Lena placed the baby in my arms.
“Her name is Grace,” she said.
I had imagined this moment in nightmares: Lena dead in a river, buried under a false name, calling for me from somewhere I could never reach. My mother, Evelyn, had arranged a funeral after police found Lena’s burned car and a dental report identifying remains inside. She had held me while I broke apart.
“She kidnapped me,” Lena said. “Your mother paid Dr. Mercer to fake the dental records. She kept me at a private property outside the city. When she learned I was pregnant, she said the baby would make the inheritance complicated.”
I stared at Grace’s tiny face.
“Why?”
“Because your father left control of Ashford Holdings to your wife if anything happened to you. She thought I was turning you against her. She wanted you grieving, obedient, and childless.”
My phone rang.
Mother.
I answered calmly.
