Chapter 6 - The Secret Bloodline
Adrian didn't hesitate. He thrust his elbow back into the nearest officer's chest, throwing the man off balance, snatched Leo from the hospital crib, wrapped him tightly in the oxygen blanket, and bolted down the service corridor with Grace right on his heels.
They slammed through the emergency exit doors, bursting into the rainy alleyway behind the hospital. Rain washed over Grace’s bruised face as they sprinted toward the parking garage, the sirens of police cruisers beginning to wail in the distance.
They threw themselves into the back of a delivery van parked in the alley—an old vehicle Grace recognized from the hospital kitchen staff. She hotwired the ignition with a pocket tool she snatched from the dashboard—a skill that made Adrian freeze in shock as the engine roared to life.
Grace slammed her foot on the accelerator, tearing out of the alley and merging into the thick evening traffic just as three police cruisers flew past them in the opposite direction, sirens screaming.
For ten minutes, neither of them spoke. The only sound was the heavy rain beating against the van’s roof and Leo’s soft, steady breathing in Adrian’s arms.
They finally pulled into an abandoned warehouse district near the docks. Grace killed the lights and turned off the engine.
Adrian slumped back against the worn vinyl seat, running a trembling hand through his soaked hair. He looked at Grace—this humble, quiet nanny who had risked her life twice in one day, who could hotwire a car, and who had just helped him become a fugitive.
"Who are you?" Adrian asked, his voice low, filled with awe and sudden suspicion. "Grace... no normal nanny knows how to hotwire a vehicle or react like that to a police raid. And how did the detective know your last name was Vance? You registered on your resume as Grace Miller."
Grace sat motionless in the driver's seat, staring out at the rain-streaked windshield. Slowly, she reached up to her neck, unbuttoned the top collar of her soaked uniform, and pulled out a silver locket that had been hidden beneath her clothes.
She unclasped it and handed it back to Adrian.
Inside the locket was a photograph of two young girls laughing on a beach. One of them was Evelyn, Adrian’s late wife. The other was a younger Grace.
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Adrian’s breath caught in his throat. "Evelyn?"
"Evelyn was my older sister," Grace said softly, turning to look him dead in the eye. "My real name is Grace Vance. And I didn't come to your mansion six months ago by accident, Mr. Harrington. I came to prove that your new fiancée murdered my sister."
