Chapter 5 - The Husband I Never Knew
Grant looked terrible.
Caroline almost enjoyed it.
His tie was gone.
His hair was disordered.
A dark stain marked one cuff of his white shirt.
He stood when she approached.
“Where’s Nathan?”
Caroline stopped ten feet away.
“How did you know he was here?”
“Police called me.”
“Why?”
“Because technically I’m family.”
“Not for much longer.”
Grant looked toward Ethan.
“Who is this?”
“Someone who doesn’t lie to me professionally.”
Ethan said nothing.
Grant lowered his voice.
“Caroline, we need to speak alone.”
“No.”
“This concerns our marriage.”
“Our marriage ended beside a swimming pool.”
“Because Sloane behaved like an idiot?”
Caroline stared at him.
“You still think Sloane is the problem.”
“She is part of the problem.”
“No, Grant. Sloane is a symptom.”
His eyes narrowed.
Caroline stepped closer.
“I opened box 317.”
That did it.
Grant’s face became blank.
Too blank.
“What box?”
“You were always a terrible liar when you were scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“My father left photographs.”
Grant swallowed.
“Caroline—”
“Thirteen years ago.”
“Whatever you think you found—”
“You knew Darius Cole before you met me.”
People moved through the lobby around them.
Grant seemed suddenly aware of the audience.
“Not here.”
“Why? You didn’t mind humiliating me publicly.”
“I did not push you into that pool.”
“You simply watched.”
His jaw tightened.
“I was trying to prevent a larger scene.”
“Congratulations. It became an enormous one.”
Grant stepped closer.
Ethan immediately moved between them.
Grant looked at him.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Whoever you are, this is none of your business.”
Ethan handed him a card.
Grant looked at it.
His expression changed again.
“You.”
“You recognize the name?” Ethan asked.
Grant handed the card back.
“No.”
Another lie.
Caroline saw it.
“What does he know about you?”
Grant ignored her.
“Come home.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Caroline, you’re making decisions while angry.”
“There’s the unstable wife again.”
“I never called you unstable.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Grant looked genuinely confused for half a second.
That intrigued Caroline.
“Your assistant heard you.”
“Maya?”
“Yes.”
“Where is Maya?”
This time the concern sounded real.
Caroline studied him.
“You don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“She’s missing.”
Grant stared.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
He looked toward Ethan.
“Is she alive?”
“We don’t know,” Ethan said.
Grant rubbed his face.
“Jesus.”
Caroline watched carefully.
“You care about her.”
“She’s worked for me for six years.”
“Then help us.”
Grant looked at her.
“How?”
“Tell the truth.”
Silence.
Grant walked toward an empty seating area.
Caroline reluctantly followed.
He sat.
For the first time in years, he looked smaller than the expensive suit he wore.
“I did know Cole before I met you.”
Caroline felt something tighten in her chest.
“How long?”
“Two years.”
“Why?”
“He invested in a company I started after business school.”
“You told me that company failed.”
“It did.”
“Because?”
“Cole wanted me to move money through it.”
“Illegal money.”
“Yes.”
“And you agreed.”
“At first I didn’t understand.”
“Stop.”
Grant looked at her.
“Do not insult me with the innocent-boy story.”
His eyes hardened.
“Fine. I understood enough.”
“And then?”
“I owed him.”
“So you married me.”
“No.”
The answer came fast.
Caroline laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I met you because of him.”
The words cut deeper than she expected.
Grant continued.
“But I married you because I loved you.”
“How convenient.”
“It’s true.”
“You targeted me.”
“I was supposed to get close to Robert.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“And I was the door.”
“At first.”
Caroline looked away.
Her eyes burned.
Grant reached toward her.
She moved back.
“Don’t touch me.”
His hand fell.
“What happened to my father?”
Grant went silent.
Caroline’s voice became low.
“Be very careful with your answer.”
“I didn’t kill Robert.”
“Did Cole?”
“I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
“I swear.”
“Did you give my father bourbon?”
Grant looked confused.
“Yes.”
“Was anything added to it?”
“No.”
“Did Cole have access to it?”
Grant’s face changed.
Caroline saw the answer before he spoke.
“What?”
Grant whispered, “The bottle came from Cole.”
Her stomach turned.
“You knew?”
“I knew he sent it.”
“And you gave it to my father?”
“I thought it was a peace offering.”
“From the man blackmailing you?”
Grant stood.
“I didn’t know Robert had discovered anything.”
“You gave my father a bottle from a criminal.”
“I didn’t know it was poisoned!”
The words echoed through the lobby.
Several people turned.
Grant realized what he had said.
Caroline stared.
“Poisoned.”
His face collapsed.
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew enough to understand what I was asking.”
“Nathan told you?”
“Answer me.”
Grant lowered his voice.
“Cole mentioned afterward that Robert’s heart had been weaker than anyone realized.”
“And you didn’t find that suspicious?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Immediately.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
That answer hurt most.
Caroline nodded slowly.
“Of course.”
“I was terrified.”
“My father was dead.”
“I had no proof.”
“You had suspicion.”
“I had you.”
Caroline’s eyes flashed.
“What does that mean?”
Grant looked broken now.
“It means I knew if I told you, you’d leave. And I told myself I was protecting you.”
“No. You were protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
At least he admitted it.
Caroline turned away.
Grant stood.
“Carrie.”
She spun around.
“Do not call me that.”
He stopped.
Only her father had used that name.
Grant looked down.
“There’s something you need to know about Sloane.”
Caroline almost laughed.
“I don’t care who she sleeps with.”
“It isn’t about the affair.”
“What then?”
“She works for Cole.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“What?”
Grant nodded.
“She approached me last year.”
“And you slept with her anyway?” Caroline asked.
Grant looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“Remarkable judgment.”
“I thought I could use her to learn what Cole was planning.”
“By sleeping with her?”
“It didn’t start that way.”
“Of course it didn’t.”
Grant rubbed his forehead.
“Cole wanted tonight to happen.”
“The pool?”
“Not specifically.”
“The public humiliation.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grant looked at Caroline.
“He wanted footage of you losing control.”
“For the trust.”
“Yes.”
“So you knew.”
“I knew he wanted to provoke you.”
“And you brought Sloane anyway.”
“I thought I could manage it.”
Caroline stared at him.
“You watched her push me into a pool.”
Grant’s eyes filled with regret.
“I froze.”
“No.”
“What?”
“You chose.”
He had no answer.
Ethan’s phone rang.
He stepped away, answered, then returned quickly.
“They found Maya.”
Caroline stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Relief flooded her.
“Where?”
“She walked into a police station in Quincy ten minutes ago.”
Grant exhaled.
Caroline looked at Ethan.
“What happened?”
“She says she escaped from two men who grabbed her near the harbor.”
“Did she identify them?”
“No.”
Ethan hesitated.
“But she gave police a name.”
“Whose?”
“Darius Cole.”
Grant went pale.
Ethan continued.
“And Maya says Cole is heading to your father’s cabin.”
Caroline’s heart stopped.
“How could he know about it?”
Grant whispered the answer.
“Sloane.”
Caroline looked at him.
“How would Sloane know?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“Because three months ago, she followed Nathan there.”
Everything became clear.
The cabin.
The evidence.
Her father’s recordings.
Cole was going to destroy them.
Caroline started walking.
Grant caught up.
“I’m coming.”
She stopped.
“No.”
“I can help.”
“You’ve helped enough.”
“I know the cabin. I know Cole.”
“So does Ethan.”
Grant looked at her desperately.
“Caroline, Cole will kill anyone who gets between him and those files.”
She held his gaze.
“Then for once in your life, Grant, get out of the way.”
She and Ethan left.
Grant remained in the hospital lobby.
But Caroline knew her husband well enough to understand one thing.
Grant Vale had never been good at staying out of anything.
And before dawn, all of them would meet at Robert Whitmore’s cabin.
May you like
Only Caroline did not yet know that one person had already arrived there.
Sloane Mercer.
