PART 3 — THE REASON GRANT MARRIED ME
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
Grant's voice remained on the phone.
“Emma?”
I tightened my grip around the device.
“I'm listening.”
There was a long silence.
Then he whispered:
“I never wanted you to find out this way.”
I almost laughed.
“Then how did you want me to find out?”
“I don't know.”
“After our daughter was born?”
“Emma—”
“You left me outside in the rain.”
“I know.”
“You chose Vanessa.”
“I know.”
“You watched me collapse.”
His breathing became heavier.
“I made a mistake.”
“No.”
My voice was surprisingly calm.
“You made a choice.”
He said nothing.
I looked at the blue folder on my bed.
“Why did you marry me?”
Another silence.
Then:
“Because of your father.”
My blood ran cold.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
I sat up slightly.
“What does my father have to do with you?”
“Everything.”
Before he could explain, Noah took the phone from my hand.
“Grant.”
Grant immediately went silent.
“You.”
Noah's voice was cold.
“Listen carefully.”
“Whitaker, this has nothing to do with you.”
“You're wrong.”
Noah looked at me.
“Everything involving Emma has to do with me now.”
Grant cursed under his breath.
“Stay away from my wife.”
Noah's eyes narrowed.
“You stopped having the right to call her that when you left her on a sidewalk.”
He ended the call.
I stared at him.
“You shouldn't have done that.”
“He wasn't going to tell you the truth.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.”
“How?”
Noah placed the phone on the table.
“Because I know Grant.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
He didn't answer.
That silence told me more than words could.
* * *
My daughter was brought to me forty minutes later.
She was tiny.
So tiny that I was afraid to touch her.
The nurse carefully placed her beside me.
I looked down.
Her eyes were closed.
Her little hand curled around my finger.
I cried immediately.
“Hi, baby.”
Her fingers moved.
I smiled.
“Mommy's here.”
Noah stood several feet away.
He watched silently.
Then his phone rang.
He stepped into the hallway.
I heard only fragments.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Not yet.”
“Keep him alive.”
My head lifted.
Noah turned.
Our eyes met.
He ended the call.
“Who was that?”
“Work.”
“At five in the morning?”
“Yes.”
“You're not a normal businessman, are you?”
His expression didn't change.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I knew it.”
He came back into the room.
“Emma…”
“You're the man Grant was afraid of.”
“Yes.”
“The mafia boss.”
He didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“Should I be afraid of you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I've never hurt an innocent person.”
I looked down at my daughter.
“Are you saying Grant isn't innocent?”
“No.”
“What did he do?”
Noah's jaw tightened.
“He made a deal with people who should never have been trusted.”
“With you?”
“With my enemies.”
* * *
Later that morning, the hospital room became strangely quiet.
My daughter slept.
I sat beside her incubator.
Noah stood near the window.
“You said my father was involved.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Ten years ago.”
I frowned.
“That was before I met Grant.”
“Yes.”
“What did my father do?”
Noah turned toward me.
“He worked in international shipping.”
I stared at him.
“That sounds ordinary.”
“It wasn't.”
“Why?”
“He discovered something.”
“What?”
“Money laundering.”
I felt a chill.
“Through the port?”
Noah nodded.
“Millions of dollars.”
“And you were involved?”
“No.”
“Then why do you care?”
“Because the money belonged to people who eventually tried to kill my family.”
I looked at him.
“Your family?”
“My older brother.”
“What happened?”
“He was killed.”
I lowered my eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
Noah's expression softened.
“My father disappeared six months later.”
“And you?”
“I inherited everything.”
“Your business?”
“And the war.”
I looked at him.
“What war?”
He stared through the window.
“The one Grant just stepped into.”
* * *
At noon, my lawyer arrived.
I hadn't called him.
That frightened me.
“Mrs. Carter?”
“Yes?”
“My name is Daniel Brooks.”
He placed a folder on the table.
“Your husband asked me to deliver this.”
I looked at Noah.
He didn't move.
I opened the folder.
Inside was our marriage agreement.
But there was something I had never seen before.
An additional document.
A financial clause.
My signature was at the bottom.
Except I had never signed it.
I stared at the page.
“This isn't my signature.”
Daniel nodded.
“I know.”
“What is this?”
“A transfer agreement.”
“Transfer of what?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“Your father's remaining assets.”
I stopped breathing.
“My father had assets?”
“Considerable ones.”
“How considerable?”
Daniel glanced at Noah.
“Approximately seventy million dollars.”
My mouth fell open.
“What?”
Daniel continued.
“Your father disappeared before the assets could be transferred.”
I looked at Noah.
“Then why is Grant involved?”
Daniel answered:
“Because after your marriage, your husband became the legal beneficiary.”
My heart broke.
“So that's why…”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
The nursery.
The excuses.
The cheap furniture.
The nights he told me money was tight.
The Maserati.
Vanessa.
All of it suddenly made sense.
He hadn't married me because he loved me.
He married me because of what my father left behind.
* * *
Daniel pulled out another document.
“There is more.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“The assets were never transferred to Grant.”
“Why?”
“Because someone blocked the transaction.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked toward Noah.
Noah said nothing.
I stared at him.
“You?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father asked me to.”
I froze.
“My father knew you?”
“He trusted me.”
“When?”
“Three weeks before he disappeared.”
My heart raced.
“What did he tell you?”
Noah walked toward the bed.
“He told me that someone close to you would eventually try to use you.”
“Grant.”
“Yes.”
“And he asked you to protect me?”
Noah nodded.
“Then why didn't you?”
His eyes darkened.
“I thought you were already safe.”
I looked at him.
“Because I married Grant.”
“Yes.”
“And you thought he loved me.”
“Yes.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So everyone thought I was safe.”
Noah's expression hardened.
“Until tonight.”
* * *
A loud knock came from the hallway.
Two security guards entered.
“Mr. Whitaker.”
Noah turned.
“What?”
“There's a problem.”
“What kind?”
“Grant Carter is downstairs.”
My stomach tightened.
“I don't want to see him.”
The guard nodded.
“He isn't alone.”
Noah's eyes narrowed.
“Who is with him?”
The guard hesitated.
“Three men.”
Noah's expression changed instantly.
“Lock the floor.”
The guard nodded and left.
I looked at him.
“Who are they?”
Noah walked to the door.
“People who aren't here to talk.”
My daughter began crying.
I immediately picked her up.
Noah looked at me.
“Stay behind me.”
The hallway outside erupted with shouting.
Then a gunshot cracked through the hospital.
I froze.
Noah moved instantly.
He pushed me behind the bed.
“Stay down.”
Another shot.
Then another.
My baby screamed.
I held her against my chest.
“It's okay.”
But my own voice was shaking.
Noah pulled a weapon from beneath his coat.
I stared at him.
“You carry a gun into a hospital?”
“Tonight, I'm glad I did.”
The door burst open.
A man stepped inside.
He pointed his weapon.
Noah moved faster.
One shot.
The man dropped.
I screamed.
Noah immediately turned toward me.
“Emma, look at me.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Look at me.”
I did.
“You and your daughter are safe.”
Behind him, another figure appeared.
Grant.
His face was pale.
His hands were raised.
“Emma!”
I stared at him.
He looked terrified.
“Don't shoot!”
Noah's gun remained raised.
“Why are you here?”
Grant swallowed.
“I came to warn her.”
“About what?”
Grant looked at me.
Then at my daughter.
And finally at Noah.
“They're coming for the baby.”
I held my daughter tighter.
“Who?”
Grant's eyes filled with fear.
“The people my father works for.”
I stared at him.
“Your father?”
He nodded.
Then he whispered:
“Emma…”
“My father didn't disappear.”
“He was taken.”
“By whom?”
Grant's voice broke.
“By the same people who are coming for your daughter now.”
Noah's expression became deadly serious.
“Where is her father?”
Grant looked at him.
“Alive.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
Grant took a shaky breath.
“He's been waiting for you.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
