Chapter 4 - The Secret Lily Was Hiding
Grace entered my office alone.
She knew immediately.
“You found the records.”
That sentence told me everything.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
My voice dropped.
“From the day you applied for this job?”
“Yes.”
Marco stood near the door.
Grace didn't look at him.
She looked only at me.
“My father treated you after the accident.”
“He wasn't listed.”
“He was removed.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
I rolled toward her.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
Grace's face hardened.
“I came here because my father asked me to.”
That surprised me.
“He can barely speak.”
“He can write.”
She pulled a folded page from her pocket.
Three words were written in shaky handwriting.
CALEB MARINO. WRONG.
I stared at them.
Grace continued.
“He kept your old case files. For years he believed something about your diagnosis didn't make sense.”
“Why didn't he contact me?”
“He tried.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
My jaw tightened.
“And?”
“Someone stopped him.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Who?”
Grace shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I studied her.
“Then why send you here?”
“Because three months ago Dad saw you on television.”
She swallowed.
“He started crying.”
Grace put another piece of paper on the desk.
HE SHOULD HAVE WALKED.
The words hit harder than I expected.
“Why Lily?”
“She wasn't supposed to meet you.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Grace almost laughed.
“Do you seriously think I deliberately sent my eight-year-old daughter into the private room of Caleb Marino?”
Fair point.
“She overheard me talking to Dad.”
“And decided to fix me?”
“That's Lily.”
The office door suddenly opened.
Lily stood there.
Ethan behind her.
“Mom?”
Grace turned.
“You're supposed to be downstairs.”
Lily looked at me.
“Are you mad?”
“Yes.”
“At Mom?”
“Yes.”
She entered.
“Don't be.”
“Lily—”
“My grandpa said you were stuck.”
I looked at her.
“What else did he say?”
She walked toward me.
“That everybody kept telling you the wrong thing.”
“What wrong thing?”
“That you couldn't.”
Silence.
Lily crouched in front of my chair.
“So I thought maybe somebody should tell you that you could.”
Simple.
Childish.
And somehow devastating.
Marco's phone rang.
He stepped outside.
Thirty seconds later he returned looking grim.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We identified the physician who removed Bennett's consultation.”
He handed me a name.
Dr. Victor Hale.
I remembered him.
My family's private physician.
The man who had managed my treatment immediately after Audrey's death.
“Why would Hale bury a positive prognosis?”
Marco hesitated.
“There's more.”
“Say it.”
“He had financial connections to people who benefited when you withdrew from daily operations after the accident.”
Grace whispered, “Someone wanted you in that chair.”
I looked down at my legs.
For eight years, I'd thought the accident had taken my life.
Now I wondered whether someone had simply convinced me not to fight for it.
I looked at Nathan.
“Find Hale.”
Then I turned toward Lily.
“And you.”
She straightened.
“What?”
“No more breaking into forbidden rooms.”
“Okay.”
“No more secretly treating patients.”
“Okay.”
“And no more calling me Statue Man.”
She thought about it.
“No.”
May you like
Grace closed her eyes.
For the first time in eight years, I didn't care.
