Chapter 5 - Margaret's SecretNathan spent the next morning reconstructing the history of a bridge he had tried to forget.
It was her aunt's empty farmhouse ninety miles outside the city.
“No electronics except this phone,” Rachel told them after arriving near midnight. “No calls to family. No staff. No drivers. Nobody.”
Nathan glanced at the faded wallpaper.
“You hid the CEO of Whittaker Construction in a farmhouse?”
Rachel folded her arms.
“You're welcome.”
Grace almost smiled.
Rachel's eyes softened when she looked at her.
“I was at your memorial service.”
Grace looked down.
Nathan had held a private memorial six months after her disappearance when police told him statistically the chances of finding her alive were becoming small.
He had hated every second.
He had never declared her dead.
But Margaret insisted the family needed closure.
Nathan had stood before two hundred guests and refused to use the past tense.
Now Grace sat three feet away.
Alive.
Pregnant.
Rachel examined the photograph from Grace's locker.
“Whoever did this knew she worked at the hotel.”
“They may have known for months,” Grace said.
Nathan looked at her.
“Why would they leave you alive?”
The question sounded cruel.
Grace knew he did not mean it that way.
“I wondered too.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“Maybe because they couldn't find her.”
“But they delivered photographs.”
“Which means they could locate her temporarily. Not necessarily track her continuously.”
Nathan paced.
“Malcolm Reed.”
Rachel searched her memory.
“Your father's old partner?”
“Yes.”
“I thought he died.”
“So did I.”
Grace placed both hands on her stomach.
“Who was he?”
Nathan stopped pacing.
“My father and Malcolm started Whittaker & Reed Construction when they were twenty-six. Reed handled financing. Dad handled projects. They built the company together.”
“What happened?”
“Fraud investigation. Reed was accused of stealing millions. Dad bought him out. A year later Reed supposedly died in a boating accident overseas.”
Rachel said, “Supposedly.”
Nathan nodded.
“My father never discussed him.”
Grace looked toward the dark farmhouse window.
“And now he's sitting with your mother and brother.”
Nathan's face tightened.
“I need to speak to Colin.”
“No,” Grace and Rachel said simultaneously.
Nathan stared at them.
Rachel shook her head.
“You don't confront suspects before you know what they know.”
“He's my brother.”
“That makes you emotionally compromised.”
Grace gave Nathan a pointed look.
Rachel noticed.
“You're both emotionally compromised.”
Despite everything, Grace laughed weakly.
Nathan looked at her.
It was the first time he had heard her laugh in eight months.
It hurt more than he expected.
Later, Rachel took the sofa.
Nathan and Grace were left with one bedroom.
The bed looked impossibly small.
Grace stood near the window.
Nathan remained by the door.
“I'm not going to touch you.”
She turned.
“I know.”
“I mean—unless you want…”
“I know.”
Silence.
Nathan lowered his eyes.
“Did you think I stopped looking?”
Grace's face crumpled.
“No.”
“I called your phone for three months even though it was disconnected.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“I checked your public appearances. News.”
“You watched me?”
“Sometimes.”
Nathan swallowed.
“Then you saw what this did to me.”
Grace's eyes filled.
“I saw.”
“And you still didn't call.”
The words came sharper than he intended.
Grace flinched.
Nathan immediately regretted them.
“I thought they would kill you.”
“You don't know that.”
“No. I don't.”
Her voice broke.
“I only knew someone fired into our house after threatening your life.”
She lifted both hands helplessly.
“I was pregnant, terrified, and completely alone. I made the decision I thought would keep you alive.”
Nathan looked at her stomach.
“Alone.”
“Yes.”
“You went to appointments alone?”
“When I could afford them.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“Grace.”
“I slept in bus stations twice. I worked in a diner until I started showing. Then the owner got uncomfortable. I cleaned offices. I took hotel work.”
Nathan turned away because he could not let her see his face.
“I should've protected you.”
Grace stared.
“You didn't know.”
“I should've known something was wrong.”
“You thought I vanished.”
“I knew you wouldn't leave me.”
Grace's lips trembled.
Nathan turned back.
“I never believed you left willingly.”
That broke her.
Grace began crying.
Nathan crossed the room before he could stop himself.
He held her.
For a second her body stiffened.
Then she collapsed against him.
Eight months disappeared.
His hand moved instinctively to the back of her head.
“I missed you.”
Grace sobbed into his shirt.
“I missed you too.”
Then something moved between them.
Nathan froze.
Grace laughed through tears.
“The baby.”
Nathan looked down.
Her stomach shifted.
He slowly placed his palm against it.
Another kick.
Nathan's breath caught.
He had built towers.
Signed contracts worth billions.
He had stood on platforms above skylines and watched structures rise from nothing.
None of it prepared him for the movement beneath his hand.
“My child.”
Grace nodded.
Nathan knelt.
He pressed his forehead gently against her stomach.
Grace closed her eyes.
Then Nathan whispered, “Hi.”
The baby kicked again.
Nathan laughed.
Grace covered her mouth.
For one fragile moment, none of the danger existed.
Then Rachel knocked hard.
“Nathan.”
He stood.
Rachel entered holding the secure phone.
“Victor called.”
“What happened?”
“He's alive.”
Nathan exhaled.
Rachel continued.
“But someone found Evelyn Park.”
Grace went still.
“Where?”
“Connecticut.”
“Is she alive?”
Rachel hesitated.
“Yes.”
Grace closed her eyes in relief.
“But barely.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“What happened?”
“Car crash.”
Grace's face drained.
Nathan understood immediately.
His father's death had also been a car crash.
Rachel said, “Before losing consciousness, Evelyn told police one thing.”
“What?”
Rachel looked at Nathan.
“She said, ‘Ask Margaret about the bridge.’”
Nathan frowned.
Grace whispered, “What bridge?”
Nathan did not answer.
He was remembering an event from fifteen years earlier.
A bridge collapse in Pennsylvania.
Seven construction workers killed.
The first major disaster in Whittaker company history.
His father had nearly lost everything.
And Margaret had been the person who saved the company financially.
May you like
At least, that was the story Nathan had always been told.
Now he wondered what saving the company had actually cost.
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