Chapter Five
1020 Words
Andrew rushed back home, his heart pounding like a drum against his ribs. His mind was a storm, fragments of images, sounds, and memories colliding with one another. Nothing made sense. Grace’s face flashed through his thoughts, her smile, her laugh, and then the emptiness that followed.
He pushed open the bedroom door, barely catching his breath, and began pulling drawers open. Papers scattered across the floor, old receipts, perfume bottles, picture frames, all spilling from the chaos he’d created. He didn’t know what he was looking for. He just knew he had to find something.
“Think, Andrew, think,” he muttered under his breath, tearing through the closet. Her dresses were gone, her shoes missing — all traces of her carefully erased. But as he yanked open the bottom drawer of the dresser, a small notepad slipped out and landed at his feet.
A to-do list.
His chest tightened as his eyes scanned the neatly written lines. Grocery runs, a meeting with the foundation board, a reminder to call her mother’s friend, and then, one note circled twice in blue ink:
Visit Little Angels Home.
Andrew froze. The date beside it was the same week he left for Singapore. It was the last entry she’d written.
That was his clue.
***
The drive to the orphanage was a blur, streets rushing past him in streaks of light and noise. He didn’t even remember how he got there. When he pulled up in front of the gates marked Little Angels Home, he sat in the car for a moment, gripping the steering wheel tightly.
A faint wind carried the laughter of children from inside the compound, innocent, unburdened, echoing through the courtyard. It hit him harder than he expected. Grace had loved children. He could almost hear her voice teasing him, “You’d make a terrible babysitter, Andrew.”
He swallowed hard and stepped out.
Inside, the scent of freshly baked bread filled the air. The caregiver, a warm-faced woman in her fifties, looked up from where she was helping a child tie his shoe.
“Good morning,” she said with a smile. “How can I help you?”
Andrew hesitated, then pulled out his phone and showed her a photo. “Do you recognize this woman? My wife, Grace Howard.”
The woman’s expression softened instantly. “Mrs. Howard? Of course.” Her smile widened. “Such a lovely woman. Always so kind. She visited us every month without fail.”
Andrew’s breath caught. “Every month?”
“Oh yes,” the woman nodded, her eyes glistening slightly. “She’d bring food, toys, sometimes even new beddings. The children adored her. The last time she was here, she talked about setting something permanent in place for us. Some kind of system, sponsorship maybe. She said she wanted to discuss it with her husband once he was done with a trip to Singapore.”
Andrew felt the words sink like stones in his stomach. “And after that?”
“She never came again,” the woman said quietly. It’s unlike her to miss even one month.”
Andrew’s lips parted, but no words came out. He nodded faintly, thanked the woman, and walked out of the building before his voice betrayed him.
---
He sat in his car, gripping the steering wheel, staring out at nothing. Grace had been planning something. Something good. Something she wanted to share with him. Yet all he could remember from that time was silence, and then waking up in a hospital bed with no wife, no explanations, and James telling him she was gone.
James.
A surge of heat ran through his chest. Why did he lie to me?
Andrew knew exactly where James would be at that hour of the day. His brother’s routine never changed. Gym at two. Andrew drove there without thinking, fury guiding his every move.
As soon as he stepped inside the glass-walled gym, the familiar clang of weights filled the air. James was on the upper floor, spotting another lifter. The moment his eyes caught Andrew’s from across the room, his expression shifted. He dropped the dumbbell in his hand, the metal hitting the floor with a thud that echoed through the space.
“Andrew,” James began carefully, wiping sweat from his forehead.
But Andrew didn’t let him speak. His voice cut through the silence, sharp and trembling with restrained anger. “Why did you lie to me?”
James froze.
Surprised that his brother’s memories were back.
“You told me Grace and I weren’t happy,” Andrew continued, stepping closer. “You told me letting her go was the right thing to do. You said the divorce was best for the both of us” His jaw tightened. “Why, James? Why did you lie?”
James sighed, reaching for a towel. “I was only trying to protect you. The woman filed for divorce, Andrew. She didn’t want a thing, no settlement, no claim on the companies or properties, nothing. Probably wanted out long before that. You know how she was… quiet, distant.”
Andrew shook his head, disbelief flashing in his eyes. “So you thought you knew better?”
“I thought I was saving you from a messy scandal,” James said, voice firm now. “You were in the middle of the Singapore deal, imagine what that kind of distraction could've done. She was giving you an easy exit. I only made sure you took it before she changed her mind. What if you delayed and the whole thing turned ugly? I was doing you a favor.”
Andrew’s laugh was cold and short. “James, the only favors you ever do are for yourself.”
For a moment, neither spoke. The hum of the gym machines filled the silence between them. Andrew stared at his brother, really stared, and for the first time since waking up in that hospital, everything inside him felt clear. His memories were back now, and with them came the certainty that James wasn’t just lying. He was hiding something
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