Chapter 15 - A Mother's Voice
Clara's voice sounded older than the recording, rough around the edges, but she remembered a secret that no stranger could have guessed: when Grace was five, she tried to feed popcorn to the moon because Daniel told her it was hungry.
Grace sat on the curb outside the hospital and cried so hard she could barely talk. “Where are you?”
“In a house by the water. They move me every few weeks.” Clara paused to cough. “Richard thinks keeping me alive keeps him safe. I know everything.”
“Why call now?”
“Because I saw the video of your fall. I knew my little girl had come back to the fight.”
Grace wiped her face. “Tell me where you are. I'll get you out.”
“There's a lighthouse. White with a black band. A ferry horn at six.” Static hissed. “And Grace, if you find the ledger, don't give it to Vincent until he tells you what happened on May seventeenth.”
The call died.
Vincent stood a few feet away, giving her space. Grace looked up. “What happened May seventeenth?”
His face changed. “That was the day my father died.”
“What else?”
“It's the day I took over the organization.”
“And?”
He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “I signed papers settling old claims against the estate. I didn't read every file. Harold told me they were routine.”
Grace stared at him. “What did you sign away?”
Vincent called his current attorney and demanded every document from that date. An hour later, the answer arrived: one agreement had transferred custody of a protected witness from Salvatore's private security company to Whitmore Trust. The witness's identity was sealed, but the file number matched Clara's tape.
“Your signature put my mother back in their hands,” Grace said.
“I didn't know.”
“That doesn't mean it didn't happen.”
He nodded. There was nothing to defend.
Grace almost walked away. Then Vincent handed her his phone. “Here's the federal prosecutor I contacted. My lawyer is arranging a meeting. You don't have to trust me. Take the evidence yourself.”
The prosecutor's name was Special Agent Maya Chen, assigned to a joint task force investigating unlawful adoptions. She had already issued preservation orders for Moretti property records.
May you like
Before Grace could answer, Marco received a photo message. It showed Clara seated beside a window, holding today's newspaper.
Written across the image: BRING VINCENT MORETTI TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. ALIVE.
