Chapter 5 - THE WARNING MY WIFE NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT
I waited until Dakota had a break.
Then I followed her to the galley.
Margaret looked at me.
Dakota nodded once.
“It’s fine.”
I held up Richard’s letter.
“You sent the warning?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I recognized Trinity.”
“How?”
Dakota folded her arms.
“Do you remember the aviation risk firm I worked for before we got married?”
I did.
Vaguely.
That embarrassed me.
“We handled corporate travel risk for several investment groups. Vale Partners was one of them.”
“Robert Vale?”
“Yes.”
Dakota had seen Trinity at events.
She knew her name.
When she later noticed Trinity outside our house, she immediately became suspicious.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Dinner at Mason Street. Eleven months ago.”
I remembered the restaurant.
Barely.
“You asked whether anyone in the Vale family had contacted you.”
I stared at her.
I did remember.
I had laughed.
Told her she was being dramatic because she watched too many security briefings.
Then I changed the subject.
Dakota’s expression said she remembered every word.
“I sent the warning anonymously because I didn’t know enough to accuse anyone directly.”
“Richard figured out it was you.”
“Eventually.”
“And then?”
“Nothing happened.”
Because there was nothing to find.
Until Trinity arranged to “accidentally” meet me at a hotel conference two weeks later.
I thought I had approached her.
Apparently she had made sure I saw her.
My humiliation became almost unbearable.
Then Dakota said something worse.
“I saw her again two months after you started sleeping with her.”
I stopped breathing.
“You knew that early?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you confront me?”
“I did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Her face hardened.
“Do you remember when I asked if there was someone else?”
I remembered.
Our bedroom.
Eleven at night.
Dakota sitting on the edge of the bed.
I told her she was paranoid.
I accused her of punishing me for working hard.
She apologized.
God.
She apologized.
“I believed you,” she said.
The words hurt more than if she slapped me.
“Then three weeks later, I found the bracelet receipt.”
Trinity’s bracelet.
$6,400.
I had claimed it was a client gift.
Dakota stopped believing me that night.
From then on, she quietly documented.
Not to destroy me.
To make sure I couldn’t rewrite reality when she finally left.
“Are you divorcing me?”
She looked at me for a long moment.
“Yes.”
The word was quiet.
Final.
I swallowed.
“Is that what the witness is for?”
“Partly.”
She glanced toward Margaret.
“The envelope confirms you received notice that financial records must be preserved. My attorney also wanted proof you had been told not to dispose of marital documents.”
“So these aren’t divorce papers.”
“No.”
“Where are they?”
Dakota’s face changed slightly.
“You’ll receive them in Florence.”
My stomach dropped.
“Florence?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
She looked almost amused.
“Remember the hotel you booked for yourself and Trinity?”
I nodded slowly.
“My attorney knows where you’re staying.”
Then she added:
“Assuming you can still afford the room.”
My phone buzzed.
A notification from the hotel.
PAYMENT METHOD DECLINED.
Trinity’s phone buzzed too.
Her expression collapsed.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“My father froze my accounts.”
Suddenly neither of us had access to the money that made our fantasy possible.
Then Dakota said:
“That’s not the worst part.”
I looked up.
“Robert Vale called Richard this morning.”
“Why?”
“He claims Trinity acted alone.”
Trinity shot to her feet.
“He said what?”
Dakota stepped backward.
Passengers turned.
Trinity whispered:
“He’s blaming me.”
May you like
Her father had spent months using his daughter to compromise me.
And now that the scheme was exposed, he was preparing to sacrifice her first.
