CHAPTER 5 – THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
CHAPTER 5 – THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Grace didn't wait for sunset.
She spent the entire afternoon pretending to knead bread while her mind raced through every terrifying possibility.
Every few minutes she looked out the kitchen window toward the old chapel beyond the lake.
If this was a trap...
She was walking into it willingly.
But if Lily was there—
Nothing could stop her.
As darkness settled over the Whitmore estate, Grace slipped quietly through the servants' entrance.
She wore a dark coat borrowed from Mrs. Bell and carried only a small flashlight.
The old chapel stood nearly half a mile from the mansion, hidden behind towering oak trees.
Its stained-glass windows had long since shattered.
The wooden doors hung crooked on rusted hinges.
The place looked abandoned.
Until she heard a child's laughter.
"Lily!"
Grace rushed inside.
Her daughter was sitting on the front pew, happily coloring in a notebook as though nothing had happened.
"MOMMY!"
Lily ran into her mother's arms.
Grace dropped to her knees, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
"I thought I'd lost you."
"I knew you'd come."
Grace kissed her forehead over and over.
"Did anyone hurt you?"
Lily shook her head.
"The nice man gave me hot chocolate."
Grace slowly stood.
"The nice man?"
A voice echoed from the shadows.
"I've been called much worse."
An older man stepped into the moonlight.
Around sixty years old.
Tall.
Silver streaks in dark hair.
A scar crossed his left cheek.
His clothes were simple, but his posture carried quiet authority.
Grace immediately knew.
"Michael..."
He nodded once.
"My father still remembers me."
Grace instinctively pulled Lily behind her.
"You kidnapped my daughter."
Michael sighed.
"If I wanted to kidnap her, you would never have found this place."
"Then why bring her here?"
"Because someone inside that mansion planned to use her."
Grace's heart pounded.
"What do you mean?"
Michael looked directly into her eyes.
"Tell me something."
"When Daniel met Lily yesterday..."
"...did he ask about her drawing?"
Grace froze.
"How did you know that?"
"Because Daniel has always feared children."
Grace frowned.
"Why?"
"They notice what adults ignore."
Michael reached into his coat.
He removed an old photograph.
It showed two boys.
Daniel.
Michael.
Standing beside a smiling woman.
Grace looked closer.
"That's Eleanor."
"My mother."
Michael's voice trembled.
"She didn't die of illness."
Grace stared at him.
"What?"
"She was murdered."
The words hung in the cold air.
"No..."
"My father never believed it."
"But you do."
"I know it."
"Who?"
Michael answered without hesitation.
"Daniel."
Grace felt physically sick.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
Michael handed her another photograph.
It showed Eleanor lying beside a staircase.
Officially...
An accidental fall.
But enlarged in the corner of the image...
A hand.
Someone pushing.
Only part of the sleeve was visible.
A custom cufflink.
The Whitmore family crest.
"My mother discovered Daniel had been stealing from the company."
Grace whispered,
"How old was he?"
"Nineteen."
"And your father?"
"He buried himself in work."
Michael closed his eyes.
"When I confronted Daniel..."
"...I disappeared."
Grace looked toward Lily.
The little girl was quietly drawing again.
"What are you making, sweetheart?"
Lily held up the picture.
Three people.
Grace.
Lily.
Michael.
Behind them...
A man hiding in the trees.
She hadn't drawn his face.
Only his eyes.
"They're watching us," Lily whispered.
Michael turned instantly.
Too late.
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
Then another.
Then six more.
"DOWN!"
Gunfire shattered the chapel windows.
Glass exploded everywhere.
Michael tackled Grace and Lily behind the altar.
Bullets tore through ancient wooden pews.
Outside—
Black SUVs surrounded the chapel.
Grace recognized them immediately.
Whitmore Security.
One voice echoed through a loudspeaker.
"Michael Whitmore!"
"You are surrounded!"
"Surrender peacefully!"
Michael laughed bitterly.
"They're not here to arrest me."
Grace looked at him.
"They're here to kill you."
He nodded.
"As they've tried for thirty years."
Then another voice replaced the first.
One Grace instantly recognized.
Daniel.
"You always did ruin family gatherings."
Michael's expression turned cold.
"So did you."
Daniel smiled through the loudspeaker.
"Give me the child..."
"...and I'll let the woman live."
Grace wrapped both arms around Lily.
"No."
Daniel chuckled.
"That wasn't a request."
The first explosion shook the chapel.
Someone had blown open the side wall.
May you like
Michael whispered—
"The game has finally begun."
