Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BESIDE ME HAD ANOTHER NAME
I waited until Dakota disappeared behind the galley curtain.
Then I turned toward Trinity.
“What is your real name?”
She stared out the window.
“Don’t do this here.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Neither is letting your wife interrogate me at thirty thousand feet.”
“Thirty-eight thousand,” Margaret corrected as she passed.
Under different circumstances, I might have laughed.
Instead I lowered my voice.
“What is your last name?”
Trinity finally looked at me.
“Vale.”
The name punched straight through me.
“Trinity Vale?”
“Yes.”
Robert Vale had spent twelve years trying to beat Caldwell Meridian into the European hotel market.
His investment firm had competed against us for properties in Paris, Rome, Lisbon, and Barcelona.
Six months earlier, he had tried to destroy our Tuscany acquisition by suddenly bidding almost exactly above our confidential ceiling.
I had accused someone inside our negotiating team of leaking numbers.
No leak had ever been found.
Now Robert Vale’s daughter was sitting beside me wearing the bracelet I had purchased with company money.
“You’re his daughter?”
“Yes.”
“You told me your father was dead.”
“My stepfather is dead.”
I felt sick.
“Did your father send you?”
“No.”
“Did you give him our acquisition numbers?”
“No.”
“Then why did he know them?”
“I don’t know.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe that?”
She turned on me.
“You lied to your wife for eight months. Don’t suddenly become passionate about honesty.”
That landed.
Hard.
But it didn’t answer the question.
My phone was in airplane mode, yet the aircraft Wi-Fi allowed messages.
One arrived from our CEO, Richard Caldwell.
CALL LEGAL THE MOMENT YOU LAND. DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING.
Then another from Martin Reese, our CFO.
YOUR ACCESS HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.
I stared at the screen.
Trinity read it.
“This is because of Dakota.”
“No.”
Even I knew better.
Dakota could expose an affair.
She could send receipts.
She could ask for a divorce.
She could not freeze forty-two million dollars or suspend my corporate access unless something much bigger was already happening.
Then Trinity’s phone buzzed.
She glanced down.
Her face turned white.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I held out my hand.
“Show me.”
“No.”
“Trinity.”
She stood.
“I need the restroom.”
I moved my leg into the aisle.
“Not until you tell me what’s happening.”
Her expression hardened.
“You don’t get to control me.”
Dakota heard us from several rows away.
She approached calmly.
“Mr. Coleman, please keep the aisle clear.”
Trinity stared at her.
“You knew who I was.”
Dakota’s smile disappeared.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“That isn’t a conversation I’m having while working.”
“You ruined everything.”
Dakota’s eyes sharpened.
“No.”
She looked between us.
“I stopped protecting him from what he ruined.”
Then Trinity’s phone buzzed again.
This time I saw the preview.
DAD: DO NOT LAND WITH COLEMAN. THEY KNOW.
My pulse stopped.
Dakota saw it too.
She said nothing.
Trinity sank back into her seat.
I whispered:
“Your father knew we were on this flight.”
She didn’t answer.
I leaned closer.
“What does he think they know?”
For the first time, Trinity started crying.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“The Florence deal was never supposed to close.”
Related Stories
