Chapter 5 - The Trap in the Parking Garage
By Monday morning, the city believed Louis Butler had secretly married his assistant.
The photograph appeared online at 7:03.
Louis and Corrine leaving his penthouse together.
At 7:18, another appeared.
Louis opening the car door for her.
At 7:31, Butler Holdings communications director called.
At 7:32, Louis stopped answering.
Corrine stared at her phone.
“This is insane.”
“You wanted believable.”
“I wanted Dawson to believe it, not half of Manhattan.”
Louis adjusted his cuff.
“Unfortunately, Dawson belongs to the half that reads gossip.”
Corrine looked at the headline again.
BILLIONAIRE BUTLER’S SECRET WIFE REVEALED.
“Billionaire?”
Louis looked at her.
“That’s the part bothering you?”
“I knew you were rich. Billionaire feels excessive.”
His mouth twitched.
“Sorry.”
She laughed.
It was the first uncomplicated sound he had heard from her in weeks.
Then her phone buzzed.
The smile disappeared.
Unknown number.
One message.
Pretty dress, Mrs. Butler.
Attached was a photograph taken through the café window across the street.
Corrine was wearing the same clothes she had on now.
Louis read it.
His entire demeanor changed.
“Victor?”
“Maybe.”
“Dawson?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s comforting.”
Louis called security.
This time Corrine didn’t object.
Because whoever had taken the photograph was close.
Very close.
Twenty minutes later, security found the café empty.
No photographer.
No Dawson.
Nothing.
But when Corrine returned to her desk, there was an envelope waiting.
No stamp.
No name.
Inside was a photograph from years earlier.
Louis recognized the man beside his father.
Victor Sloane.
On the back were six handwritten words.
ASK YOUR HUSBAND WHAT HE STOLE.
Corrine carried it into Louis’s office.
He looked at the photograph.
For the first time since she had known him, Corrine saw something unexpected in his eyes.
Fear.
Not fear for himself.
Fear of what she might learn.
“You promised no lying,” she said.
Louis slowly raised his gaze.
“I did.”
“What did you steal?”
He was silent.
Corrine’s heart sank.
“Louis.”
“It wasn’t money.”
“What?”
“It was evidence.”
“Of what?”
Louis looked at the closed office door.
“Everything.”
May you like
And with that single word, Corrine realized Dawson Palmer had never been the biggest danger in her life.
He had merely opened the door.
