Chapter 8 - The Woman Elise Chose From Beyond the Grave)
Grant did not sleep that night.
Neither did Tessa.
Noah finally fell asleep shortly after midnight, exhausted by fear and unfamiliar doctors.
Grant sat in the nursery beside the crib.
Tessa remained near the doorway.
The nightlight cast a soft glow across the room.
"He looks peaceful," Tessa said.
Grant nodded.
"He shouldn't have had to be brave today."
"He's a baby."
"Exactly."
Grant looked toward her.
"I left him in a house with someone dangerous."
"You didn't know."
"I should have."
"How?"
Grant did not answer.
Because there was no answer that satisfied him.
Elise had once accused him of believing danger always announced itself.
Grant had laughed.
She had not.
Now he understood.
His phone contained a digital copy of Elise's notebook.
He opened it again.
Tessa's name.
Written by Elise.
The employment agency created before Elise's death.
An email sent months later directing Tessa toward Noah.
It felt impossible.
Unless Elise had planned for her own death.
Or someone had continued Elise's plan afterward.
Grant looked at Tessa.
"What did you do before childcare?"
Tessa leaned against the doorframe.
"Hospital nursery. Before that, pediatric emergency support."
"Elise knew?"
"I never met her."
"That's not what I asked."
Tessa thought.
"My professional profile was public."
"Could she have found you?"
"Possibly."
"Why you?"
Tessa looked at Noah.
"I don't know."
Grant studied her.
Then remembered something from Elise's notebook.
He searched several pages.
A hospital name.
St. Catherine's.
Grant frowned.
"Tessa."
"Yes?"
"Which hospital?"
"What?"
"Where did you work?"
"St. Catherine's."
Grant looked at the page.
Elise had visited St. Catherine's twice during pregnancy.
Not for medical appointments.
For something else.
Grant opened her old calendar on a cloud backup.
The appointments were listed as M.T.
Both occurred on Tuesdays.
Both lasted one hour.
No description.
"Tessa, did you ever work with a woman named Maria Torres?"
Tessa's expression changed.
"Dr. Torres?"
"You know her?"
"She ran pediatric trauma support."
Grant's pulse quickened.
"Was she close to you?"
"She trained me."
"Where is she now?"
Tessa looked uncomfortable.
"Dead."
Grant stared.
"When?"
"About a year ago."
"How?"
"Car accident."
The words landed heavily.
Grant lowered the phone.
Elise had died in a car accident nine months earlier.
Dr. Maria Torres had died three months before Elise.
Two women.
Two unexplained meetings.
Two accidents.
Tessa noticed Grant's expression.
"What?"
He showed her the calendar.
"Elise met someone at St. Catherine's twice."
Tessa stared.
"Could have been anyone."
"Maybe."
Grant searched Dr. Torres.
Public records showed a short obituary.
No family listed.
Grant's security director sent another message.
We found a deleted email from Elise to Maria Torres. Sending now.
Grant opened the attachment.
The message was dated fourteen months earlier.
Maria,
I need your help finding someone who can protect a child without being easily intimidated. Someone with medical training. Someone who doesn't scare easily.
Do not contact Grant.
Not yet.
E.
Tessa read it twice.
Grant looked at her.
"Elise was looking for you before Noah was born."
"Why?"
Another email arrived.
From Maria Torres to Elise.
I know exactly the person.
Her name is Tessa Monroe.
She's young, but she notices everything.
More importantly, she won't look away.
Grant felt a chill.
Tessa sat slowly in the chair beside the crib.
"Elise chose me."
"Yes."
"But she never contacted me."
"No."
"Then who did?"
That remained unanswered.
Grant searched through the files from the card again.
The fourth corrupted video bothered him.
He uploaded it to his company's forensic team.
Estimated recovery time unknown.
He hated waiting.
Tessa looked at Noah.
"Maybe Elise expected something to happen."
Grant's voice became quiet.
"She knew."
Tessa looked at him.
"Then why didn't she tell you?"
Grant had asked himself that question more times than he could count since Vivienne mentioned it.
He finally admitted the answer he feared.
"Maybe she tried."
Tessa said nothing.
Grant looked toward the window.
He remembered the final months of Elise's life.
Her nervousness.
Her questions about security.
Her insistence that Noah's trust be managed separately.
Grant had been busy with a merger.
He had dismissed some of her fears as exhaustion.
He had trusted Vivienne when she said Elise was overwhelmed.
The realization was unbearable.
"What if she did tell me," Grant whispered, "and I chose the easier explanation?"
Tessa looked at him.
"Then you can't change that."
Grant's eyes hardened.
"No."
He stood.
"But I can find out why."
The next morning, Grant met Elise's former attorney, Daniel Reeves.
Daniel was seventy, careful and visibly frightened when Grant mentioned the memory card.
"Where did you find it?"
"In my house."
Daniel removed his glasses.
"Then she succeeded."
"At what?"
Daniel looked toward the office door.
"Mr. Mercer, before I answer, I need to know whether Vivienne Cross has access to your finances."
"Not anymore."
"Did she ever?"
"Only through the foundation."
Daniel exhaled.
"That's what Elise feared."
"Tell me everything."
Daniel hesitated.
Then opened a locked drawer.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
Grant's name was written across the front.
The handwriting belonged to Elise.
Grant stared at it.
"Why didn't you give this to me?"
"Because your wife instructed me not to."
"Until when?"
Daniel looked at him.
"Until Vivienne harmed Noah."
Grant felt his chest tighten.
Daniel slid the envelope across the desk.
"Your wife knew that if Vivienne ever lost control around your son, you would finally believe what Elise had been unable to prove while she was alive."
Grant opened the envelope.
Inside was a legal amendment.
A handwritten note.
And a photograph.
Grant picked up the photograph first.
It showed Vivienne beside a man Grant had never seen.
They were standing outside the Mercer estate.
The date printed at the bottom was six days before Elise died.
On the back, Elise had written:
If anything happens to me, find him before he finds Noah.
Grant looked at Daniel.
"Who is this man?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Elise never told me."
Grant turned back to the photograph.
There was something familiar about the man's face.
Not enough to place him.
But enough to disturb him.
Then Daniel pointed toward the legal amendment.
"Read that."
Grant did.
His expression slowly changed.
The document was an emergency guardianship instruction.
If both Grant and Elise became unable to care for Noah, custody would not go to any member of the Mercer family.
It would not go to Vivienne.
It would not go to Elise's relatives.
The designated temporary guardian was Tessa Monroe.
Signed eleven months before Tessa was hired.
Grant stared at the page.
"How could Elise appoint someone she'd never met?"
May you like
Daniel answered quietly.
"Because apparently she knew you would need her."
