Chapter 8: Grace Makes the Call
Three weeks later, Grace Alderton called Ethan at eight-fifteen on a Thursday morning.
He was in the hospital car park.
He had been there every day for three weeks — sometimes for two hours, sometimes for six.
The nurses on the ward knew his name.
The woman at the coffee cart near the entrance had started making his order when she saw him coming.
"They executed the warrant this morning," Grace said.
"Victoria's attorney is already asking for a continuance."
"Did they get the documents?"
"Everything.
Her home office, her assistant's files, the accounting records going back fourteen years." A pause.
"Ethan, there are more payments.
Not just to Olivia.
There are two other names."
He went still.
"What?"
"We don't have the full picture yet.
But it looks like Olivia wasn't the first person Victoria paid to disappear from your life.
There's a business partner from early in your career — a man named Theo Marsh — and a woman named Carla Simms who was apparently a close friend of yours in your mid-twenties." Grace's voice was careful.
"We're still pulling records.
But it looks like Victoria has been managing your relationships for a very long time."
Ethan stood in the car park and looked at the hospital entrance.
"How long has she known you?" Grace asked.
"Since I was twenty-two," he said.
"Then we may be looking at close to twenty years of this."
He didn't say anything.
"Ethan.
Are you all right?"
"Tell me when she's formally charged," he said.
"I will," Grace said.
"It's done."
He put the phone in his pocket and stood there for a moment in the cold morning air.
Twenty years.
He thought about Theo Marsh, who had sent him one letter after their partnership dissolved and never contacted him again.
He thought about Carla Simms, who had simply stopped returning calls one winter and whom he had eventually stopped calling.
He had thought those were just the natural losses of a busy life.
He went inside.
Lucy was already in the room when he arrived — she had started coming on her own in the mornings, taking the bus from the house where she was staying with a neighbor of Olivia's who had offered a spare room without being asked.
She looked up when Ethan came in.
"You look like something happened," she said.
"Something did." He sat down.
Olivia was watching him from the bed.
"Grace called.
They executed the warrant this morning.
Victoria has been formally charged."
Olivia closed her eyes briefly.
When she opened them, she looked steadier.
"What are the charges?"
"Fraud.
Forgery.
Coercion.
There may be more." He paused.
"There were other people.
Not just you.
She's been doing this for a long time."
Lucy put her book down.
"Other people she paid to disappear?"
"Yes."
A silence.
"So we weren't special," Lucy said.
Then, catching herself: "That came out wrong.
I meant—"
"I know what you meant," Ethan said.
"And no.
You weren't the only ones.
Which makes it worse in one way and in another way—" He stopped.
"Makes it less about us," Olivia finished.
"Less personal."
"Yes."
Olivia considered this.
"I think I prefer that, actually.
The idea that she did it to me specifically — that she looked at me and decided I was worth destroying — that's a harder thing to carry."
"She looked at everyone who got close to me and decided they were a threat," Ethan said.
"It says everything about her and nothing about any of you."
Lucy picked her book back up.
She didn't open it.
"What happens to her now?"
"Her attorney will try to delay.
They'll negotiate.
It may take months." He looked at Olivia.
"Grace thinks the civil case is strong.
For you and for Lucy."
"I told you I don't want—"
"Lucy's education," he said quietly.
"Whatever she needs.
Whatever comes next for you medically.
You shouldn't have to fight for any of it."
Olivia looked at her daughter.
Lucy was very carefully not looking at either of them.
"We can talk about it," Olivia said finally.
That was enough for now.
A doctor came in at ten — not Olivia's usual physician but a specialist, a calm woman named Dr.
Reeves who had the manner of someone who delivered difficult information with great care and great honesty.
She pulled the curtain partially, which was a signal Ethan recognized.
He stood.
"I'll wait outside."
"Stay," Olivia said.
He looked at her.
"Please," she said.
"Stay."
He sat back down.
Dr.
Reeves delivered the news in plain language.
The latest scans.
The treatment options.
The timeline, which was not as short as they had feared three weeks ago and not as long as they hoped.
There was a new protocol — not a cure, but a meaningful extension.
Quality of life.
Time.
Lucy reached across the bed and took her mother's hand.
Ethan reached across from the other side.
Olivia looked down at both hands holding hers.
She didn't say anything for a moment.
May you like
Then she said, "All right.
Let's do it."
