Chapter 6: Grace Holloway's Office
Grace Holloway's office was on the fourth floor of a building downtown, modest from the outside, precise on the inside.
No clutter.
A single framed print on the wall — a woman standing at the edge of something, facing away.
She was younger than I expected.
Early forties, maybe.
Dark suit.
She shook my hand and looked at me the way doctors sometimes do — not with pity, with assessment.
"Sit down," she said.
"Let's go through the folder."
We went through it page by page.
The bank statements were the clearest part.
Ethan had been making transfers from the trust account — my father's trust, set up in my name with Ethan added as co-signatory eighteen months before the wedding — into a holding company registered in Delaware.
The company's name was a string of letters that meant nothing.
But the signature on the registration documents was Ethan's.
"He set this up before you were even engaged," Grace said.
"How is that possible?
The trust was mine before I met him."
"He was added as co-signatory fourteen months into your relationship.
Before the engagement was announced." She turned a page.
"Did you add him, or did he ask to be added?"
I thought back.
"He said it would simplify things.
That if anything ever happened to me, he'd be able to manage things without going through probate.
It sounded reasonable."
"It was designed to sound reasonable." She set the page down.
"The total moved so far is approximately two hundred and forty thousand dollars."
The number sat in the room.
"Can we get it back?" I asked.
"Most of it.
The Delaware company hasn't dissolved the holdings yet.
That's his mistake — he moved too fast and didn't clean up properly.
My guess is he planned to finalize everything after the honeymoon, when you'd be out of the country and less likely to notice immediate activity."
"He had a timeline."
"He had a plan," Grace said.
"The wedding was the deadline.
Once you were legally married, certain protections you currently have would have shifted.
He needed the ceremony to happen."
I thought about him at the altar.
The way he'd smiled at me when I came down the aisle.
How certain it had looked.
"Renata," I said.
"She knew about the money?"
"She suspected.
She'd been trying to get child support established through the courts for two years.
Every time she got close, a procedural filing would push the hearing back.
She started looking at who was filing them and found the same attorney, over and over.
She hired a financial investigator.
That's where page three came from."
"She did all of that for Daniel."
"She did all of that for Daniel," Grace confirmed.
I looked at the print on the wall.
The woman at the edge.
"What does Ethan do now?" I asked.
"He has two options.
He cooperates — returns the funds, acknowledges paternity, settles quietly.
Or he fights, which means discovery, which means everything comes out in court documents that become public record." Grace folded her hands on the desk.
"I've sent a letter to his attorney this morning outlining what we have.
We'll see which option he chooses."
My phone buzzed on the table between us.
Ethan's name on the screen.
Grace looked at it.
"You don't have to answer."
"I know." I watched it ring.
"But I want to hear what he says."
She nodded once.
I picked up.
"Claire." His voice was careful.
Measured.
The voice he used when he was deciding how much to give away.
"I think we should meet.
Just the two of us.
Before this goes any further."
"My attorney has already contacted yours," I said.
A pause.
"I know.
That's why I'm calling.
Claire, listen to me.
Renata has an agenda.
She's been trying to get money out of me for years.
Whatever she told you, whatever's in that folder—"
"The bank statements have your signature, Ethan."
Silence.
"We can work through this," he said.
"We just got married.
We can still—"
"Grace Holloway is expecting your attorney's response by end of business today," I said.
"I'd suggest he call her."
I ended the call.
Grace picked up her pen.
May you like
"Good," she said simply.
"Now let's talk about the annulment."
