Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Wanted to Become Mrs. Caldwell
By sunset, Victoria Haynes had become the most dangerous person in Ethan's world.
Not because she carried a weapon.
Because she knew exactly where the bodies were buried.
Ethan and I sat in the library while Lily slept upstairs with a trusted nurse. I had insisted on staying near her, and Ethan had arranged a security detail without making decisions on my behalf.
He seemed to be learning.
Slowly.
Painfully.
“What did the police find after your father's death?” I asked.
Ethan stared into the fireplace.
“A broken window, two missing financial ledgers, and a security system that had been disabled from inside the estate.”
“Was Victoria there that night?”
“She claimed she was in Boston.”
“And you believed her?”
“I didn't know her well enough to trust her. But her father helped stabilize the company after my father's death.”
“Haynes Industries?”
He nodded.
The Haynes family had supplied shipping equipment to Caldwell Maritime for decades. Their alliance had made both families wealthy.
It had also given Victoria access to the mansion.
“Why were you going to marry her?” I asked.
Ethan looked at me.
“Because my board insisted that the alliance would protect the company.”
“That isn't a reason to marry someone.”
“No. It isn't.”
His honesty startled me.
He continued, “I told myself I could tolerate the arrangement. Victoria was intelligent, connected, and understood the business. I thought affection could come later.”
“Could it?”
He looked down.
“Not after I remembered what it felt like to love you.”
My throat tightened.
“Then why didn't you find me sooner?”
“I did. But every lead ended with someone telling me you'd left willingly. I thought you hated me.”
“I never hated you.”
“Then why didn't you tell me about Lily?”
I looked toward the staircase.
“Because I received a threat. Because I thought your enemies would use her against you. And because Victoria showed me a message that made me believe you'd chosen your family over us.”
Ethan's face darkened.
“She forged it.”
“I know that now.”
He took a slow breath.
“I should have found the truth.”
“So should I.”
For a moment, the anger between us softened into grief.
Then Malik entered carrying a document.
“We located Victoria's private office. There's evidence she arranged a transfer from one of the company's dormant accounts.”
Ethan studied the page.
“Six million dollars?”
“Transferred to a shell company in the Cayman Islands.”
I leaned forward.
“What was the money for?”
Malik shook his head.
“The destination account is linked to a property in upstate New York. A private residence with no listed occupants.”
Ethan's phone rang.
The caller ID showed an unknown number.
He answered on speaker.
A woman's voice filled the room.
“Ethan, darling. I hear you've been asking questions.”
Victoria.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere you won't find me.”
“What did you do in my father's study?”
A quiet laugh.
“Your father was a foolish man. He believed loyalty could survive money, fear, and ambition.”
Ethan's hand tightened around the phone.
“Did you kill him?”
Silence.
Then Victoria said, “You should be asking why your father spent his last night protecting Rosa Bennett.”
My heart stopped.
Ethan turned toward me.
Victoria continued, “Ask her what she took from his office the night he died.”
I couldn't breathe.
Because I had never entered Thomas Caldwell's office.
At least, that was what I had always believed.
Then an old memory surfaced.
A fundraiser.
A glass of spilled water.
May you like
A brief conversation with an elderly man who had pressed something into my hand before leaving.
A silver key I had kept inside a jewelry box for four years.
