Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO HELPED BURN MY LIFE DOWN
Cassidy requested to see me from her hospital room.
I almost refused.
Naomi advised me to go only if Cassidy consented to my attorney being present.
She did.
That alone told me she was scared.
Cassidy looked smaller without makeup, diamonds, or an audience.
“I didn’t know about the fire,” she said.
“Good morning to you too.”
Her mouth tightened.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She looked at Naomi.
“Is everything recorded?”
“Yes.”
Cassidy took a breath.
“Parker approached me eighteen months ago.”
“Before you started sleeping with Preston?”
“Yes.”
I felt almost nothing.
Interesting.
“He told me Preston had stolen millions and planned to blame Ashford Capital if the merger failed.”
“And you believed him?”
“He had documents.”
“Forged?”
“Some. Not all.”
Cassidy explained that Parker convinced her to help monitor Preston.
Then seduced her.
Classic.
Later, Parker instructed her to begin an affair with Preston too.
I stared.
“You slept with my husband as an assignment?”
Cassidy looked ashamed.
“At first.”
“And afterward?”
“I cared about him.”
“Which one?”
She started crying.
I had no sympathy left to spend.
“The dress code?” I asked.
Her eyes dropped.
“Parker wanted you at the gala.”
That surprised me.
“But you designed a rule to make sure I stayed away.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“The rule was supposed to make you come.”
“What?”
“He said you were stubborn. That if we openly humiliated you, you’d show up just to prove we couldn’t.”
My stomach turned.
Parker understood me.
Or thought he did.
“Why did he need me there?”
Cassidy shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“He wanted a photograph of your scars.”
My back prickled.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Gideon arrived halfway through the interview.
Cassidy visibly recoiled.
He did not threaten her.
He simply stood behind Naomi.
That seemed to frighten her more.
Then Cassidy revealed the part she had hidden from Preston.
Parker believed something had been implanted beneath one of my skin grafts after the fire.
I stared.
“What?”
“He called it insurance.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He said someone at the hospital put something in your back while you were unconscious.”
Naomi frowned.
“A tracking device?”
Cassidy shook her head.
“Data.”
My blood went cold.
Five years ago, digital storage devices could easily be tiny enough to conceal.
But inside a surgical graft?
It sounded insane.
Then I remembered Dr. Elias Warren.
The reconstructive surgeon who performed my first emergency procedures.
He disappeared six months after my final surgery.
His clinic closed without explanation.
Gideon’s expression changed when I said his name.
“You know Warren?”
“He once worked for Ashford Medical Technologies.”
“What did he do?”
“Secure biometric storage research.”
The room became silent.
Gideon explained that Ashford had developed prototype micro-storage devices designed to protect sensitive financial authentication data.
The project was abandoned after a security breach.
The breach occurred five years ago.
The same week as my fire.
I felt nauseated.
“What does that have to do with Preston?”
“Barrett Development leased the building where the prototype servers were stored.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“Could Parker have been stealing more than investor money?”
Gideon nodded slowly.
“He may have stolen the encryption keys.”
My mind returned to the flames.
The surgeries.
The scars.
Someone may have used my unconscious body to hide evidence.
“Why would Dr. Warren do that?”
Gideon’s face hardened.
“Maybe because he knew Parker would search everywhere else.”
Then Cassidy whispered:
“Parker said Warren didn’t disappear.”
We turned.
May you like
She looked terrified.
“He killed him.”
