Chapter 3 - The things you never saw.

Lucas lowered the phone slowly. For a moment he stayed where he was, one hand resting against the window, his eyes fixed on the apartment buildings in the distance.

Teresa didn't move. She watched him instead.

"You've gone quiet again," she said. "Is that the part where I'm supposed to wait until you decide what I deserve to know?"

Lucas turned to face her. The calm expression she'd grown used to was still there, but it looked strained around the edges. "You need to go home."

A humorless smile touched her lips. "You're unbelievable."

"I'm serious."

"So am I." She folded the photograph and slipped it back into the envelope. "You know something. You knew about the custody hearing, and all you can say is, 'Go home'?"

"I can't explain it here."

"Then explain it in the car."

He shook his head. "I'll drive you."

"I said no." She walked past him toward the front door. Lucas caught up before she reached it, stopping a respectful distance away instead of blocking her path.

"At least let one of my security cars—"

“No, I don't need another Grimhollow deciding what's best for me."

His shoulders sank almost imperceptibly. "This isn't about control."

"It always is with your family."She opened the door. The cool morning air rushed inside. "If you're really trying to help me, start by telling me the truth."

Lucas looked at her for a long moment. His lips parted as if he might finally say something that mattered.

Instead, he stepped aside. "You should go."

Teresa let out a quiet laugh that held no amusement. "That's what I thought."

She walked to her car without looking back.

The first few minutes of the drive passed in silence except for the steady hum of traffic. Teresa tightened her grip on the steering wheel every time she stopped at a red light.

She replayed the conversation over and over. She glanced at the rearview mirror.

A black Range Rover pulled onto the main road two cars behind her.

She recognized it immediately. "Seriously?"

Lucas kept his distance. He didn't flash his lights. He didn't try to overtake her.

He simply followed. At the next junction she turned left instead of taking her usual route home.

The Range Rover turned left.

She drove through a quieter residential street. It stayed behind.

Teresa exhaled sharply and shook her head. "You're impossible."

By the time she reached her apartment complex, the Range Rover slowed to a stop across the street instead of entering the parking area.

Lucas remained inside, he wasn't trying to come with her. He was making sure she got home.

She hated that she noticed the difference.

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The familiar click of her apartment door unlocking usually brought relief.

Today it didn't. She stepped inside and paused.

The living room looked exactly as she'd left it. Emma's crayons were still scattered across the coffee table. A half-finished puzzle sat on the rug beside the sofa. Sunlight spilled through the balcony doors, warming the wooden floor.

Nothing looked out of place.

Mrs. Lim appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "Oh, you're home already."

"I finished earlier than I expected." Teresa slipped off her shoes and looked around the apartment. "Everything okay?"

Mrs. Lim smiled. "Quiet morning. Emma had breakfast, watched cartoons for a little while, then disappeared into her room."

"No problems?"

"None."

"No visitors?"

The older woman's smile faded.

"Visitors?" She asked in shock. 

"Anyone knocking? Deliveries? Maintenance?"

Mrs. Lim shook her head. "No."

Before Teresa could ask another question, Emma's bedroom door burst open. "Mommy!"

Emma ran toward her, her ponytail bouncing with every step. She clutched a brightly colored storybook against her chest so tightly the corners bent beneath her fingers. "Look what I got!"

Teresa smiled automatically and bent to hug her. "What is that?"

Emma held up the book proudly. "The Little Star That Found Home."

Teresa took it, turning it over in her hands. The cover was new, there wasn't a crease or scratch at all. "I don't remember buying this."

"You didn't." Emma grinned. "It was already in my room."

Teresa looked up. Mrs. Lim's forehead creased. "I've never seen that book before."

Emma reached for it again. "Open it."

Teresa did.

The first page held a short handwritten message in neat black ink.

For Emma. Keep smiling.

There was nothing else.

She looked at Mrs. Lim again. "You really don't know where this came from?"

Mrs. Lim's face had gone pale. "I swear I don't."

"Did anyone come in while I was gone?"

"No."

"You didn't leave the apartment?"

"Only to throw the rubbish downstairs. Five minutes, maybe less. Emma stayed here watching television."

Teresa looked down at her daughter. "Sweetheart, who gave you this?"

Emma shrugged. "I woke up from my nap and it was on my desk."

"You didn't see anyone?"

"No." Emma tilted her head. "Am I not supposed to have it?"

Teresa forced a smile and stroked her hair. "You didn't do anything wrong."

She reached for her phone.

Mrs. Lim watched her carefully.

"Are you calling the police?"

Teresa's thumb hovered over Lucas's name.

"No."

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Less than ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

Lucas stood outside exactly as she'd left him that morning, except his tie had disappeared and the top button of his shirt was undone.

His eyes searched her face first. "What happened?"

Without answering, Teresa held out the book. "I think this belongs to one of your mysterious acts of kindness."

Lucas took it. His expression stayed unreadable as he examined the cover. Then he opened it.

He looked toward Emma's bedroom before reading the note again.

Teresa noticed every second of it. "You recognize it?"

Lucas closed the book. "No."

He looked at Emma, who sat cross-legged on the living room rug humming to herself while arranging stuffed animals into a circle.

When he spoke again, his voice was quieter.

"Where did she find it?"

"On her desk."

"And no one saw anyone come inside?"

Mrs. Lim answered before Teresa could. "I was here all morning."

Lucas nodded once and walked through the apartment without asking permission.

He checked the balcony door, the kitchen window, and the hallway and Emma's bedroom.

When he returned, there was a crease between his brows Teresa hadn't seen before.

"You think someone broke in?"

The apartment fell silent.

Mrs. Lim looked from one of them to the other, unsure whether to speak.

Lucas handed the book back carefully, almost reluctantly. "Change every lock in this apartment."

Teresa frowned. "Over a children's book?"

"Today."

She searched his face. "Why?"

His answer came without hesitation.

"Because whoever left this had permission once."

The words settled heavily between them.

There had only ever been three copies of the apartment key.

One belonged to her.

One belonged to Asher.

The third...

Her hand slowly slipped from the doorknob.

She looked at Lucas.

Months before the divorce, Asher had asked Lucas to hold onto the spare key while contractors renovated one of the Grimhollow’s properties.

Lucas had returned it.

Hadn't he?

Or had he?