Chapter 6 - THE MAN CALEB USED TO BE
I hated the photograph.
Not because Caleb was in it.
Because he looked human.
I had spent three years rebuilding my life around one simple truth:
Caleb hurt me.
That truth remained.
But now another truth existed beside it.
Once, apparently, he had tried to help someone else.
Vincent seemed to understand my confusion.
“Whatever he did eight years ago doesn’t erase what he did to you.”
“Good.”
I looked at him.
“Because I’m not interested in a tragic backstory that turns him into the victim.”
Vincent nodded.
“Neither am I.”
The encrypted files told the rest.
Caleb had been documenting illegal transfers made by Carlo DeLuca and Douglas Lawson.
Millions passed through construction projects and shipping companies.
Sophia discovered it.
Marcus Reed—Carlo’s nephew—discovered Sophia.
Then everything went wrong.
The final spreadsheet had one column labeled S.R.
Sophia Reed?
No.
The technician found a hidden index.
S.R. meant Security Response.
Payments made after Sophia’s death.
Police officers.
A medical examiner.
A towing company.
Someone had paid to reshape the evidence.
Vincent read every name without speaking.
Then the technician opened the final account.
The authorized manager was Caleb Ward.
My stomach turned.
“He helped cover it up.”
“Yes,” Vincent said.
“After helping Sophia expose it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
A new message appeared on Vincent’s phone.
One of his men had found Marcus Reed.
Alive.
Living under another name in Connecticut.
Vincent’s face became unreadable.
“I’m going to speak with him.”
I stood.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
He exhaled.
“Sorry.”
“Better.”
Then his expression softened.
“I don’t know what we’ll find.”
“Neither do I.”
We drove north.
Marcus lived in a modest house with a wife and two children.
That made me angrier than I expected.
He opened the door.
The moment he saw Vincent, all the color left his face.
“I didn’t kill her.”
Vincent grabbed the doorframe instead of the man.
“Start talking.”
Marcus broke within minutes.
He admitted hurting Sophia.
Controlling her.
Threatening her.
Everything Vincent had feared.
But he insisted he had not caused her death.
“Carlo found out she copied the accounts,” Marcus said. “He told me to get her to the garage.”
Vincent’s voice became ice.
“And?”
“She arrived.”
Marcus started crying.
“Caleb was there.”
My stomach dropped.
Marcus looked at me for the first time.
“You’re Amelia.”
“How do you know me?”
His answer made the room tilt.
“Because Caleb showed me your picture three years ago.”
He swallowed.
“He said marrying you was the only mistake Carlo could never know he made.”
May you like
Caleb hadn’t chosen me by accident.
He had known exactly who I was before our first date.
