Chapter 7 - THE DEAD WOMAN WHO WASN’T DEADGrace laughed when she heard the name.
Not because it was funny.
Because her mind refused to accept it.
“My mother died on that plane.”
Marcus replayed the recording.
Robert Sterling’s warning remained unchanged.
Victoria.
Alexander frowned.
“Was her body identified?”
Grace looked at him.
“Of course.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
Marcus accessed the old crash records.
The aircraft had gone down over the Atlantic after leaving Bermuda.
Six passengers.
Two crew.
Only partial remains recovered.
Grace stared at the report.
Her mother's identification had been based primarily on dental records.
Records submitted by a private family physician.
That physician died two months later.
Daniel said quietly, “Someone planned this.”
Grace pushed away from the computer.
“No.”
“Grace—”
“My father mourned her!”
She began pacing.
“He stopped sleeping. He drank. He barely spoke for a year.”
Daniel stood.
“That doesn’t prove she died.”
“It proves he believed she did!”
She suddenly stopped.
Understanding reached her.
“He believed she did.”
Marcus nodded.
Grace sat down heavily.
Her mother might have staged her death.
Then Robert Sterling discovered the truth years later.
And died before exposing her.
The meeting with Sophia happened inside an abandoned rail warehouse on Chicago's South Side.
Grace ignored instructions to come alone.
She wore a concealed transmitter.
Marcus’s teams surrounded the area.
Daniel was supposed to remain two blocks away.
He didn’t.
“I’m not hiding while she walks into that place.”
Marcus sighed.
“You civilians are exhausting.”
Sophia stood inside beside William Crowe.
William’s face was bruised.
His hands were bound.
Sophia smiled when Grace entered.
“You came.”
“Let him go.”
“The keys.”
Grace held up a drive.
Sophia shook her head.
“You always did negotiate emotionally.”
“You murdered my uncle.”
“For the last time, I didn't poison Richard.”
“Then who?”
A woman's voice came from the darkness.
“I did.”
Grace stopped breathing.
Heels clicked against concrete.
A woman stepped into the light.
Late sixties.
Elegant.
Blond hair threaded with silver.
Grace whispered one word.
“Mom?”
Victoria Sterling smiled.
“Hello, Evie.”
Grace’s knees nearly failed.
Her mother walked toward her as casually as if returning from vacation.
Grace backed away.
“You’re dead.”
“Obviously not.”
“You left me.”
“I protected you.”
“FOR NINE YEARS?”
Victoria’s expression didn’t change.
“Your father became unstable.”
William Crowe shouted through his gag.
Sophia pulled it away.
“He discovered you were stealing from the company!”
Victoria looked annoyed.
William continued.
“Robert was going to expose Meridian! You sabotaged the aircraft because you intended to kill him too, but he changed flights!”
Grace stared at her mother.
Victoria sighed.
“It was more complicated.”
Grace began crying.
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“I did what was necessary.”
Daniel watched from his hidden position.
Something about Victoria terrified him.
Not rage.
Not violence.
Absence.
There was nothing behind her eyes when Grace cried.
No maternal instinct.
No regret.
Victoria held out her hand.
“Give me the keys.”
Grace shook her head.
“You tried to kidnap me.”
“I tried to keep you alive.”
“Your men killed Thomas.”
“That wasn't ordered.”
Grace laughed bitterly.
“People keep dying around you because of things you supposedly didn't order.”
Victoria’s voice hardened.
“Give me the keys.”
“No.”
A gunshot echoed.
William Crowe collapsed.
Grace screamed.
Sophia stared at Victoria in shock.
“You said nobody else would die.”
Victoria shot Sophia next.
Daniel moved.
Marcus shouted through comms.
“WAIT!”
But Daniel was already running.
Victoria pointed the gun at Grace.
“Don't make me do this.”
Grace stared at her mother.
“You already did.”
Daniel hit Victoria from the side.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Grace grabbed it.
Victoria looked up at Daniel.
“The mechanic.”
Daniel stood between her and Grace.
“Machine technician.”
Even Grace almost laughed through her tears.
Victoria’s guards raised weapons.
Then the warehouse erupted.
Marcus's team entered.
Alexander drove a vehicle through a side door.
Police sirens screamed outside.
Within ninety seconds, Meridian’s operatives were surrounded.
Victoria remained on her knees.
Yet she smiled.
“You think this ends with me?”
Grace lowered the weapon.
“Yes.”
“No, sweetheart.”
Victoria looked toward Daniel.
“Because your new friend has something you haven't discovered yet.”
Grace frowned.
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
Victoria continued.
“Ask him why Rebecca Carter's name appears in your father’s files.”
Daniel went completely still.
“What did you say?”
Victoria smiled.
“Rebecca Carter.”
His dead wife.
“She worked for Sterling Global.”
Daniel grabbed Victoria by the collar.
“What did you do to her?”
Marcus pulled him back.
Victoria laughed.
“You thought her death was a random drunk driver?”
Daniel stopped fighting.
The world went silent.
Grace stared at him.
“No.”
May you like
Victoria’s smile widened.
“It wasn't.”
