Chapter 6: Before Ten O'Clock
Nathan didn't sleep.
He sat at the kitchen table with his attorney until past two in the morning, working through documents.
Grace fell asleep on the sofa with Lily curled against her.
At some point Nathan got up, found a blanket in the hall closet, and covered them both.
He stood there for a moment looking at his daughter's face.
She slept the way small children sleep — completely, without reservation, one fist tucked under her chin.
She had his nose.
He hadn't let himself notice that earlier.
He noticed it now.
He went back to the table.
At three in the morning, his attorney looked up from his laptop.
"I've found something in the co-authority provisions," he said.
"The clause Margaret used to authorize the kjdnapping filing — it requires dual sign-off.
Both co-authority parties."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning Victoria's father signed it too.
His signature is on the filing documents.
He's not a peripheral figure in this.
He's a named party."
Nathan leaned over and looked at the screen.
"Can we use that?"
"It significantly expands our exposure targets.
Yes."
At six in the morning, Harlan left.
He shook Nathan's hand at the door and held it for a moment longer than necessary.
"Your father wasn't a bad man," Harlan said.
"He made a terrible decision when he was afraid.
And then he spent years trying to figure out how to undo it." He let go of Nathan's hand.
"I should have helped him sooner.
I'm sorry."
Nathan nodded once.
"Be here at nine-thirty," he said.
"I want you in the room when Margaret arrives."
Harlan's eyebrows rose slightly.
"She won't expect that."
"No," Nathan said.
"She won't."
Grace was awake when Nathan came back inside.
She was standing at the kitchen counter with two cups of coffee, and she held one out to him without speaking.
He took it.
They stood there for a moment in the early morning quiet.
"I need to ask you something," Grace said.
"Ask."
"When this is over — when the legal situation is resolved — what happens?" She looked at her coffee.
"I'm not asking about us.
I'm asking about Lily.
I need to know she's safe.
I need to know you're not going to disappear again."
"I didn't disappear the first time."
"I know.
I know that now." She looked up.
"That's why I'm asking."
Nathan set his cup down.
"I lost five years," he said.
"I'm not losing another day."
Grace nodded.
She looked back at her coffee.
"She's going to want to know everything about you," Grace said.
"She already does.
She's been asking me questions about her daddy since she was three.
I made things up.
Good things.
I told her you were kind." She paused.
"I was right about that, at least."
Nathan didn't answer immediately.
"What did you tell her I did?" he asked.
"I told her you built things.
That you made sure people had jobs." Grace almost smiled.
"She told the other children at her nursery that her daddy built the whole city."
Nathan looked through the doorway at the sofa where Lily was still sleeping.
"I'll try to deserve that," he said.
At nine-fifteen, his attorney arrived with a second lawyer — a family law specialist named Dr.
Osei, who had reviewed the kjdnapping filing overnight and had already prepared a counter-motion.
At nine-twenty, Harlan arrived.
At nine-forty, Grace took Lily upstairs.
At nine fifty-eight, a car pulled into the driveway.
Nathan's attorney set his phone on the table, face-up, recording application open.
Nathan straightened his jacket.
The doorbell rang.
He opened the door.
Margaret Voss stood on the step in a charcoal coat, carrying a leather portfolio.
She was sixty-four, silver-haired, composed in the way that comes from decades of being the most prepared person in any room.
She looked past Nathan into the hallway.
Saw Harlan.
Saw the two attorneys.
Her expression didn't change.
But her hand tightened on the portfolio.
"Nathan," she said pleasantly.
"This looks like more than an estate matter."
May you like
"Come in, Margaret," Nathan said.
"There's something I'd like you to hear."
