Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN BEFORE MEI knew Caden had been engaged before me.
I did not know he had been married.
Her name was Jenna Whitmore.
The marriage lasted eleven months and had been annulled fifteen years earlier.
Caden told everyone she was an unstable college girlfriend who disappeared from his life.
That description suddenly sounded familiar.
Unstable.
Again.
Investigators located Jenna in Oregon.
She was forty-two, married, with two children.
When contacted, she initially refused to speak.
Then she heard Bonnie's name.
She agreed.
Jenna described a relationship that began charmingly.
Caden was attentive.
Bonnie welcoming.
Then money entered.
Jenna inherited a small apartment building from her grandmother.
Bonnie began telling Caden the property should become "family-managed."
Jenna refused.
Arguments followed.
Then Bonnie started telling relatives Jenna drank too much.
Caden claimed she forgot conversations.
Dr. Leonard Shaw—already a family friend then—suggested she might have bipolar disorder.
Had he evaluated her?
Once.
Informally.
At Bonnie's house.
No diagnosis.
But Caden later used Shaw's concerns during annulment negotiations.
Jenna eventually signed away financial claims simply to escape.
What happened to apartment building?
She kept it.
That was why Bonnie hated her.
Jenna had records.
Old emails.
One from Bonnie:
If you cared about Caden, you would stop treating your inheritance like it belongs only to you.
Another from Caden:
Mom thinks your refusal proves you're not thinking clearly.
Same architecture.
But Jenna had escaped before they could take anything.
She had never reported because she thought it was toxic family manipulation, not crime.
Then Evelyn Shaw's flash drive arrived with investigators.
It contained recordings Leonard apparently made to protect himself.
People involved in conspiracies often document each other when trust collapses.
One recording was from three months earlier.
Bonnie:
"Taylor is different from Jenna. Taylor has real money."
Leonard:
"Then you need real medical evidence."
Bonnie:
"You provide it."
Leonard:
"I can provide an opinion based on Caden's reports."
Bonnie:
"That's not enough."
Leonard:
"I'm not fabricating an examination."
Bonnie:
"You already wrote the letter."
Leonard:
"That was preliminary."
Then Caden:
"Once she reacts, you'll have footage."
The recording confirmed planning.
Another recording concerned Mom.
Leonard sounded angry.
"You gave Alexis those tablets?"
Bonnie:
"You prescribed them."
Leonard:
"For a supposed consultation. I didn't tell you to give them without explaining."
Bonnie:
"Don't become moral now."
That complicated Leonard's role.
He had apparently participated in fraudulent prescribing but objected to how Bonnie used medication.
Still serious.
But facts mattered.
Then final recording.
Adrian:
"Once Taylor is in Nevada, we have seventy-two hours."
Caden:
"To do what?"
Adrian:
"Call emergency board meeting. Present incapacity. Replace her proxy."
Melissa:
"And if trustees reject it?"
Adrian:
"Then we leak the psychiatric story and tank confidence."
Caden:
"What happens to share price?"
Adrian:
"It drops."
Melissa:
"We lose millions."
Adrian laughed.
"Temporarily."
Then:
"That's when we buy."
Market manipulation.
Now the case extended beyond family court and forgery.
Potential securities crimes.
Federal investigators became interested.
My humiliation at home had been connected to an attempted corporate power play.
Yet the worst part still wasn't money.
It was Donovan.
Caden had been willing to use our son as leverage.
Then Priya found a trust document involving Donovan.
A proposed "child asset protection trust."
Caden as trustee.
It would supposedly protect Donovan if I became incapacitated.
Attached schedule included assets that did not belong to Donovan.
They belonged to me.
Someone planned to funnel control through my child.
I felt physically ill.
Rachel said:
"Taylor, stop reading."
"I need to know."
"You need to sleep."
She was right.
Mom sat with me in mansion garden.
The fountain ran quietly.
Across street, our old house was dark.
Utilities had been restored under temporary neutral arrangements because property disputes were being handled legally.
Caden had moved to a furnished apartment.
Bonnie stayed elsewhere.
The house stood empty.
Mom asked:
"Why did you buy this mansion?"
I smiled faintly.
"Do you remember Dad's land?"
"The Prescott parcel?"
"Yes."
After Dad died, Mom almost sold remaining acreage.
I bought it from her at independently appraised value so she would have retirement money.
Years later, a solar developer leased neighboring land.
My parcel increased dramatically in value.
I sold part.
Used proceeds as down payment on the mansion through Saguaro Crown.
"I planned to give you the guesthouse."
Mom stared.
"What?"
"It has no stairs. Wide doors. Garden."
Her eyes filled.
"I don't need a mansion."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"Because I wanted you close without taking away your independence."
She laughed through tears.
"You bought me a house and forgot to mention it?"
"I was renovating."
"For three years?"
"I'm picky."
She hit my arm gently.
Then winced because arthritis.
We laughed.
For first time in days.
But peace lasted ten minutes.
Rachel called.
"Caden has disappeared."
"What do you mean?"
"He missed his required legal meeting. His phone is off."
"Where's Donovan?"
"With you?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"Bonnie?"
"Also unreachable."
My stomach tightened.
"Do you think they're running?"
"I don't know."
Then community security called.
At 3:12 a.m. previous night, someone had entered my old house using Caden's still-valid ownership access.
Camera showed Caden.
He left forty minutes later carrying a duffel bag.
What was inside?
Unknown.
But an inventory later found something missing.
The black document cabinet had already been seized.
Computers preserved.
What else?
Then Mom remembered.
"The floor safe."
I turned.
"What floor safe?"
"In your study closet."
I had no floor safe.
Mom stared.
"I saw Caden open it once."
A hidden safe inside my own house.
Installed without my knowledge.
Investigators obtained proper authority to examine location.
Safe gone.
Floor cavity empty.
But beneath carpet lay one torn photograph.
It showed Caden, Bonnie, Adrian, and Melissa standing beside a private aircraft.
On the back:
MEXICO OPTION - PHASE 2
And suddenly I understood why Caden had encouraged my Guadalajara trip.
May you like
Maybe the contract hadn't merely been convenient timing.
Maybe they had planned something there too.
