Chapter 5 - The Recording Grant Couldn’t Forget
Grant played the second recording.
Emma’s voice sounded tired.
But steady.
“You told Grant we barely knew each other.”
Vivienne laughed.
“That was easier.”
“Why?”
“Because if he knew how long we’d been friends, he’d ask why we stopped.”
“And what would you tell him?”
Silence.
Emma continued.
“That you were sleeping with him first?”
Grant froze.
Tessa looked at him.
His face drained.
Vivienne’s recorded voice answered:
“We were not together.”
“You told me you loved him.”
“And then you dated him anyway.”
“You introduced us.”
“I didn’t expect him to choose you.”
Grant stood.
He walked toward the window.
Everything rearranged itself.
Vivienne’s hostility toward Emma.
The small insults.
The way she always arrived when Emma was vulnerable.
The way she inserted herself after Emma died.
Grant had thought she was helping.
She had been waiting.
Tessa whispered:
“There’s more.”
Grant didn’t want more.
But he pressed PLAY.
Emma said:
“You’re angry because he chose me.”
Vivienne answered:
“I’m angry because you took everything.”
“Grant isn’t property.”
“No. But the Mercer life should’ve been mine.”
Grant shut his eyes.
Then came the line that changed the room.
Emma:
“And Noah?”
Vivienne:
“Noah makes sure it stays yours forever.”
The recording ended.
Grant stood motionless.
Tessa watched him.
He finally whispered:
“She hated my son before he was even born.”
Tessa nodded.
Grant turned.
“Why didn’t Emma show me this?”
“She planned to.”
“When?”
“The week she died.”
Grant stared at her.
Emma’s death had been ruled a sudden medical complication months after childbirth.
Tragic.
Unexpected.
Natural.
Grant had never questioned it.
Now he looked at the final folder on the drive.
HOSPITAL.
His hand stopped over the mouse.
Tessa whispered:
“Grant.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“Emma told me one more thing.”
His stomach tightened.
“She said if anything happened to her, don’t assume it was because she was sick.”
Grant stared at the hospital folder.
May you like
And suddenly the secret in the safe-deposit box wasn’t about money anymore.
👉 Emma had left behind enough evidence to explain Vivienne’s motive—but the hospital records were about to make Grant question whether Emma’s death had really been natural at all.
