Chapter 2 - The Name Grant Feared
Emma slipped the brass key beneath her blanket before the door opened.
Grant stood between the bed and the entrance.
Vanessa stepped inside.
Her red coat was gone.
She wore a black sweater, dark trousers, and an expression Emma had never seen before.
No confidence.
No smugness.
No trace of the woman who had accepted another woman’s car while that woman was struggling to breathe.
Vanessa looked frightened.
“Grant.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to Emma.”
“No.”
Emma stared at him.
“That’s interesting.”
Grant turned.
“She doesn’t need stress.”
Emma almost admired how smoothly he could weaponize concern.
“Vanessa can speak.”
Vanessa stepped farther inside.
Grant grabbed her elbow.
She jerked away.
“Don’t.”
The force in her voice surprised all three of them.
Vanessa looked at Emma.
“I’m sorry.”
Emma waited.
“For the affair?”
“For tonight.”
“Those are separate apologies?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Grant exhaled sharply.
“Leave.”
Vanessa ignored him.
“The car wasn’t supposed to be for me.”
Emma frowned.
Grant went still.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa looked at the floor.
“Grant told me to take it because he thought someone was following him.”
Emma’s hand tightened around the hidden key.
Grant stepped forward.
“Stop talking.”
Vanessa backed away from him.
“You said they’d follow the car instead.”
Emma’s pulse jumped.
The Maserati.
Grant hadn’t simply chosen Vanessa over her.
He had used Vanessa as bait.
And left Emma exposed on the sidewalk.
“Who was following you?” Emma asked.
Grant spoke first.
“No one.”
Vanessa laughed once.
It sounded close to hysterical.
“That’s a lie.”
“Vanessa.”
“You told me Romano’s people had been watching the hotel.”
Emma looked between them.
Luca.
Grant had known Luca might be nearby before Emma collapsed.
“What have you done?” Emma whispered.
Grant’s face hardened.
“This is business.”
“No,” Vanessa said. “It stopped being business months ago.”
Grant lunged for the door and locked it.
Emma’s breath caught.
Vanessa moved toward the bed.
“Unlock it.”
“Both of you need to calm down.”
Emma reached for the nurse-call button.
Grant saw.
He raised both hands.
“Fine. I’ll explain.”
“Everything,” Emma said.
Grant stared at her.
For the first time in their marriage, Emma saw calculation in his eyes where affection should have been.
Not panic.
Calculation.
“How much did Romano tell you?”
“Nothing.”
Grant didn’t believe her.
That hurt more than it should have.
Vanessa spoke.
“Pierce Urban bought the Rainier shipping property six months ago.”
Emma knew that.
Grant had celebrated with champagne.
He said the deal would make them financially untouchable.
Vanessa continued.
“The seller wasn’t the real owner.”
Grant snapped, “Enough.”
Emma ignored him.
“Who was?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“A holding company tied to Romano.”
Emma frowned.
“Grant said the seller was North Coast Industrial.”
“It was.”
“So?”
“It was one of Romano’s companies.”
Emma looked toward the door.
She remembered Luca’s expression in the SUV.
At the hotel.
When he saw Grant.
When he saw the key fob.
This was no chance encounter.
“What did Grant do?”
Vanessa hesitated.
Grant answered.
“I bought property.”
“You stole it,” Vanessa said.
Emma’s eyes shifted back to him.
Grant’s jaw flexed.
“The deal was legal.”
“The signature wasn’t.”
Silence filled the room.
Emma heard the fetal monitor.
Fast.
Steady.
Alive.
She concentrated on that rhythm.
“Whose signature?”
Vanessa’s voice dropped.
“Luca Romano’s uncle.”
Grant laughed.
“Dead men don’t complain.”
Emma stared at him.
Vanessa did too.
It was the first moment Grant seemed to realize what he had admitted.
Emma felt something inside her marriage break.
Not crack.
Break.
“You forged a dead man’s signature?”
Grant paced away.
“I didn’t forge anything.”
“But you knew.”
“No.”
Vanessa looked at Emma.
“He knew.”
Grant spun.
“You were paid very well not to develop a conscience.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“And look where that got me.”
Emma understood suddenly.
The affair had not begun with attraction.
Vanessa worked in compliance consulting.
Grant had hired her because she knew the paperwork was false.
Then slept with her.
Whether to control her or because he wanted her no longer mattered.
Both possibilities were ugly.
“Why would Luca care about me?”
Grant laughed without humor.
“He doesn’t.”
Vanessa looked at him.
Grant saw it.
“What?”
She didn’t answer.
“What?” he demanded.
Vanessa’s eyes shifted toward Emma.
“Luca didn’t know Grant’s wife was the woman outside.”
Emma remembered his face.
The moment he saw her.
There had been no recognition.
Only concern.
“So?”
Vanessa spoke slowly.
“He helped you before he knew who you were.”
Grant looked furious at that fact.
Emma did not understand why.
Then Vanessa said, “That makes this worse for Grant.”
Grant crossed the room.
“For the last time, stop talking.”
The door opened behind him.
A security officer stood outside with a nurse.
Grant had apparently failed to lock it fully.
“Everything okay?” the nurse asked.
Emma looked directly at her.
“My husband is leaving.”
Grant’s face changed.
“Emma.”
“Now.”
“Don’t do this.”
“You left me outside a hotel while I was eight months pregnant because you were afraid someone might follow your car.”
“I protected you.”
Vanessa stared.
Emma’s voice became quiet.
“You gave the car to her as bait.”
Grant said nothing.
“You weren’t protecting anyone but yourself.”
Security stepped inside.
Grant pointed at Vanessa.
“She’s the one upsetting my wife.”
Emma shook her head.
“He leaves.”
The guard looked at Grant.
“Sir.”
Grant stood still for several seconds.
Then he leaned close to Emma.
“You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Her hand remained under the blanket around the brass key.
“Neither did you.”
He left.
Vanessa started after him.
“Wait.”
Emma stopped her.
“Did you put something in my cardigan?”
Vanessa froze.
That was enough.
Emma drew out the brass key.
Vanessa’s face went white.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was in my belongings.”
“You weren’t supposed to find it yet.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“You wrote the tag?”
“Yes.”
IF EMMA GETS HURT.
Emma’s voice barely worked.
“What does 417 open?”
Vanessa glanced at the hallway.
“Not here.”
“Tell me.”
“A locker.”
“Where?”
“King Street Station.”
Emma stared.
“What’s inside?”
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
“Insurance.”
“Against Grant?”
“Against everyone.”
Emma tried to sit higher.
Pain pulled beneath her ribs.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“I started keeping copies when I realized the waterfront deal wasn’t just fraud.”
“What else?”
“There were payments.”
“To whom?”
“Inspectors. City consultants. Security contractors.”
“Luca?”
“No.”
That answer came immediately.
Emma believed it.
Vanessa looked toward the door again.
“Grant thinks Romano is trying to recover the property because of money.”
“He isn’t?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“I don’t know.”
A lie.
Emma had become good at hearing them.
“You know something.”
Vanessa rubbed her palms together.
“I know Luca’s uncle died two weeks before the fake transfer was filed.”
Emma waited.
“And?”
“The official cause was a heart attack.”
“But?”
“He wasn’t sick.”
Emma felt cold.
“You think Grant killed him?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
Another lie.
Before Emma could press further, Vanessa’s phone buzzed.
She looked.
Her face collapsed.
“What?”
Vanessa turned the screen toward Emma.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
One sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT DRIVING.
Emma’s skin prickled.
“Is that about tonight?”
Vanessa deleted nothing.
She simply stared at the message.
“I think so.”
Emma looked at the hospital door.
“Call Luca.”
Vanessa’s head snapped up.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if Grant finds out—”
“My husband already left me on a sidewalk because he was afraid of that man. I want to know why.”
Vanessa whispered, “You don’t invite Luca Romano into your life.”
Emma thought of tattooed hands carrying her through rain.
“You think I invited him?”
Vanessa had no answer.
Emma picked up the white card Luca had left.
She called.
He answered on the first ring.
“Emma?”
She had not given him her number.
That fact registered.
She ignored it.
“I have a key marked 417.”
Silence.
Then Luca said, “Where did you get it?”
“Vanessa.”
Vanessa mouthed no.
Emma continued.
“She says it opens a locker at King Street Station.”
Luca’s voice changed.
“Do not go there.”
“Why?”
“Emma.”
“What is in locker 417?”
Another silence.
Then Luca asked, “Is Grant with you?”
“No.”
“Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“Lock the hospital-room door.”
Emma looked at Vanessa.
“Why?”
“Do it.”
Something crashed outside.
A nurse shouted.
Vanessa stepped backward.
The lights flickered once.
Then twice.
The hallway went dark.
Emergency lights came on red.
Emma heard footsteps.
Fast.
Coming closer.
Vanessa whispered, “Someone knows.”
A shadow stopped beneath the door.
May you like
The handle moved.
Someone was trying to get inside.
