[CHAPTER 2]
I took Eli into a private room before the applause had even ended.
Emma came with us.
She refused to release his hand.
My mother, Margaret, tried to follow.
I stopped her at the door.
“Give me ten minutes.”
“Michael, half the board is asking questions.”
“I don’t care.”
Her expression hardened.
“You will tomorrow.”
“Then I’ll care tomorrow.”
I closed the door.
For once, the Hart Foundation could survive without me.
My family might not.
Eli sat on the edge of a leather chair as though he expected someone to throw him out of it.
Emma sat beside him.
I crouched in front of them.
“You said Grace gave you a key.”
He nodded.
“Where is it?”
Eli hesitated.
That hesitation frightened me more than any answer could have.
“I don’t carry it anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody tried to take it.”
Emma stiffened.
I lowered my voice.
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
My pulse quickened.
“You’ve been looking for us for a year?”
“Longer.”
“How long?”
“Since she died.”
I stared at him.
Three years.
A child had spent three years trying to keep a promise to my wife.
Shame hit me.
“Why didn’t you come to the house?”
“I did.”
I went still.
Eli looked at the floor.
“Twice.”
“When?”
“The first time was almost two years ago.”
“What happened?”
“The guard said I had to leave.”
Our estate had private security.
Anyone appearing at the front gate without identification would be turned away.
Especially a homeless child.
The thought made me sick.
“The second time?”
Eli rubbed his palms against his knees.
“A man came outside.”
“What man?”
“He was wearing a suit.”
“That describes everybody who comes to my house.”
“He had a ring.”
My heartbeat changed.
“What kind?”
“Gold. Black stone. Something shaped like a bird.”
I knew that ring.
My brother Nathan wore it almost every day.
It had belonged to our grandfather.
I sat back.
Emma noticed.
“Daddy?”
“I’m okay.”
I wasn’t.
“What did the man say?” I asked.
Eli looked at Emma.
I understood.
“Emma, sweetheart, maybe—”
“No.”
Her answer came immediately.
“This is about Mommy.”
She had never spoken with that kind of certainty before.
I nodded.
“Okay.”
Eli continued.
“He asked what I wanted. I showed him the picture.”
My stomach dropped.
“You showed him Grace’s photograph?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He took me away from the gate so the guards couldn’t hear.”
Every muscle in my body tightened.
“He asked if Grace gave me anything else.”
“What did you say?”
“I lied.”
For the first time, pride almost overcame the fear in my chest.
“I said no.”
Emma whispered, “Good.”
Eli managed a tiny smile.
“Then he gave me money.”
“How much?”
“Five hundred dollars.”
“To do what?”
“Forget your family.”
Silence filled the room.
I stood.
I suddenly needed distance because the anger rising through me felt physical.
Nathan.
My older brother.
My business partner.
The man who had held me upright at Grace’s funeral.
The man who had carried Emma to the car when she couldn’t stop crying.
I forced myself not to jump to conclusions.
“A ring isn’t proof,” I muttered.
Eli looked confused.
I turned back.
“Where’s the key?”
“At a church.”
Emma blinked.
“A church?”
“There’s a shelter behind St. Mark’s. One of the volunteers has lockers for kids who don’t want things stolen.”
“You left it there?”
“I hid it inside an old shoe first. Then a boy took the shoe.”
Emma stared.
“What did you do?”
“I got it back.”
“How?”
“I traded my coat.”
My daughter’s face crumpled.
“You were cold.”
“It was spring.”
“That doesn’t mean you weren’t cold.”
Eli looked at her as though no one had ever worried whether he was cold before.
I looked away.
Grace would have noticed too.
Of course she would.
“When can we get the key?”
“Tonight.”
I checked my watch.
Nearly ten.
“We’ll go.”
Eli’s eyes widened.
“Now?”
“Now.”
The door opened before I reached it.
Nathan walked in.
He was forty-three, impeccably dressed, calm in the way people become calm when they are used to controlling every room.
Then he saw Eli.
Something flickered across his face.
It disappeared almost instantly.
But I saw it.
Eli did too.
His fingers tightened around Emma’s.
Nathan looked at me.
“The entire gala is stalled.”
“Then restart it.”
“Mother said you locked yourself in here with some boy.”
“His name is Eli.”
Nathan glanced at the photograph on the table.
His color changed.
Barely.
But enough.
I stepped between him and the children.
“You know him?”
Nathan frowned.
“Should I?”
Eli lowered his eyes.
I saw fear.
That was enough to make every nerve in my body burn.
“Apparently someone wearing Grandfather’s ring met Eli outside my gate.”
Nathan glanced at his hand.
The ring was there.
He slowly curled his fingers.
“That’s quite an accusation.”
“I didn’t accuse you.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Emma stood.
“Uncle Nathan, did you tell him to go away?”
His expression softened immediately.
“Of course not, princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Nathan looked genuinely surprised.
Emma had always adored him.
She moved closer to Eli.
“My mommy asked him to find me.”
Nathan stared at her for several seconds.
Then he looked at me.
“We should talk privately.”
“No.”
“Michael.”
“No more private conversations tonight.”
His jaw tightened.
I picked up Grace’s photograph.
“We’re leaving.”
“Where?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“There are donors downstairs. Reporters outside. You cannot disappear in the middle of your own gala because some street kid told you a story.”
The insult landed like a slap.
Emma gasped.
Eli immediately released her hand.
“I should go.”
“No.”
My voice cracked through the room.
Eli froze.
I pointed at Nathan.
“You will never speak about him like that again.”
Nathan stared at me.
I had never spoken to him that way.
Neither had anyone else in our family.
Emma reached for Eli again.
Nathan saw it.
Something cold entered his face.
Then he smiled.
Too quickly.
“Fine.”
He walked to the door.
“Go chase whatever mystery Grace left behind.”
His hand touched the handle.
“But be careful, Michael.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“Why?”
Nathan looked back.
“Sometimes dead people leave things buried because they should stay buried.”
The door closed.
No one spoke.
Then Eli whispered, “That was him.”
My skin went cold.
“You’re sure?”
He nodded.
“The ring.”
He swallowed.
“And the voice.”
Emma looked up at me.
“Daddy, are we still going?”
I grabbed my coat.
“Yes.”
I called my driver and canceled him.
Then I called a detective I trusted.
After that, I took my daughter and the boy my dead wife had sent to us, and I drove toward St. Mark’s Church.
Halfway there, headlights appeared behind us.
A black sedan.
May you like
It stayed three cars back.
Every turn I made, it followed.
