Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO GAVE ME LIFE
We reached Nova Scotia before Arthur’s people did.
Grace Mercer lived in a small coastal town under the name Anna Gray.
She repaired navigation equipment for fishing boats.
Her home overlooked the Atlantic.
For several minutes, I stood outside without knocking.
I had faced armed smugglers, flooding compartments, and burning steel.
Nothing had frightened me more than that door.
Grace opened it before I raised my hand.
She recognized me immediately.
“You have Arthur’s eyes,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For arriving thirty-four years late.”
She touched my face with trembling fingers.
“I counted every year.”
Grace had not accepted money to abandon me.
Arthur had threatened to accuse her of corporate espionage and child endangerment.
He claimed Eleanor would raise me safely if Grace disappeared.
When she attempted to return, Harlan Pike attacked her.
Grace survived and fled across the border.
She sent letters for years.
Arthur intercepted them.
Eleanor eventually found one.
The two women began communicating in secret.
Eleanor planned to reunite us after exposing Arthur.
She died before she could do it.
Grace handed me a metal case.
Inside were original engineering reports from Vale Maritime’s earliest ships.
The documents proved Arthur had ordered deliberate equipment failures.
One disaster killed eleven crew members aboard a competitor’s cargo vessel.
Arthur collected millions through a hidden insurance arrangement.
That money financed his first major acquisition.
His empire had been born from murder.
Grace agreed to testify.
During the flight back, Naomi informed me that Arthur had returned to the United States.
He entered through a private airport using diplomatic credentials belonging to one of the officials named in the ledger.
His attorneys immediately filed a motion accusing me of stealing classified military evidence to seize Vale Maritime.
They also requested that the court remove me from the trust case due to mental instability.
By morning, every major news channel showed photographs of my scars.
Anonymous sources described me as violent and traumatized.
A forged medical report claimed I suffered delusions after the South China Sea explosion.
Arthur stood outside the courthouse pretending to be a grieving father.
“My daughter is a decorated officer,” he told reporters.
“But heroes can still become unwell.”
“I only want Celeste to receive the help she needs.”
I watched the interview from Naomi’s office.
“He has done this before,” I said.
“He turns every accusation into concern.”
Naomi closed the laptop.
“We will answer him in court.”
A messenger arrived with a black box.
Inside was my Navy Cross.
It had been stolen during the attack at the manor.
A note lay beneath it.
You saved forty-three sailors.
You cannot save every witness.
Ruiz called seconds later.
The armored vehicle transporting Grace to the courthouse had been found abandoned beneath an overpass.
Two agents were injured.
May you like
Grace was missing.
A bloodstain covered the rear seat.
