Chapter 1 - THE FILE MY HUSBAND NEVER EXPECTED ME TO SEE
Gideon Ashford watched my fingers rest on the confidential folder.
Then he said, “Preston didn’t save you from that fire, Vivian. He caused it.”
For several seconds, I forgot how to breathe.
“What?”
Gideon pulled out the chair opposite him.
“Sit down.”
“I don’t want to sit down.”
“Then stand. But read.”
I opened the folder.
The first document was an insurance investigation from five years earlier.
The fire had destroyed the headquarters of Barrett Development, the company Preston owned before joining Ashford Capital.
Official cause: electrical failure.
Except the confidential report in my hands said something different.
ACCELERANT DETECTED IN EXECUTIVE RECORDS ROOM.
I stared at the words.
“That report was never in the police file.”
“No,” Gideon said. “Someone buried it.”
My hands began shaking.
I remembered the heat.
The smoke.
Preston unconscious near the conference room.
The ceiling collapsing behind me as I dragged him toward the stairwell.
I remembered waking in the burn unit three days later and discovering that half my back would never look the same.
“Why would Preston burn his own building?”
Gideon slid another page toward me.
“Because Barrett Development was three days away from an internal audit.”
The missing money was staggering.
Twenty-seven million dollars.
Payments routed through consulting companies.
Fake vendors.
Property acquisitions that existed only on paper.
And one signature appeared repeatedly.
Preston’s.
“He stole twenty-seven million?”
“Not from his own company.”
Gideon’s expression hardened.
“From investors.”
I felt sick.
“Then why is he working for you?”
“Because five years ago, I didn’t know.”
I turned another page.
Ashford Capital had recently begun negotiating a major merger involving Preston’s division.
If completed, Preston would receive an equity package worth more than eighty million dollars.
There it was.
The deal he had mentioned to Cassidy.
The money he was waiting for before divorcing me.
Gideon leaned forward.
“I discovered irregularities two months ago. Preston has been using the merger to hide liabilities connected to the old Barrett accounts.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because several of the transfers were made in your name.”
My head snapped up.
“What?”
He showed me the documents.
Vivian Barrett.
My signature.
My supposed authorization.
All forged.
“If this deal closes,” Gideon said, “Preston becomes wealthy enough to disappear, and you become the easiest person to blame.”
My stomach dropped.
He had not simply planned to leave me.
He planned to leave me holding evidence of his crimes.
I whispered, “That’s why he needs the merger.”
“Yes.”
“And Cassidy?”
Gideon’s jaw tightened.
“She’s involved.”
I looked down at the file.
Then I saw a photograph paper-clipped to the final page.
Preston standing outside Barrett Development.
The night of the fire.
Not trapped inside.
Outside.
The timestamp was eleven minutes before the emergency call.
I stared at Gideon.
“That’s impossible. I found him unconscious inside.”
“I know.”
“Then who was outside?”
Gideon pulled another photograph from the folder.
Same coat.
Same height.
Different angle.
The man’s face was visible.
It wasn’t Preston.
It was his identical twin brother.
A brother Preston had told me died when they were teenagers.
Gideon’s voice dropped.
“Vivian, your husband has been lying to you about more than another woman.”
He turned over the photograph.
On the back was a name.
PARKER BARRETT.
May you like
And beneath it:
CURRENT STATUS: ALIVE.
