Chapter 4 - THE BORROWED DRESS
The next morning, Grace sat in the brightly lit breakroom of Chicago General Hospital, pushing the ziplock bag of oatmeal across the laminate table.
Her friend Sarah, a senior lab technician, picked it up with a gloved hand. “Grace, I can’t run unauthorized tox screens. If my supervisor catches me—”
“Sarah, please,” Grace begged, her voice cracking. “A nine-year-old girl is in danger. The police won’t listen to me. I’m just a fired housekeeper. I need proof. I need to know what they’re giving her.”
Sarah looked at the dark circles under Grace’s eyes. She sighed, slipping the bag into her coat. “Give me two hours.”
Grace spent those two hours pacing the hospital parking lot. She had texted Ethan four times. None of the messages went through. Sabrina had likely blocked her number on his phone. Ethan was flying back today for the massive charity gala at the estate tonight. It was Sabrina’s grand debut into Chicago high society.
Her phone buzzed. It was Sarah.
Grace ran back inside. Sarah handed her a folded piece of paper, her face pale.
“It’s Chloral Hydrate,” Sarah whispered. “It’s an old-school sedative. Very strong. It causes severe drowsiness, confusion, and anterograde amnesia. If someone is giving this to a child, they aren’t just trying to make her sleep. They’re trying to scramble her memories.”
Grace snatched the paper. Amnesia.
Lily was the only witness to the car crash that killed her parents. A crash that Derek Vale somehow had a souvenir from.
“I have to go back,” Grace said.
“Grace, you can’t! They’ll have security everywhere for the gala.”
“I know the catering crew,” Grace said. “I hired half of them.” She looked at Sarah. “I need a favor. Your sister is my size. Does she still have that navy-blue evening gown?”
By 8:00 PM, the Caldwell estate was transformed. Hundreds of cars lined the circular driveway. The ballroom was a sea of silk, diamonds, and champagne.
Grace slipped through the kitchen doors wearing the borrowed navy dress. It pinched her ribs, and the shoes dug into her heels, but she moved with purpose. She grabbed a silver tray of empty champagne flutes to blend in, keeping her head down as she navigated the crowded room.
She scanned the ballroom. Ethan was at the center, looking exhausted but handsome in his tuxedo. Sabrina was beside him, glittering in silver.
Then Grace saw Lily.
The child was standing near the grand staircase, wearing a pale lavender dress. She looked terrified, her eyes darting around the room.
And moving through the crowd, holding a small silver tray with a single glass of milk, was Derek.
Grace saw the way he held his right hand unnaturally stiff against his suit jacket. He was concealing something.
Grace dropped her tray. The crystal shattered against the marble.
She didn’t care who looked. She marched straight toward the center of the ballroom. The orchestra faltered, then stopped. Two hundred guests turned.
Sabrina saw her first. Her smug smile twisted into a sneer. “Well, apparently Cinderella has mistaken the charity gala for the servants’ entrance.”
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Grace kept walking. She clutched the lab report in one hand, the gold star bracelet in the other.
She was about to blow Sabrina’s world apart.
