Chapter 9 - MY WIFE HAD BEEN THE HARDER TARGET
The memo was dated nine months before Trinity and I met.
TARGET: ETHAN COLEMAN.
ACCESS RISK: SPOUSE.
Dakota’s name appeared beneath mine.
Trinity sat in another room with investigators while Luca read the document aloud.
Dakota was described as:
Observant.
Former corporate risk analyst.
Irregular travel schedule.
Likely to identify staged contact.
Recommendation:
Avoid direct approach when spouse present.
I felt sick.
They understood my wife better than I did.
A second memo described me.
Career-sensitive.
Status motivated.
Responds strongly to admiration.
Frequent traveler.
Marital relationship appears stable but strained by schedule.
Potential access through hospitality sector contact.
I wanted to tear the page apart.
It would not change what it said.
They hadn’t invented my weaknesses.
They had simply studied them.
Trinity had appeared at the perfect conference.
Complimented my negotiation panel.
Asked intelligent questions about hotels.
Laughed at exactly the right jokes.
I called it chemistry.
Robert Vale called it access strategy.
But then Luca showed me another note.
TRINITY REPORTS TARGET DEVELOPING PERSONAL ATTACHMENT. RECOMMEND DISENGAGEMENT AFTER DATA OBJECTIVE COMPLETE.
That surprised me.
“Disengagement?”
“Yes.”
Another message followed two weeks later.
From Trinity to her father:
No. I’m handling it.
Then another.
He trusts me. Let me continue.
I stared.
Maybe she had developed feelings.
Maybe she had simply enjoyed the assignment.
Either way, the relationship continued beyond her father’s initial timeline.
Then I noticed a final annotation.
SPOUSE HAS MADE CONTACT WITH CALDWELL. ACCELERATE.
Dakota’s anonymous warning had frightened them.
That was when the affair intensified.
That was when Trinity began talking about trips.
Florence.
A future.
Me leaving Dakota.
They needed me emotionally separated from the person most likely to expose them.
And I helped.
Nobody forced me to lie to my wife.
Nobody forced me into Trinity’s hotel room.
The manipulation explained the setup.
It did not excuse my choices.
That distinction became painfully clear.
Dakota finally came through immigration hours later.
She had changed out of uniform.
Dark jeans.
Cream sweater.
Hair loose.
She looked more like the woman I married than the wife I had been avoiding for months.
I approached carefully.
“Did Richard tell you about the memo?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know they were watching you?”
“Not until today.”
“Are you okay?”
She looked almost amused.
“You’re asking now?”
Fair.
I stepped back.
“I deserved that.”
Dakota sighed.
“This isn’t about deserving pain, Ethan.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Consequences.”
She had become very good at that word.
I told her about the file describing her as a problem.
She smiled faintly.
“At least someone appreciated my professional background.”
I laughed despite everything.
Then I realized something.
“You said you had a surprise last week.”
“Yes.”
“Flight 912?”
“Partly.”
“What was the other part?”
Her expression changed.
“I was offered a permanent international training position.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where?”
“Florence.”
Of course.
She had been preparing to tell me she might spend six months helping train international cabin crews and studying aviation safety operations.
Instead, she discovered I planned to bring Trinity to the city she dreamed of working in.
“Are you taking it?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation.
My marriage was ending.
Dakota’s life was opening.
Then she handed me something.
My house key.
“What is this?”
“I don’t need it anymore.”
The simple key hurt worse than the divorce papers.
Then she added:
“And Ethan?”
“Yes?”
“The company audit isn’t finished.”
My chest tightened.
“What else?”
“The Tuscany deal wasn’t the first transaction Robert Vale influenced through you.”
I stopped breathing.
“There was another one.”
“Which?”
Dakota looked at me.
“The Nashville acquisition.”
May you like
The business trip I had used as my fake alibi.
And suddenly Nashville was no longer just a lie I told my wife.
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