PART 4 — THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

Grant did not remember leaving the hospital.

One moment, he was standing beside his mother’s bed.

The next, he was sitting in his car with both hands gripping the steering wheel.

Norine’s final words kept repeating.

Your wife.

Vanessa.

He called her.

She answered on the second ring.

“Finally.”

“Where are you?”

“At home. Why?”

“Have you contacted Elise?”

Silence.

Then Vanessa laughed.

“What?”

“Have you contacted my ex-wife?”

“Grant, what kind of question is that?”

“Answer me.”

Her voice cooled.

“I’m not doing this over the phone.”

“Then I’ll be home in twenty minutes.”

He ended the call.

For the entire drive, he tried to imagine an innocent explanation.

Perhaps Vanessa had sent Elise a message.

Perhaps there had been an argument.

Perhaps Norine misunderstood something.

But Vanessa knew almost nothing about Lily.

At least, that was what Grant believed.

When he entered the house, Vanessa was standing beside the dining table.

She wore a cream silk blouse.

Her hair was perfectly arranged.

Two wineglᴀsses stood beside a vase of white roses.

“Happy anniversary,” she said.

Grant stopped.

The words felt absurd.

He had forgotten the date.

Vanessa noticed his expression.

“What happened?”

He placed his keys on the table.

“Did you contact Elise?”

Her smile disappeared.

“Again with Elise?”

“Answer me.”

Vanessa folded her arms.

“Yes.”

Grant stared at her.

“When?”

“A few weeks ago.”

“Why?”

“Because someone had to deal with the situation.”

“What situation?”

Vanessa walked toward the kitchen.

Grant followed.

“The constant phone calls to your mother. The visits. The way Elise keeps finding excuses to remain part of this family.”

Grant felt anger rise.

“My mother is seventy-one years old. She can choose her own friends.”

“This isn’t about friendship.”

“Then what is it about?”

Vanessa turned.

“It’s about boundaries.”

The word struck him.

He had used it himself.

So many times.

Boundaries.

A clean word that had helped him avoid difficult conversations.

“What did you say to her?”

Vanessa looked away.

“Nothing unreasonable.”

“Vanessa.”

“I told her that if she continued involving herself in our family, I would speak to someone about her suitability as a parent.”

Grant felt the blood drain from his face.

“You threatened her child?”

“I did not threaten anyone.”

“You just said—”

“I said I would make inquiries.”

“What inquiries?”

Vanessa hesitated.

Then she said, “A friend of mine works with family services.”

Grant stared.

“You reported Elise?”

“I expressed concerns.”

“About what?”

Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.

“She’s seriously ill, Grant. She’s raising a child alone. Someone has to ask whether that’s safe.”

He stepped backward.

For the first time since marrying Vanessa, he looked at her and felt he was seeing a stranger.

“Elise has Norine.”

“Norine lives forty minutes away.”

“She has friends.”

“Friends aren’t parents.”

Grant shook his head.

“You had no right.”

Vanessa’s face hardened.

“I was protecting our marriage.”

“From an eleven-year-old girl?”

“From a woman who refuses to let you go.”

Grant almost laughed.

“Elise hasn’t contacted me in over a year.”

“Because you blocked her.”

“Exactly.”

Vanessa went silent.

Then she said something that made him stop breathing.

“She contacted me instead.”

Grant stared at her.

“What?”

“Last spring.”

“About what?”

Vanessa crossed her arms.

“Money.”

His heart sank.

“What money?”

“She said she needed help.”

Grant remembered Ruth’s hospital receipt.

Elise selling her father’s watches.

Elise sitting alone outside the discharge office.

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her you weren’t responsible for her problems.”

“Did she ask for me?”

Vanessa hesitated.

“Not exactly.”

“Then what did she ask?”

“She wanted to know whether your health insurance still covered her.”

Grant frowned.

“Our divorce was final.”

“I told her that.”

“Why would she ask?”

Vanessa looked irritated.

“How should I know?”

Grant studied her face.

Something was missing.

Not in the story.

In her expression.

There was no concern.

No curiosity about Elise’s illness.

Only resentment.

“Did you know she had cancer?”

Vanessa’s eyes flickered.

It lasted less than a second.

But Grant saw it.

“You knew,” he whispered.

She looked away.

“Grant—”

“You knew.”

“She told me she was sick.”

“When?”

“Last year.”

He felt the room tilt.

“Before our wedding?”

Vanessa said nothing.

Grant took a step closer.

“Before our wedding?”

“Yes.”

He stared at her.

“You knew Elise was having cancer surgery while we were getting married?”

Vanessa’s expression hardened.

“And what exactly was I supposed to do?”

“Tell me.”

“So you could cancel our wedding?”

Grant did not answer.

“Because that’s what would have happened,” Vanessa continued. “You would have rushed to her bedside. You would have felt guilty. And somehow our wedding would have become about Elise.”

Grant looked at the roses.

The candles.

The two wineglᴀsses.

The life he had believed was uncomplicated.

“You let me make a speech about finally being chosen.”

Vanessa’s eyes filled.

“I did choose you.”

“By hiding that someone was seriously ill?”

“She was your ex-wife.”

“She was a human being.”

Vanessa looked away.

Grant reached into his coat and removed the velvet bracelet box.

He placed it on the table.

Vanessa stared at it.

“What’s that?”

“Your anniversary gift.”

She opened it.

A diamond bracelet glittered beneath the kitchen lights.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Vanessa closed the box.

“Are you leaving me?”

Grant looked at her.

“I don’t know.”

Her face changed.

“You don’t know?”

“I need to understand what happened.”

Vanessa stepped toward him.

“Grant, listen to me. Elise is not as helpless as everyone thinks.”

He frowned.

“What does that mean?”

Vanessa hesitated.

Then she reached into a drawer and removed a folder.

She placed it on the table.

“I didn’t want to show you this.”

Grant stared at the papers.

“What is it?”

“Information about Lily.”

He opened the folder.

Inside were copies of school documents, medical appointment records, and correspondence concerning Elise’s guardianship.

“How did you get these?”

Vanessa said nothing.

Grant turned another page.

A pH๏τograph slipped out.

It showed Elise standing outside a school.

Lily beside her.

A man stood a few feet away.

Tall.

Dark-haired.

Wearing a gray jacket.

Grant frowned.

“Who’s that?”

Vanessa watched him carefully.

“His name is Daniel Cross.”

“Who is he?”

“Someone Elise has been seeing.”

Grant looked at the pH๏τograph.

Elise was smiling.

Not the exhausted woman he had seen at the hospital.

A different Elise.

Alive.

Happy.

For reasons he hated admitting, jealousy moved through him.

Vanessa noticed.

“I thought you should know.”

Grant kept looking at the picture.

Then he saw something.

Daniel was holding Lily’s hand.

Not casually.

Protectively.

And Lily was wearing a necklace.

A small silver horse.

Grant recognized it immediately.

He had bought that necklace for Elise on their seventh anniversary.

She had cried when he gave it to her.

He turned the pH๏τograph over.

A date had been written on the back.

Three weeks earlier.

Below it were four words.

Lily with her father.

Grant looked up.

“Vanessa.”

She said nothing.

“Who wrote this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where did you get it?”

Vanessa hesitated.

Then the doorbell rang.

Once.

Twice.

Grant walked toward the front door.

Vanessa caught his arm.

“Don’t open it.”

He turned.

“Why?”

Her face had gone pale.

“Because there’s something about Daniel Cross I haven’t told you.”

The bell rang again.

Grant pulled away and opened the door.

A man stood on the porch.

Tall.

Dark-haired.

Gray jacket.

The same man from the pH๏τograph.

He looked at Grant.

Then past him, toward Vanessa.

“I’m Daniel Cross,” he said.

“And I believe your wife has something that belongs to my daughter.”