Chapter 9 - THE RING THAT HELD A MURDER
I ripped the engagement ring off my finger.
For three months I had kept it inside a box.
That morning, for reasons I could not explain, I had put it back on a chain beneath my blouse.
Now Adrian stared.
“You kept it.”
“That is not the important part.”
Fair.
Owen examined the ring.
The stone setting contained a tiny sealed cavity.
Inside:
A micro memory card.
My father had apparently believed in spy movies.
We played the recording inside the SUV.
Senator Langley’s voice.
Clear.
Thomas’s voice too.
My father, David Cole.
Langley said:
David has the books.
Thomas replied:
He won’t talk.
Langley answered:
Everyone talks when they think they’re dying naturally.
I stopped breathing.
Then my father’s voice entered.
He had been recording secretly.
“You’re going to poison me?”
Silence.
Langley laughed.
“You should have taken the money.”
The recording ended.
My hands shook.
My father had known.
He had gone into that meeting expecting a confession.
And he got one.
But he died before he could use it.
Adrian reached toward me.
Stopped.
“Can I?”
I knew what he meant.
I nodded.
He took my hand.
For exactly ten seconds, I let myself remember who he had been before betrayal became the only thing between us.
Then I pulled away.
“We find Julian.”
The medical facility looked like a private rehabilitation center.
Thomas had registered Julian under another name.
He was weak.
Burn scars along one arm and shoulder.
But alive.
Colleen saw him first.
She collapsed against the doorway.
“Julian.”
He cried.
So did Adrian.
I looked away.
Some reunions did not belong to outsiders.
Then Julian saw Adrian.
“You idiot.”
Adrian laughed through tears.
“You took my car.”
“You’re welcome.”
They hugged.
For the first time that day, something good happened.
Then Julian noticed Rebecca.
She had come too.
His expression changed.
“You.”
Rebecca frowned.
“Me?”
Julian looked at Adrian.
“You were really going to marry her?”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“That was the plan.”
Julian laughed.
“Then Thomas’s plan worked better than I thought.”
We froze.
“What?”
Julian looked at Rebecca.
“Your engagement wasn’t Adrian’s idea.”
Rebecca went pale.
“What?”
“Thomas arranged your first meeting.”
Adrian stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Julian had found messages between Thomas and Senator Langley.
Both men wanted Adrian tied to Rebecca.
Langley wanted leverage.
Thomas wanted Adrian distracted.
The relationship was engineered from the beginning.
Rebecca sat down.
“So none of it was real.”
Adrian looked at her.
“My choices were real.”
That mattered.
He did not hide behind manipulation.
“I chose to cheat.”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“And I’m sorry.”
She nodded once.
Not forgiveness.
Acknowledgment.
Then Julian whispered:
“There’s one more thing.”
Of course.
He looked at me.
“Meredith, Adrian didn’t fake his death because of Thomas.”
I turned.
“What?”
“He decided to stay dead because Colleen told him you were pregnant.”
My blood stopped.
“I wasn’t pregnant.”
Julian frowned.
“That’s what we later learned.”
Adrian went pale.
I stared at him.
“You thought I was carrying your child?”
“Yes.”
“And that made you stay away?”
He looked ashamed.
“Because someone told me Thomas would use the baby to control me.”
I could barely speak.
“Who told you?”
May you like
Adrian whispered:
“My mother.”
