Chapter 6 - The Unmasking
Vanessa reached the bottom of the stairs, rushing toward them with her hands fluttering dramatically around her face.
“Daniel! Oh, darling! Is he dead?! What happened to him?!” she screamed, stopping two feet short of the blood on the floor, careful to keep the pointed toes of her expensive leather shoes clear of the red stain.
Grace kept her left hand clamped firmly on the towel pressing against Daniel's temple while her right held her phone to her ear.
“Dispatch, I have an adult male, thirty-seven, conscious but non-responsive following a fall down a hard staircase,” Grace said rapidly into the receiver, her voice loud, clear, and commanding. “Head trauma with moderate arterial bleeding above the right eye. Send an advanced life-support unit to 1400 Crestview Drive immediately.”
“Grace, get out of the way!” Vanessa demanded, grabbing Grace’s shoulder to shove her aside. “Get away from him! You probably pushed him! You were complaining about him earlier!”
Grace didn't budge an inch. She locked her shoulder, anchoring her weight over Daniel to protect his head from being jostled.
“Miss Cole, stand back,” Grace said, her tone as cold as winter ice. “He has a potential neck injury. Do not touch his torso.”
“Don't you dare order me around in my own home!” Vanessa shrieked, her voice cracking with wild, uncontrolled hysteria. “Daniel! Daniel, can you hear me?! It’s Vanessa!”
Daniel allowed a slow, deep groan to escape his chest. He flicked his eyes open, pretending to struggle for focus as he looked up at the high ceiling.
Grace immediately softened her pressure slightly, leaning over him. “Don't try to sit up, Mr. Whitfield. The paramedics are four minutes away. Just keep your eyes on me.”
“Grace...” Daniel rasped, his voice intentionally weak and breathy. “What... what happened?”
“You had a bad fall on the stairs, sir,” she whispered softly, her dark eyes filled with genuine, profound relief as she saw he was coherent. “You cut your head. Just stay completely still.”
Vanessa pushed her way in front of Grace, dropping to one knee—taking immense care to tuck her silk dress away from the blood on the stone—and took Daniel's limp hand into her manicured fingers.
“Oh, my sweet darling!” Vanessa sobbed, her face twisting into an agony of tears. “I was so terrified! I heard a crash and ran down as fast as my legs could carry me! I thought I had lost you forever!”
Daniel looked up into his fiancée’s tear-streaked face.
He saw the wet eyes. He heard the trembling voice.
But he also saw that not a single drop of sweat was on her forehead. Her heart was not racing against her ribs. She was entirely composed beneath her theatrical performance.
He glanced down at Grace.
Grace’s blue uniform was ruined. A dark, wide smear of his blood covered her right sleeve and her knees were filthy from the unwashed stone beneath the stairs. Her hands were still trembling from the raw, unadulterated surge of adrenaline that comes only from genuine human terror for another person's life.
Five minutes later, the sharp, wailing sirens of the Charlotte Fire Department echoed down the long, tree-lined driveway.
Two paramedics rushed through the grand double front doors carrying heavy orange trauma bags and a folding stretcher.
“Clear the area, please,” the lead paramedic instructed, dropping to his knees beside Grace.
Grace offered a concise, perfect medical summary of his vitals, the duration of his unresponsiveness, and the exact mechanism of his fall before stepping back to allow the professionals to work.
Vanessa stood three feet away, wringing her hands, repeatedly telling the paramedics how much Daniel meant to the community and demanding that he be taken to the private VIP wing of the university medical center.
As the paramedics carefully lifted Daniel onto the wheeled stretcher, securing a neck collar around his chin, Daniel reached out his hand.
Vanessa instantly reached forward to take it. “I’m right here, darling! I’m coming in the ambulance with you!”
Daniel shifted his hand past hers.
He reached out and caught the corner of Grace’s stained blue sleeve.
Grace froze, looking down at his hand in total surprise.
“Mr. Whitfield?” she asked softly.
Daniel looked into Grace’s eyes, his grip on her sleeve firm, unyielding, and deliberate.
“Grace,” Daniel rasped softly, ensuring the lead paramedic heard him clearly. “Bring... bring Lily to the hospital with you. I want you... near me.”
Vanessa’s jaw dropped open in utter, speechless shock. “What?! Daniel, what are you talking about?! She’s the housekeeper! I am your fiancée!”
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Daniel closed his eyes, leaning his head back onto the stretcher pillow as the paramedics began wheeling him toward the front doors.
“Let’s move, people,” the lead paramedic said, pushing past Vanessa without a second glance.
