Chapter 3 - The Woman Whose Perfume Followed Me Home
Evelyn Mercer opened her apartment door at 5:46 the next morning wearing a silk robe and an expression that told me she had expected me eventually.
Just not with Michael standing behind me.
“Daniel.”
“Get dressed.”
Her expression hardened. “You don’t get to give me orders in my own home.”
“You’re right.”
I stepped inside anyway.
“But somebody has been watching my pregnant wife, and your name appears twice on a financial report connected to the surveillance.”
That changed everything.
Evelyn’s face lost color.
“What report?”
Michael shut the door.
“Sit down.”
She looked between us. “Am I in danger?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Were you paid by Victor Carter?”
Her eyes shifted.
There it was.
Not guilt exactly.
Recognition.
“How much?”
“Daniel—”
“How much did my uncle pay you?”
“He didn’t pay me to sleep with you.”
The sentence hit harder than a confession.
Michael looked away.
Evelyn closed her eyes. “That came out badly.”
“Did you sleep with me because he asked you to get close?”
“No.”
“But he asked you to get close.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the woman who had helped me destroy my marriage.
Then I hated myself for even forming that sentence.
Evelyn hadn’t destroyed it.
I had.
“What did he want?”
“Information.”
“What kind?”
“Your schedule. Your mood. Whether you were fighting with Claire. Whether you planned to change the board structure.”
“And you gave him that?”
“At first.”
Michael leaned against the wall. “What changed?”
Evelyn wrapped her robe tighter.
“I realized he wasn’t asking business questions.”
“What was he asking?”
She looked at me.
“When Claire’s baby was due.”
I went still.
“What hospital she planned to use. Whether she had private security at appointments. Whether Daniel intended to put shares in the child’s name.”
Michael’s jaw clenched.
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“I tried.”
I laughed once.
No humor in it.
“When? Between hotel rooms?”
Evelyn flinched.
I regretted it immediately.
Not because it wasn’t ugly.
Because it was cowardly.
My choices were mine.
She walked toward the kitchen and poured water with a trembling hand.
“Three months ago, Victor approached me after the Lakeshore Foundation gala. He knew my consulting firm was struggling.”
“How?”
“He’d invested through an intermediary.”
Michael muttered a curse.
“He said if I could become friendly with you, he would help me secure clients.”
“Friendly.”
“I knew what he meant.”
“And you agreed.”
“For two weeks.”
She looked at me.
“Then you made it easy.”
That was the truth.
No seduction powerful enough to erase choice.
I had been bored. Flattered. Entitled.
Claire had been carrying my child while I enjoyed being admired by someone who asked nothing difficult of me.
Evelyn continued.
“Victor wanted you distracted.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“He kept saying family transitions made men careless.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed.
“What family transition?”
“He never explained.”
My phone vibrated.
Rebecca.
I answered immediately.
“Where is Claire?”
Her voice came fast.
“I don’t know.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What do you mean?”
“She left the house before dawn.”
“What house?”
Silence.
“Rebecca.”
“She made me promise.”
“Your sister is seven months pregnant, being followed, and someone has her medical records.”
Evelyn stared at me.
Rebecca whispered, “Oh my God.”
“Where was she?”
“Lake Geneva.”
Wisconsin.
Less than two hours north.
“What address?”
She gave it.
I grabbed my coat.
Rebecca raised her voice. “Daniel, wait.”
“What?”
“She left because a black SUV parked across the road for two hours.”
Michael was already typing the address into his phone.
“Did she drive?”
“No. She took my friend’s car.”
“What car?”
“Blue Subaru.”
“Plate?”
Rebecca gave it.
“Daniel…”
“What?”
“She left a note.”
My pulse hammered.
“What does it say?”
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“It says, ‘If Daniel calls, tell him not to come. The person following me may be waiting for him to lead them here.’”
I stopped.
That was exactly what Claire had warned me about.
I had spent my life believing movement was strength.
Get there first.
Hit first.
Control the room.
But every instinct I trusted could now endanger her.
Michael watched me.
“We can pull traffic cameras without sending anyone.”
“No company systems.”
“Agreed.”
Evelyn suddenly spoke.
“Daniel.”
I turned.
She disappeared into her bedroom and came back with an envelope.
“What’s that?”
“Something Victor gave me last week.”
“Why do you still have it?”
“Because he told me to destroy it, and that made me think I shouldn’t.”
Inside were copies of photographs.
Claire at her doctor. Claire entering the penthouse. Claire meeting Michael at a coffee shop.
I looked at him.
“You met her?”
Michael didn’t deny it.
“Two months ago.”
“Why?”
“She asked me to.”
My hand curled into a fist.
“You kept that from me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she was scared.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
Michael’s voice lowered.
“Of what you would do if you knew.”
I stared at him.
“What did she show you?”
“The listening device.”
“You knew?”
“I knew about the first one.”
Heat rose through me.
“You stood in that nursery last night pretending—”
“I pretended nothing. The device we found last night is different.”
He took both devices from his pocket.
“The first Claire gave me used a commercial frequency. Cheap. Easy to buy. The second is encrypted military-grade equipment.”
Evelyn whispered, “Who has access to that?”
Michael looked directly at me.
“Someone with federal or intelligence contacts.”
Victor had both.
Before joining the family business, my uncle spent seven years working defense procurement in Washington.
I felt suddenly cold.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Michael’s answer came quietly.
“Claire made me promise.”
“My wife asked my security chief to hide a threat from me?”
“She said you were distracted, angry, and having an affair.”
Every word landed.
“She believed if you discovered someone was watching her, you would start a war before we knew who the enemy was.”
Michael stepped closer.
“And Daniel?”
“What?”
“She was right.”
For once, I had no defense.
I looked at Evelyn.
“What else did Victor give you?”
“That envelope.”
“Nothing digital?”
She shook her head.
Then stopped.
“Wait.”
She went back to her bedroom.
When she returned, she carried an old phone.
“He gave me this for contacting him.”
Michael took it.
Locked.
“What’s the passcode?”
“I don’t know.”
He removed the case.
A small sticker inside displayed six numbers.
Michael tried them.
The phone opened.
There were no messages.
No contacts.
One application.
A location tracker.
Three devices appeared on the screen.
DEVICE A — CARTER PENTHOUSE.
DEVICE B — D. CARTER VEHICLE.
DEVICE C — ACTIVE.
My mouth went dry.
“Where is C?”
Michael tapped it.
A map opened.
The dot was moving north through Wisconsin.
Rebecca’s friend’s Subaru.
Claire’s car.
“She’s still being tracked,” Evelyn whispered.
I stared at the moving dot.
Michael reached for his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Wisconsin State Police.”
“No Carter people.”
“I know.”
I looked at the screen.
The dot stopped.
A rural road.
Then it disappeared.
“No signal?” I asked.
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
“What, then?”
He turned the phone toward me.
DEVICE C OFFLINE.
A second later, my personal phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then I heard Claire breathing.
“Claire?”
Her voice was barely audible.
“Daniel…”
“What happened?”
“I found the tracker.”
Relief almost dropped me to my knees.
“Where are you?”
“I threw it onto a delivery truck.”
Despite everything, I closed my eyes.
Smart.
Always smarter than people assumed.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“Baby?”
“She’s kicking me like she’s angry.”
I almost laughed.
Then Claire whispered, “Daniel, I need you to listen.”
“I am.”
“The man in the SUV got out.”
My relief vanished.
“What man?”
“I saw his face.”
“Who?”
A pause.
May you like
Then my wife said the one name I never expected.
“Your uncle Victor.”
