Chapter 12 - The Night Grant Lost Everything
I wanted to hide.
Instead, I walked downstairs.
Not alone.
My father was beside me.
Police waited out of sight.
Grant stood beyond the glass doors.
He looked nothing like the polished man from the gala.
His tuxedo was gone.
His face was unshaven.
His eyes were exhausted.
I opened the inner door but kept the security barrier locked.
“Where is Daniel?”
Grant laughed softly.
“So you know.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know I was used too.”
“You stalked me before we met.”
“Daniel told me you were spoiled and unstable.”
“And that justified it?”
“No.”
“Did it justify forging my signature?”
His eyes changed.
He knew we had found the document.
“I wanted my daughter.”
“You wanted leverage.”
“She is my daughter.”
“Yes.”
I refused to let him escape that truth.
“She is your daughter. That's why what you did is worse.”
He looked away.
“I loved you, Sloane.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
“Love without respect isn't love I want.”
He gripped the gate.
“We can start again.”
“No.”
“For Maisie.”
“No.”
“Don't destroy her family.”
“You did that when you decided family meant ownership.”
His face hardened.
There was the Grant I knew.
The soft voice disappeared.
“You think Richard will save you?”
“I don't need him to save me.”
That surprised both of us.
And it was true.
My father had given me safety.
But the decision belonged to me.
Grant reached inside his jacket.
Police moved instantly.
“Hands!”
He froze.
Slowly, he removed an envelope.
Not a weapon.
“It's Daniel's location.”
He pushed it through the gate.
“Why give me this?”
“Because he was going to take Maisie.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“He stopped trusting me months ago. Vanessa knew too much. Martin was cracking. Daniel planned to take Maisie himself.”
“Where?”
“Private airfield.”
Police took the envelope.
Within minutes, teams moved.
Daniel was arrested forty-three minutes later attempting to board a charter aircraft using false identification.
Inside his luggage were forged custody documents.
Passports.
Cash.
And photographs of Maisie.
Grant was arrested too.
As officers approached, he looked at me.
“Tell her I tried to fix it.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Pain crossed his face.
“You can tell her yourself when she's old enough to decide whether she wants to hear you.”
The handcuffs closed.
For years, I had imagined leaving Grant as an impossible act.
It happened quietly.
No music.
No dramatic victory.
Just a door closing between us.
But before police placed him in the vehicle, Grant turned toward me.
“There's one thing you still don't know.”
I said nothing.
“Daniel didn't choose me.”
My skin prickled.
“He was introduced to me.”
“By whom?”
Grant smiled sadly.
May you like
“Ask your father who signed the first payment.”
Then the police car door closed.
