The Child Taken from the Bride
Chapter 05 - The Child Taken from the Bride
Ava was released before dawn, but Lily was not returned to her.
Evelyn’s lawyers filed an emergency petition claiming Ava endangered the child by provoking violence at the wedding. They also questioned whether Ava’s guardianship was valid because Grace had allegedly concealed Lily’s paternity.
The judge assigned to the case was Samuel Vale, one of the names on Nathan’s microfilm.
He placed Lily in temporary protective custody at a private children’s residence funded by the Mercer Foundation.
Ava understood immediately.
They had moved the heir into a building the Mercer family controlled.
Julian promised to help.
“You should have helped when she was standing in front of us.”
“I was shocked.”
“You were trained.”
He flinched.
Ava asked the question she had avoided.
“How long did you know about Nathan and Grace?”
Julian admitted he attended their courthouse marriage as a witness.
Nathan trusted him.
After the plane crash, Evelyn told Julian Grace had used his brother for access to the trust. She threatened to expose Julian’s own campaign-finance violations if he contacted Grace.
Julian remained silent.
When Grace died, he believed Lily had died with her.
“You saw Lily for years,” Ava said.
“I did not know.”
“You never asked why she had Nathan’s eyes?”
Julian looked away.
He had not allowed himself to ask.
Meanwhile, Lily arrived at St. Catherine’s Residence and recognized Grant Voss near the director’s office.
She remembered Rose’s instructions: when adults want the object, give them what they can see and hide what they cannot.
Before entering, Lily removed the sapphire from the brooch and slipped it into the hollow heel of her flower-girl shoe.
The silver star remaining on her dress was a shell.
That night, Voss entered her room.
“Your aunt wants me to keep the brooch safe.”
Lily pretended to sleep.
He removed the empty setting and left.
The real sapphire contained a second microfilm layer bonded beneath the stone.
Grace had protected the evidence with a child’s stubbornness in mind.
At the hotel, Rose finally told Ava where the second key was.
Nathan had hidden it inside the governor’s inaugural Bible, currently displayed in the state museum.
The Bible had been donated by Evelyn Mercer.
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The museum’s annual trustees’ dinner was scheduled for the following evening.
Every family implicated by the microfilm would be there.
