Chapter 4 - My Grandfather Revealed Why Derek Had Been Afraid of Him—The Family Had Been Watching My Husband Since the Day He Met MeGrandpa's security team found surveillance records.
Derek had been meeting Lorraine before our engagement.
Before our wedding.
Before Caleb was born.
The meetings were documented.
Money.
Documents.
Contracts.
One meeting happened three days before my wedding.
Another happened the day Caleb was born.
Derek had told me he was visiting me in the hospital.
Instead, he met Lorraine.
The surveillance showed them discussing my mother's estate.
I felt sick.
The entire marriage had been built around money.
Maybe not all of it.
But enough.
Grandpa showed me another file.
A private investigator's report.
SUBJECT: DEREK HAYES
Risk assessment.
Behavior.
Financial problems.
Secret relationships.
I looked at my grandfather.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I couldn't prove it.”
“You could have warned me.”
“I did.”
“When?”
“You remember the night I asked you to sign the trust papers?”
“Yes.”
“I told you not to sign anything without your attorney.”
“I thought you meant normal paperwork.”
“I meant him.”
I closed my eyes.
My grandfather had tried.
I had ignored him.
But that didn't excuse Derek.
Then I found something else.
A photograph of a woman.
Young.
Beautiful.
Standing beside my grandfather.
My mother.
Pregnant.
The photo had been taken before I was born.
Behind her was the same mansion.
The same estate.
The home Grandpa later placed in my name.
I looked at him.
“What am I looking at?”
“Your mother before she left.”
“Why did she leave?”
“Because she wanted you away from me.”
“Did she hate you?”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“She loved me enough to leave.”
That hurt.
I had spent my life believing my grandfather had abandoned my mother.
The truth was more complicated.
Then Grandpa told me something else.
“Your mother made me promise one thing.”
“What?”
“That if anyone ever tried to take your home, I would protect you.”
I looked at Derek.
“And if they tried to hurt Caleb?”
Grandpa's expression became frighteningly calm.
“They won't.”
That night, Derek was taken into custody.
Not arrested yet.
Questioned.
Grandpa wanted the complete truth.
I stayed in the mansion with Caleb.
For the first time in two years, I slept in a real bed.
Caleb curled beside me.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Is Grandpa rich?”
I smiled.
“Yes.”
“Are we rich?”
I looked around.
“I guess.”
He thought.
“Are we happy?”
I closed my eyes.
May you like
“Yes.”
For the first time, I believed it might be possible.
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