Chapter 7 - Secrets of the Past
That evening, as twilight cast shades of purple and indigo across the Pacific horizon, Daniel sat on the stone patio listening to the rhythmic crashing of the waves. Lily was fast asleep inside, completely exhausted by the emotional whirlwind of the past thirty-six hours, tucked safely beneath heavy blankets with Marcus stationed outside her door.
Grace stepped out onto the patio carrying two mugs of chamomile tea. She handed one to Daniel and took a seat on the wicker chair opposite him.
“She’s sleeping peacefully,” Grace said quietly. “No nightmares tonight.”
Daniel looked at the steam rising from his mug. “Grace... why did Victoria hate Lily so much? A mother might be neglectful, or selfish, or cold. But what Victoria did... locking her away, treating her like an infection... that wasn't just poor parenting. It was hatred. I was blind for years, but now I need to understand.”
Grace was quiet for several moments. She stared out at the dark horizon where the sea met the sky.
“Mr. Vance... do you know about Victoria’s pregnancy in Paris?” Grace asked softly.
Daniel frowned. “Paris? That was seven years ago. We were living there while I opened our European branch. Victoria discovered she was pregnant six months into our marriage.”
“Did she ever tell you what happened before you flew back to Los Angeles?”
“She had a difficult first trimester,” Daniel said, his brow furrowing as old memories resurfaced. “She spent three weeks in a private clinic in Switzerland. Her family said it was for severe morning sickness and stress.”
Grace set her mug down on the glass table. Her hands were steady, but her voice carried the weight of a painful secret.
“My aunt was a head nurse at that clinic in Lausanne, Mr. Vance,” Grace revealed quietly.
Daniel froze. “What?”
“That is how I ended up working for your family,” Grace explained. “It wasn't a coincidence from an agency. My aunt knew what Victoria had done. Victoria didn't go to that clinic for morning sickness. She went there attempting to terminate the pregnancy secretly, because she had been having an affair with a French real estate heir, and she wasn't sure whose child Lily was.”
The words struck Daniel like a physical blow. The air rushed out of his lungs.
“What did you say?” Daniel whispered.
“The doctors at the clinic refused the procedure because the pregnancy was too far advanced under Swiss law,” Grace continued, her eyes filled with sorrow. “Arthur Sterling flew in on a private jet. He paid off the clinic staff, hid the medical charts, and forced Victoria to carry to term. When Lily was born, Arthur secretly commissioned a paternity test. You were the biological father, Daniel. Arthur made sure you never found out, because an annulment or scandal would have destroyed the merger between your father's firm and Sterling Enterprises.”
Daniel’s hands gripped his mug so tightly the ceramic threatened to crack.
“Victoria never wanted to be a mother,” Grace said softly. “Every time she looked at Lily, she didn't see an innocent daughter. She saw the child that trapped her in a marriage she resented, the child that Arthur forced her to keep to protect the family fortune. Victoria punished Lily for existing. She punished Lily because Lily was your blood, not the life Victoria had wanted for herself.”
Daniel buried his face in his hands. The horrifying puzzle pieces of the last seven years finally locked into place with terrifying clarity. Victoria’s coldness after Lily was born. Her refusal to breastfeed. Her insistence on immediate nannies. Her explosive rages whenever Daniel showed affection to their daughter.
Victoria wasn't just mentally unstable. She was a woman consumed by narcissistic resentment, taking out her lifelong bitterness on a helpless child.
“And you,” Daniel said, looking up, his eyes bloodshot with grief and fury. “You came into our home knowing this?”
“My aunt told me about the baby before she passed away,” Grace confessed, a tear slipping down her cheek. “She felt guilty for taking Sterling’s hush money all those years. When I applied for the position through the Beverly Hills domestic agency two years ago, I didn't plan on staying long. I just wanted to see if the child was safe. But the first week I arrived... I saw Victoria slap Lily across the mouth because Lily spilled milk on the breakfast table. I couldn't leave. I knew if I left, Lily would have no one.”
Daniel stood up, walked across the patio, and knelt beside Grace’s chair.
For the first time, he didn't see an employee, or a maid, or a witness. He saw the true guardian angel of his family—a woman who had sacrificed her safety, her peace, and her reputation to shield a little girl from a family of monsters.
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“Grace,” Daniel said, his voice thick with raw emotion. “Tomorrow morning, we end this. Forever.”
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