Grace Fletcher POV
Sophie is making up a story about dragons while Grace tries to focus on wedding spreadsheets.
"And the dragon had a mama dragon," Sophie says from her corner with her stuffed animals arranged in a careful circle. "But the mama dragon was far away so the baby dragon had to be brave all by himself."
Grace's fingers freeze above her keyboard.
She doesn't look at her daughter but she hears the story underneath the story. She hears what Sophie's subconscious is processing even though she's too young to understand it. A child without a father. A mama who's not there. A need to be brave when being brave shouldn't be required.
"Did the baby dragon have friends?" Grace asks carefully.
"Oh yes," Sophie says and her entire face lights up. She's three and a half now and brilliant beyond what Grace can properly explain. She understands emotions. She understands nuance. She understands that stories matter. "The baby dragon had a friend dragon and they were together forever and they didn't need the far away dragon at all."
Grace closes her eyes and tells herself this is fine. This is healthy. Children process their lives through stories.
She's not processing the absence of Oliver Kane.
Later that afternoon, Grace is scheduling corporate events on her laptop when Isabelle comes in with tea and a newspaper.
"Don't look at this," Isabelle says, which means Grace immediately looks.
It's a business section article about Kane Industries. There's a photo of Oliver accepting some kind of award. He looks exactly the same as he did three years ago except older maybe. More lines around his eyes. More weariness in his expression.
"I said don't look," Isabelle says but she sits down anyway.
"He's getting older," Grace says like this is a neutral observation. Like she's not cataloging every detail of his face.
"He looks miserable," Isabelle says and there's something in her voice that sounds like satisfaction.
Grace keeps reading. The article talks about Kane Industries' expansion. His acquisition of new companies. His reputation as a ruthless businessman. It mentions his philanthropic work. It mentions his status as one of London's most eligible bachelors.
That part makes Grace's chest tight.
He's still single. Three years later and he's still unmarried. Still with Victoria apparently, based on a photo caption mentioning them at a charity gala together. Or maybe he's moved on from Victoria. The article is vague about his personal life.
Not that it matters to Grace.
She doesn't think about Oliver anymore. She's moved past that. She's built a life that works without him. She's created something real with her daughter and her business and her friend.
The lie she tells herself is very convincing most days.
"You should stop reading about him," Isabelle says gently.
"I'm not reading about him. I'm reading about business trends."
"Grace."
"What? I'm not." She closes the laptop even though she was only halfway through the article. "I don't care what he's doing."
But she does care. She cares too much. She cares in a way that keeps her up at night sometimes wondering if she made the right choice. She cares in a way that makes her anxious every time there's an unexpected knock on the door.
That night after Sophie is asleep, Grace opens her laptop and searches for Oliver Kane.
The first result is his company website. His profile photo shows him in a tailored suit looking powerful and untouchable. There's a biography that talks about his achievements and his vision and his commitment to excellence.
It doesn't mention his daughter.
It doesn't mention the woman who loved him or the night that changed everything.
It doesn't mention Sophie at all.
Grace scrolls through articles about him. Business deals. Charity appearances. A scandal about workplace practices that he handled by firing people and implementing new policies. He's ruthless. He's brilliant. He's exactly the kind of man who shouldn't be raising a child.
She made the right choice protecting Sophie from him.
She tells herself this every time doubt creeps in.
By midnight she's read everything the internet knows about Oliver Kane and none of it makes her feel better. If anything, it confirms what she already knew. He's a driven, controlled man who builds empires instead of relationships. He's not the kind of father Sophie needs.
Grace closes her laptop and goes to check on her daughter.
Sophie is sleeping in her small bed with her stuffed dragon clutched to her chest. She has Oliver's dark hair. She has Oliver's sharp features. She has his intelligence and his stubbornness and his way of asking questions until she understands everything.
But she has Grace's capacity to love.
Grace touches her daughter's hair softly and promises herself again that she's protecting her. That she's made the right choice. That Oliver Kane doesn't deserve to know about this brilliant child.
The next morning, Grace is running errands in the village when she sees the black car.
It's expensive. Too expensive for the Cotswolds. It's parked near the tea shop and there's a man inside watching something. Watching someone.
Grace's instinct is to run but she forces herself to stay calm. She's probably imagining things. Just because she's been thinking about Oliver doesn't mean he's actually here.
But as she walks past, the man's eyes follow her.
She doesn't recognize him but he's wearing a suit that costs more than her monthly rent and something about his expression says he knows exactly who she is.
Grace keeps walking and doesn't look back.
That evening she mentions it to Isabelle casually. Just a strange car in town. Probably nothing.
But Isabelle's face goes tight with worry.
The next day there's another car. Different one. Parked at a different location. But the same feeling. The same sense of being watched.
Grace tries to tell herself she's being paranoid.
But some part of her has been waiting for this. Some part of her has known that Oliver wouldn't just disappear forever. That a man with that much money and power doesn't accept that his daughter exists somewhere and he can't find her.
On Friday morning, Grace gets a call from the bank.
They're requesting verification of her account. Someone has been making inquiries about her financial records. Nothing suspicious exactly. Just background checks.
Grace's hands shake when she hangs up the phone.
Isabelle finds her sitting in the kitchen staring at nothing.
"What happened?" Isabelle asks.
"He knows," Grace whispers. "He's looking for us. He's found us."
"You don't know that."
"Yes I do." Grace looks at her friend. "He's coming for Sophie."
She doesn't know how she knows this. She just does. Some part of her has always known this day would come. Some part of her has always understood that Oliver Kane doesn't abandon things he considers his. And Sophie is his. Biologically at least. Genetically at least.
That night, Grace holds her daughter while she sleeps and feels the peace they've built start to crack.
Monday morning, there's a knock on the cottage door.
Grace opens it to find a man in an expensive suit standing on her porch. He has a briefcase and a serious expression.
"Grace Fletcher?" he asks.
Grace's heart stops.
"Yes?"
"I need to speak with you about Oliver Kane and a matter of utmost importance regarding a child."
Grace closes her eyes and knows that everything is about to change.
Again.