
The suppressed recommendations.
The experimental treatment plans.
Everything.
“Why?”
“Insurance,” she said. “Against Rourke.”
Grant opened the file though he could not read it.
“What does it say?”
Elias scanned the pages.
His expression changed.
“There was a recommended procedure four years ago.”
Grant’s mouth went dry.
“Success rate?”
“Uncertain.”
“Would it still work?”
Margaret answered.
“Possibly.”
Grant turned toward her.
“How do you know?”
“Because Malcolm financed the research.”
Anna stared at her mother.
“Where is he?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with fear.
“Rourke has him.”
Grant understood.
The stolen file had not been an attack.
Margaret was trying to keep evidence away from Rourke.
“Why help me?”
Margaret looked at Anna.
“Because my daughter lives under your roof.”
Then she looked toward Grant.
“And because my granddaughter loves you.”
Grant could not speak for a moment.
Margaret gave Elias an address.
An abandoned private medical facility outside the city.
Malcolm was supposedly being held there.
Federal agents were contacted.
This time Grant did not play hero.
He provided the information.
Authorities moved.
Malcolm Voss was found alive.
So were servers containing financial records, communications, and surveillance archives.
Rourke’s organization began collapsing within hours.
Arrests followed.
Accounts froze.
Associates started cooperating.
Then Malcolm asked to speak with Grant.
They met under supervision.
Grant sat across from the man who had profited from his darkness.
“Why should I listen to you?”
Malcolm sounded exhausted.
“Because Rourke wasn’t the only person afraid you’d recover.”
“Who else?”
Malcolm hesitated.
“Someone who still has access to your house.”
Grant’s blood chilled.
“Name.”
Malcolm looked toward the observation window.
Then he whispered it.
Grant stood.
“No.”
Malcolm repeated the name.
Grant called Elias immediately.
No answer.
He called Anna.
No answer.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Grant answered.
Lily’s voice came through.
“Mr. Grant?”
His heart stopped.
“Lily?”
She whispered.
“Someone turned all the lights off.”
Grant stood.
“Where’s your mother?”
“I don’t know.”
A sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
May you like
Then Lily whispered four words.
“He’s coming up the stairs.”
