Chapter 7: Before the Door Opens
Daniel's paralegal, a sharp young woman named Keisha, reached Grace's building in nineteen minutes.
Nathan arrived four minutes after that.
The two men with the envelope were still outside.
They were process servers — official, not threatening — but the timing had been deliberate.
Eleven-forty at night.
A single mother with a four-year-old.
The message was clear: *we can reach you anywhere, anytime.*
Keisha met them at the building entrance.
"Ms.
Grace Chen?"
"That's me," Grace said through the intercom.
"I'm with Daniel Marsh's office.
Do not open your door until I'm in the hallway with you."
The process servers served the summons to Keisha in the lobby as Nathan's legal representative.
Keisha signed the receipt, folded the envelope, and handed it to Nathan when he arrived.
He read it in the elevator.
The complaint was detailed.
Twelve pages.
The fabricated records were thorough — employment fraud, false references, misappropriation of household funds from a previous employer.
Each item was dated, sourced, and cross-referenced.
Someone had spent years building this file.
It had not been assembled in a hurry.
Grace opened her apartment door before he could knock.
She had Lily on her hip, the child's eyes heavy with sleep, the stuffed rabbit dangling from one small fist.
"How bad?" Grace asked.
"Detailed," Nathan said.
"But Ellery prepared the original documentation.
He knows exactly how it was constructed.
That's our advantage." He stepped inside.
The apartment was small and very clean.
A child's drawings were taped to the refrigerator.
A single shelf of books above the sofa.
Everything in its place.
"Grace, tomorrow morning we go to Meridian Bank the moment they open.
We retrieve what's in that box.
Then we go directly to Daniel's office."
"And tonight?"
"Tonight, Keisha stays in the building.
I'll be downstairs." He looked at her.
"You're not alone in this.
I need you to believe that."
Grace looked at him for a long moment.
Lily had fallen back asleep against her shoulder.
"Why?" Grace asked.
"You didn't know about her yesterday.
You could walk away from all of this.
The merger, the wedding — everything stays intact if you just—"
"She called me Daddy," Nathan said.
"Before she knew anything.
Before I knew anything." He looked at Lily's sleeping face.
"That's not something I can unknow."
Grace's breath caught.
She looked away, toward the window, and he could see her working to hold herself together — not out of weakness but out of the habit of a woman who had learned that falling apart was a luxury she couldn't afford.
"My shoulder hurts," she said quietly.
It was such a small, honest thing to say after everything that it almost undid him.
"I know.
Keisha has a first aid kit.
We'll look at it properly tonight." He paused.
"And tomorrow, after the bank, we're going to a doctor.
No arguments."
Grace almost smiled.
"You sound like you've been practicing being a father."
"I have four years of catching up to do," he said.
"I intend to start immediately."
Lily stirred.
Her eyes opened halfway, found Nathan, and closed again.
Her small hand reached out blindly and found the lapel of his jacket.
She held on.
Nathan stood very still and let her.
Downstairs, a car idled at the curb.
It had been there since Nathan arrived.
He had noticed it.
Keisha had noticed it.
Neither of them had said anything in front of Grace.
The car belonged to Richard Hargrove.
Victoria's father was not a man who sent lawyers when he could come himself.
And he had not come to negotiate.
Nathan's phone buzzed.
May you like
Keisha, from the lobby.
*He's getting out of the car.*
