Page 81 of Wicked Heiress

My eyes burned from the tears as we stepped outside. And from a distance, I heard the voice of the man I hated.

The man who killed my mother.

“Take Viktor to Skull Island,” Grandfather said to someone I couldn’t see.

“What do we do with the girl?”

“She’s my insurance policy,” he said in a deep, scary tone. “Bring her to my home in Sagaponack. If you tell anyone she’s alive, I will destroy you.”

The scene faded into black around me, dissolving until nothing was left. I blinked a few times to regain my focus, and when I did, Dr. Beck was sitting beside me. It took me a second to realize I was at Fort Marshall and not a nine-year-old girl anymore.

“Tell me what you saw, Grace.” Dr. Beck set his cell phone on the bed, a weary expression on his face. “How do you feel? What did you see?”

Thick tears slid down my cheeks, which I wiped away with the back of my hand. I told him every detail of the memory, and he stared at me with his mouth hanging open.

“Do you know what my grandfather meant? He said I’m his insurance policy.”

He shook his head. “No, but we can work on your memories. It’s possible you heard more of the conversation and chose not to remember it.”

“My head hurts,” I told him, on the verge of breaking down in tears again, desperate for some alone time. Clutching the side of my head, I rose from the bed. “I feel sick. I need to use the bathroom.”

The second I entered the bathroom, I sank to the floor and cried.

Chapter Forty-Five

COLE

I heard Grace crying from the hallway. My chest ached as I listened to her whimpers. Dr. Beck had been trying to wake her for hours with little success. The few times she had snapped out of her head, she thought her name was Katarina.

Grace didn’t exist.

Dr. Beck popped his head into the hallway. “Did you hear what Grace said?”

I nodded. “Fitzy is keeping more from us than we realized.”

“I can try to get the information out of her, but after what she’s been through, I’m afraid to push too hard. Seeing your mom… and then killing her uncle… It was too much for her.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “By the way, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

He dropped his hand to his side. “Seeing two dead bodies in one night and all that blood triggered her memories. Grace may begin to remember details on her own. But she’s fragile right now.”

“I have to go in there.” I tipped my head at the door. “She needs me.”

He bobbed his head. “Go ahead. I’ll be downstairs with your father.”

I stopped in front of the bathroom door. For a moment, I hesitated, my stomach twisting into knots at her voice.

She was talking to herself.

I turned the knob, surprised to find the door unlocked. Grace sat on the floor beside the tub, her knees pulled into her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked up at me, her entire body trembling.

She didn’t speak.

Not a single word.

Just blinked.

I closed the door behind me and sat on the floor beside her, leaning my back against the tub. The silence hung between us, thick like smoke. She didn’t stop me when I put my hand on her knee, right over the top of her hand. We just stared at each other, communicating without words.

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