Chương 6 - The Message Carter Deleted
Michael Hayes arrived wearing yesterday's tuxedo.
He looked as though he hadn't slept.
I watched him through the security camera.
“Let him in,” I said.
Dad objected.
Miriam didn't.
“Conversation only,” she said. “No documents signed.”
Michael entered Cloudcrest.
His eyes went immediately to Lily.
Then to me.
Then to the forensic equipment.
That was when he knew.
“You copied the system.”
Not a question.
I folded my arms.
“Good morning to you too.”
Michael looked at Dad.
“Richard, we can handle this privately.”
Dad answered, “You're speaking to Serena.”
Michael turned back to me.
“Carter made a mistake.”
“A seven-day automated mistake?”
His jaw tightened.
“This family doesn't need a scandal.”
“This family?”
“The families.”
“No. Your family.”
He exhaled.
“Serena, Hayes Development employs four hundred people.”
There it was.
The moral pressure.
Not an apology.
Not an explanation.
Employees.
Families.
Consequences.
Anything except his son.
“We had a financing problem,” he continued.
“So you listed my property?”
“It was preliminary.”
“Without permission.”
“No transfer occurred.”
“You planned one.”
Michael looked toward Miriam.
“This isn't productive.”
I laughed softly.
“You came to my house.”
He hated that sentence.
I could see it.
My house.
Not Carter's.
Not Hayes property.
Mine.
“What was supposed to happen last night?” I asked.
Michael said nothing.
“Carter brings Lily here. I find them. He tells me to leave. The security system records me leaving voluntarily. Then what?”
“You're constructing a conspiracy.”
Evan spoke without looking up.
“The system constructed most of it.”
Michael's face tightened.
I continued.
“Then what?”
He finally answered.
“You and Carter were supposed to talk.”
“About?”
“Your future.”
“My money.”
“Your shared future.”
“My house.”
“Serena—”
“My house.”
Silence.
He looked suddenly older.
“Carter believed you'd never help us if he asked directly.”
“So he married me?”
“No.”
Too fast.
That answer mattered.
“No?” I repeated.
“He loves you.”
Lily made a bitter sound.
Michael ignored her.
“He handled this disastrously. But he loves you.”
I thought about Carter at the altar.
His damp eyes.
His whispered promise.
Maybe that was the most disturbing possibility.
Maybe he did love me.
Maybe some people could love you and still decide that hurting you was acceptable if it served them.
Love wasn't innocence.
That realization freed something inside me.
Miriam asked Michael about the lender.
He became cautious.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message.
Check Carter's deleted texts from Tuesday. Ask Lily about “Plan B.”
I stared at it.
“Who sent that?” Dad asked.
“I don't know.”
Lily saw my expression.
“What?”
I looked at her.
“What is Plan B?”
Her face changed.
Michael's did too.
That was enough.
“What is it?”
Lily whispered, “I don't know exactly.”
“But you've heard it.”
“Yes.”
“From Carter?”
She nodded.
“When?”
“Tuesday.”
Michael stood.
“I think we're done.”
“No,” I said.
He stopped.
“We're finally getting started.”
Lily told us about Tuesday.
Carter had called her from his car.
He sounded nervous.
He said if “the first plan” failed, they might need “Plan B.”
“What did you think he meant?”
“I thought he meant canceling the wedding.”
Michael headed for the door.
Dad stepped aside.
Nobody prevented him from leaving.
But before Michael reached it, I said:
“Your son told me he'd never let anyone hurt me.”
Michael stopped.
I waited.
“He should have included himself.”
Michael left.
Lily stared at the floor.
Then she whispered something that changed everything again.
“Serena.”
I turned.
“There was another woman.”
My stomach tightened.
“Another girlfriend?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“A woman who met Carter Tuesday night.”
“Who?”
“I don't know. But I saw her when I was leaving the restaurant.”
“What did she look like?”
“Older. Maybe fifty.”
She swallowed.
“She gave him an envelope.”
“What kind?”
“Legal-size.”
“And then?”
“He put it inside his jacket.”
She hesitated.
“I heard him tell her one thing.”
“What?”
Lily looked directly at me.
“He said, ‘If Serena won't leave, we'll use this.’”
Plan B wasn't another affair.
May you like
It was a document.
And somewhere between Tuesday night and my wedding, Carter had hidden it.
