Chapter 6 - The Man Who Knew Where My Mother Went
The message stayed on the screen for only ten seconds.
Then everything went black.
The power returned almost immediately, but the damage had already been done.
Because the words were still there.
Not on the screen.
In my mind.
ASK GRANT WHAT HE DID TO YOUR MOTHER.
I looked at him.
And for the first time since I entered the Holloway mansion…
I didn’t see the man who saved me.
I saw the possibility of the man who destroyed everything.
Grant didn’t move.
That scared me more than anything.
Because if he was innocent, I expected anger.
I expected him to deny it.
I expected him to demand answers.
Instead, he just stood there.
Silent.
Like someone who had been waiting years for this moment.
"Claire."
His voice was low.
Careful.
But I stepped back.
"No."
He stopped.
"I need to know."
"Claire, listen—"
"No."
My eyes burned.
"I spent my entire life believing my mother abandoned me."
I pointed at the necklace on the table.
"I spent years believing she left because she didn't love me."
My voice cracked.
"And now I find out she was running from someone."
A pause.
"From Victor."
I looked at him.
"And maybe from you."
The room became painfully quiet.
Even Vanessa looked away.
Because she knew.
She knew this was something Grant had been avoiding.
Grant took a slow breath.
"I never hurt your mother."
The words came immediately.
But somehow, they weren’t enough.
"Then tell me what happened."
He looked at the necklace.
Then at the memory chip.
Then finally at me.
"Your mother came to me seventeen years ago."
I froze.
"Seventeen?"
He nodded.
"You were six years old."
My chest tightened.
A memory appeared.
A small apartment.
My mother crying in the kitchen.
Me asking why she looked scared.
Her telling me everything was okay.
She lied.
She had always lied.
Not because she didn’t love me.
Because she was trying to protect me.
"Why did she come to you?"
Grant looked toward the window.
"Because she knew Victor was dangerous."
"She knew you were dangerous too."
The words came out sharper than I intended.
Grant accepted them.
"I was."
That answer surprised me.
He didn’t defend himself.
"I wasn't a good person back then."
Nobody spoke.
"I made choices I regret."
He looked down.
"But your mother believed people could change."
I almost laughed.
"My mother believed a lot of things."
"Yes."
His voice softened.
"That was one of the reasons I respected her."
Vanessa crossed her arms.
"Tell her the whole truth, Grant."
He looked at Vanessa.
For a moment, they looked like two people carrying the same wound.
Then Grant nodded.
"Elena discovered Victor was building something bigger than anyone realized."
He walked toward the desk.
"He wasn't just collecting secrets."
He opened another file.
"He was creating leverage."
Inside were documents.
Photos.
Names.
People.
Powerful people.
"He wanted to control everyone around him."
Grant continued.
"And Elena found the evidence."
I looked at the memory chip.
"That evidence."
"Yes."
"Why didn't she give it to the police?"
Vanessa answered.
"Because she didn't trust anyone."
I looked at her.
"Not even Grant?"
A painful silence.
Then Grant answered.
"Especially not me."
The honesty shocked me.
He continued.
"At the time, I was still connected to people who worked with Victor."
"So she thought you were dangerous."
"She was right."
The room felt heavier.
"Then why come to you?"
Grant looked at me.
"Because she knew something Victor didn't."
"What?"
"That I hated what I had become."
I stared at him.
The powerful man.
The feared man.
The person everyone whispered about.
For the first time, I saw the person underneath.
A man who regretted the road that made him powerful.
"Your mother asked me for one thing."
"What?"
"To protect you."
My heart stopped.
"Me?"
He nodded.
"She knew Victor would come after her. She knew he would search for the evidence."
He looked at the necklace.
"And she knew the safest place for it was with the person nobody would suspect."
"Me."
"Yes."
I looked away.
All my life, I thought I was forgotten.
But maybe…
I was trusted.
There was a difference.
A huge one.
"So what happened?"
Grant’s expression changed.
Pain returned.
"Your mother disappeared three days later."
My breathing stopped.
"Because of Victor?"
"Yes."
"Did you try to find her?"
His silence answered before his words did.
"Yes."
"But you failed."
He nodded.
And somehow that hurt.
Because Grant Holloway was the kind of man who seemed impossible to defeat.
But he couldn’t save my mother.
"Did she die?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Vanessa.
Then Grant.
"Did my mother die?"
Grant’s jaw tightened.
"I don't know."
That answer was somehow worse.
Seventeen years of uncertainty.
Seventeen years of wondering.
And nobody knew.
Before I could say anything, the security alarm sounded again.
This time, different.
More urgent.
A guard rushed in.
"Mr. Holloway."
Grant turned.
"What happened?"
"We found a vehicle outside."
"Whose?"
The guard hesitated.
Then:
"Victor's."
Everyone became still.
Grant immediately moved.
"Where are the twins?"
"In the nursery."
He didn’t wait.
Neither did I.
We ran.
The hallway seemed longer than ever.
Every second felt like an hour.
When we reached the nursery, Ethan and Owen were sleeping.
Safe.
But something was wrong.
The window was open.
Cold air entered the room.
Grant looked outside.
Nothing.
No one.
Then I saw something.
A small object sitting on the blanket beside the twins.
A photograph.
My hands went cold.
I picked it up.
It was old.
A picture of my mother.
Holding me as a child.
But there was writing on the back.
My fingers shook as I turned it over.
One sentence.
SHE TRUSTED THE WRONG MAN.
I looked at Grant.
He saw the message.
And for the first time...
I saw fear in his eyes.
Not anger.
Not suspicion.
Fear.
Because he knew something.
Something he still hadn’t told me.
"What does that mean?"
Grant didn’t answer.
"Grant."
His eyes stayed on the photograph.
Then he whispered:
"Your mother wasn't only hiding from Victor."
A pause.
"She was hiding from someone inside my organization."
My heart sank.
"Who?"
Grant looked at the security cameras.
"Someone who has been close to me for seventeen years."
The room went silent.
"Someone who knew Elena."
A pause.
"Someone who knew where you were."
I felt a chill.
"Who?"
Grant looked at me.
And before he could answer…
The lights went out again.
But this time…
A voice came through the speakers.
A voice none of us expected.
A voice I had heard only once before.
My mother's.
"Claire."
Everyone froze.
The recording continued.
"If you are hearing this..."
A pause.
Then her voice broke.
"I'm sorry."
Tears filled my eyes.
Because after seventeen years…
I was hearing my mother's voice again.
"Please understand..."
Static filled the room.
Then:
"I didn't leave you."
I covered my mouth.
The message continued.
"I ran because the person you trusted most was the person who betrayed me."
My eyes slowly moved toward Grant.
He looked destroyed.
Then my mother's final words came.
"Claire..."
A pause.
"Do not trust Grant Holloway."
The recording ended.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
And the most terrifying part wasn't that my mother had accused Grant.
It was the fact that Grant looked like he believed her.
Because maybe…
He knew exactly who had betrayed her.
May you like
And maybe…
He had been carrying that secret all along.
