Chapter 6 - THE TRUTH REED SHOULD HAVE TOLD HER
Reed told her about Marshall’s photograph.
The false aunt story.
The fear she might be blood relation.
The political alliance.
The trust.
Everything.
Nenah sat near window.
Did not interrupt.
Then:
“You believed I might be related to you.”
“Yes.”
“And instead of telling me, you agreed to marry someone else.”
Reed closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I thought if I told you before I knew, I would destroy you.”
“You thought watching you marry another woman would be kinder?”
“No.”
He did not defend.
Good.
“I was afraid.”
That surprised her.
Reed Kincaid saying fear aloud.
“Of what?”
“That Marshall was right.”
“About blood?”
“Yes.”
“And if he wasn’t?”
Reed swallowed.
“That the council would use you.”
Nenah laughed bitterly.
“They already did.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped.”
“Yes.”
That answer mattered.
No excuse.
Then Reed said:
“Carolyn and I are ending the agreement.”
Nenah stared.
“For me?”
“No.”
Good.
“Because it was built on fraud.”
Better.
“And because neither of us wants it.”
Then:
“I love you.”
Nenah’s eyes closed.
Wrong timing.
He knew immediately.
“I shouldn’t have—”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Say it.”
He did.
“I love you.”
Silence.
Nenah’s throat tightened.
“I love you too.”
Reed almost moved.
She raised hand.
“But love doesn’t fix this.”
He stopped.
“Yes.”
“I left because you chose power.”
“I know.”
“Now I find out someone manipulated you, and part of me wants that to erase what you did.”
“It shouldn’t.”
Good.
Then:
“What happens now?”
Reed said:
“You decide.”
She almost laughed.
Everyone suddenly learning that phrase.
Then Reed explained Marshall.
They needed evidence.
Trust records.
Political payments.
Court affidavits.
Enough to remove him legally from trustee role and organization.
But Marshall controlled people.
Could destroy documents.
Could run.
Nenah looked at him.
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
She narrowed eyes.
“Reed.”
He corrected.
“I want you safe.”
“That is not an answer.”
He breathed.
“I want you to authorize your attorney to challenge the trust.”
“Why?”
“Because if Marshall loses voting control, he loses leverage inside Kincaid.”
There.
Concrete.
“And if I refuse?”
“I find another way.”
Good.
Nenah thought.
Then:
“I’ll do it.”
Not for Reed.
For herself.
For twenty years of stolen identity.
Then another secret surfaced.
Arthur received old voicemail archive from Evelyn.
One message recorded days before death:
“Marshall knows who Nenah’s father is.”
Nenah froze.
Arthur stared.
“You said you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t.”
Then voicemail continued:
“If anything happens to me, ask Thomas why Marshall is afraid of Samuel Voss.”
Reed’s face changed.
Samuel Voss.
One of the rival family leaders his father had spent years avoiding war with.
Still alive.
Seventy.
Feared.
May you like
And possibly—
Nenah’s biological father.
