Chapter 3 - THE DNA CONFRONTATION
Grace didn't run.
She knew that if she ran, security guards would tackle her before she reached the front gates, and Nora would be taken into state custody. Instead, she lifted her chin, stripped away the subservient housekeeper persona she had worn for eight months, and looked Adrian Cole straight in the eye with all the fierce, protective fury of a mother cornered.
"You had no right to take her DNA," Grace said, her voice shaking with rage.
"I have every right to protect my family's legacy and discover who is infiltrating my home," Adrian replied coldly. "If that child is James's daughter, she is a Cole. Which means she is currently the target of the same people who put my brother in the ground."
Grace took a step forward, closing the distance between them. "Do you think I brought her here to play games with your money? I brought her here because I was broke, Mr. Cole! Because after James died, I spent every penny I had hiding from the people who ran his life! I didn't know who killed him. I didn't know if it was a rival business, a crazy board member, or his own family!"
Adrian’s face went rigid. "His family?"
"James hated your world!" Grace yelled, tears finally spilling over her lashes. "He talked about how toxic Cole Meridian was! He told me how your uncle Julian tried to force him to sell his shares! He told me how your father’s old partners threatened him when he tried to build those low-income housing units! I didn't know who to trust! So when I found out I was pregnant, I ran!"
Adrian stared at her. The cold, calculated mask he wore slowly began to show cracks.
"You knew James?" Adrian asked softly.
Grace reached into her pocket, pulled out the silver locket, and slammed it onto the mahogany desk between them.
"Look at it!" she sobbed.
Adrian walked to the desk and picked up the small silver piece of jewelry. He popped it open. He stared at the faded picture of his younger brother smiling on the Cape Cod beach.
"He wore this shirt," Adrian whispered, his fingers tracing the tiny photo. "I gave him that sweater for his twenty-fourth birthday."
"He loved you," Grace said, her voice breaking. "He talked about you all the time, Adrian. He said you were carrying the weight of the entire family on your shoulders, and he wished he could help you, but he was too afraid of being dragged into the corporate mud. He was going to introduce us to you the week after he died."
Adrian closed his eyes. A muscle in his jaw worked violently as he tried to maintain control. When he opened his eyes again, the cold suspicion was gone, replaced by a profound, agonizing grief.
"Why didn't you come to me after the funeral?" Adrian asked, his baritone voice thick with emotion.
"Because the day after the funeral, your uncle Julian stood on the steps of the courthouse and declared that James’s estate should be liquidated into the main company trust," Grace said bitter. "I saw how your family handled death. Like a business transaction. I was a twenty-six-year-old girl with no money and a baby inside me. If I had walked up to you then, Julian Cole’s lawyers would have bought me off or destroyed me."
Adrian turned his head and looked toward the large glass window, staring out into the dark Connecticut night.
"Julian," Adrian muttered quietly.
"What?" Grace asked.
"Julian has been trying to force a buyout of Cole Meridian for three years," Adrian said, his voice dropping into a deadly register. "He needs seventy percent of the family share votes to sell the company to an offshore conglomerate. With James dead, his shares went into a frozen probate trust that I control as trustee. But if an heir exists..."
Grace’s blood ran cold. "If an heir exists..."
"If James has a legitimate biological child," Adrian finished, turning to face her, "those shares instantly vest into a guardianship trust. And if Julian finds out that Nora exists, he won't just try to contest her legitimacy in court, Grace."
Adrian stepped closer, his blue eyes burning with an absolute, lethal intensity.
"He will try to eliminate her. Just like he eliminated my brother."
Before Grace could respond, a heavy knock sounded on the library doors.
The door swung open, and Mr. Vance, the butler, stepped into the room. His face was unusually pale.
"Mr. Cole," Vance said quickly. "Forgive the interruption, but your uncle, Mr. Julian Cole, has just arrived at the front gate. He claims he has urgent paperwork regarding the quarterly board meeting and insists on seeing you immediately."
Grace felt her heart drop into her stomach.
Adrian didn't panic. He moved with swift, decisive authority.
"Vance," Adrian commanded. "Tell Julian I am changing after a long day and will meet him in the main drawing room in ten minutes. Serve him the scotch he likes. Keep him there."
"Right away, sir," Vance said, bowing quickly and retreating down the hallway.
Adrian turned to Grace. He reached out and caught her by the shoulders. His hands were large, warm, and surprisingly steady.
"Listen to me very carefully, Grace," Adrian said, looking down into her terrified eyes. "You and Nora are not leaving this house tonight. You are going up to the master wing on the third floor. It has reinforced doors and a direct line to my security detail."
"Adrian, I need to get her out of here—"
"If you walk out those front gates right now, Julian's men will spot you," Adrian warned. "He doesn't come here unannounced at seven o'clock on a Thursday unless he suspects something. He must have picked up wind of my private investigator’s inquiry in Boston."
Adrian leaned down until his eyes were level with hers.
"I failed to protect my brother, Grace," Adrian said, his voice raw with a decade of unexpressed pain. "I will die before I let anything happen to his daughter. Do you trust me?"
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Grace looked at the man she had feared for eight months—the cold billionaire who had never smiled. She saw the ghost of James in his posture, but behind it, she saw a fierce, unyielding protection that she had been fighting to provide all by herself for four years.
Grace swallowed hard and nodded. "I trust you."
