Chapter 4 - The Bride Who Vanished Before Dawn
Evelyn Aldridge had always been good at disappearing.
As a teenager, she disappeared from boarding school for weekends in Manhattan.
At twenty-one, she disappeared from her own birthday party with a musician Margaret called “unsuitable.”
At twenty-six, she disappeared from a charity gala before her father finished his speech.
But this was different.
This time she had taken her passport, two suitcases and enough information to make her parents panic.
That distinction became clear at 1:17 the next morning.
I couldn't sleep.
I was walking through the second-floor hall when I saw light beneath the library door.
Cassian was inside.
He stood before a table covered with documents.
“You don't sleep?” I asked.
“Sometimes.”
“Tonight?”
“No.”
I stepped inside.
“Any news?”
“About which disaster?”
“Evelyn.”
“No confirmed location.”
“Isabel?”
“Her flight lands in forty minutes.”
I looked at the documents.
One was a photograph of Evelyn.
Perfect blonde hair.
Perfect white teeth.
Perfect expensive life.
I had cleaned her bedroom for seven years.
I had washed wine stains from dresses that cost more than my annual salary.
I had listened while she complained about being bored.
And yet I had never known her.
“Why would she investigate my father?”
Cassian leaned against the table.
“Perhaps she wasn't.”
“Then why send money from my account to Daniel Cross?”
“Maybe Cross was investigating something else and discovered your trust.”
I touched the edge of Evelyn’s photograph.
“She knew about the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“She ran anyway.”
“Yes.”
“She knew her mother might replace her.”
“That part we don't know.”
I looked at him.
“She knew Margaret.”
“Fair.”
My phone rang.
I jumped.
The number was blocked.
Cassian straightened.
“Don't answer.”
“It could be Evelyn.”
“It could be anyone.”
I answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
“Lydia?”
Evelyn.
I recognized her voice instantly.
“Where are you?”
Cassian was beside me.
He held out his hand for the phone.
I shook my head.
“Evelyn, everyone is looking for you.”
“I know.”
“You left me to marry Cassian.”
A pause.
“I didn't know she'd use you.”
“Who did you think she'd use?”
“I thought she'd cancel it.”
I almost laughed.
“You've met your mother.”
“I know.”
Her voice cracked.
For the first time in all the years I had known Evelyn Aldridge, she sounded genuinely frightened.
“Lydia, listen carefully. Don't trust Richard Hale.”
“I already know about him.”
Silence.
“How?”
“He ran.”
“Oh God.”
“What did you find?”
Cassian moved closer, listening.
Evelyn whispered, “Dad's companies aren't what they seem.”
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
Something in her tone stopped me.
“What?”
“The money isn't just stolen money.”
“What does that mean?”
“I hired Daniel Cross because I found old transfer records in Dad's office.”
“My father's records?”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Thomas Carter?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
Anger flooded me.
“For how long?”
“Three weeks.”
“Three weeks?”
“I was trying to understand.”
“You could have told me!”
“And then what? You'd confront Mom? Richard?”
“Yes!”
“And they would have destroyed everything before we could prove it.”
We.
The word stunned me.
“Why do you care?”
Evelyn was quiet.
“Because I found a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
“Your father standing beside mine.”
My heart pounded.
“So?”
“There was another man with them.”
Cassian's expression changed.
Evelyn continued.
“His name was Dominic Vale.”
Cassian went completely still.
I looked at him.
“Your father?”
He nodded.
Evelyn heard me.
“Cassian is there?”
“Yes.”
“Put me on speaker.”
I did.
Her voice filled the library.
“Cassian, your father knew Thomas Carter.”
“I gathered that.”
“Do you know why?”
“No.”
“I think they were trying to stop Charles.”
Cassian straightened.
“Explain.”
“I found a memorandum from eighteen years ago. Dominic Vale and Thomas Carter were preparing to report financial crimes connected to Charles Aldridge and Richard Hale.”
My mouth went dry.
Cassian's face became stone.
“My father died eighteen years ago.”
“So did Lydia's.”
The library became silent.
I whispered, “When did your father die?”
Cassian answered without looking at me.
“Four months after Thomas.”
Evelyn inhaled shakily.
“That's not all.”
“Go on.”
“The same investigator handled both accidents.”
Cassian's eyes sharpened.
“What name?”
“Martin Rusk.”
Cassian froze.
I saw something in his expression I hadn't seen before.
Shock.
“Who is Martin Rusk?” I asked.
Cassian didn't answer.
Evelyn did.
“According to the records, he was a state police detective.”
“That doesn't explain Cassian’s face.”
Cassian looked at me.
“Martin Rusk is the father of Adrian Rusk.”
“Who is Adrian?”
“My head of security.”
A cold silence followed.
Cassian picked up another phone and dialed.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
His expression darkened.
“Mateo.”
Thirty seconds later Mateo entered wearing jeans and a dark sweater.
He looked from Cassian to the phone.
“What?”
“Where’s Adrian?”
“At the south gate.”
“Confirm.”
Mateo called security.
The answer came quickly.
His face changed.
“He left twenty minutes ago.”
“Reason?”
“Said you ordered him to inspect the chapel.”
“I gave no such order.”
My stomach tightened.
Evelyn spoke urgently.
“Cassian, you need to listen. Daniel Cross told me the accidents were staged.”
I gripped the phone.
“What?”
“He wasn't certain.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“You paid him forty thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“From my trust.”
“I didn't know it was yours when I authorized the payment.”
“How could you authorize my trust?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“I found Richard's access token.”
Of course.
“Where are you now?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Evelyn.”
“No.”
“You owe me.”
“I know.”
“You almost got me married to a stranger.”
Cassian lifted an eyebrow.
I ignored him.
Evelyn whispered, “I'm trying to fix it.”
“You can't fix eighteen years by hiding.”
“I know.”
“Then come back.”
“I can't yet.”
“Why?”
There was noise behind her.
A door.
Footsteps.
Her breathing changed.
“Evelyn?”
“Someone's here.”
Cassian took the phone from my hand.
“Get out now.”
“I can't.”
“Window?”
“Second floor.”
“Bathroom?”
“No.”
“Where are you?”
She stayed silent.
Cassian's voice hardened.
“If you want me to help you, location. Now.”
“River House.”
Mateo moved instantly.
He was already typing.
Cassian asked, “Which river?”
“Connecticut. Near Essex.”
Mateo nodded.
“Got it.”
A crash sounded through the phone.
Evelyn gasped.
Then the line went dead.
I stared at Cassian.
“What do we do?”
He was already reaching for his jacket.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Lydia.”
“She called me.”
“That doesn't make you bulletproof.”
“And staying here doesn't make me safe.”
He paused.
He hated that I was right.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Then I'll drive myself.”
“You don't have a car.”
“I'll steal one.”
Mateo looked at Cassian.
“I believe her.”
Cassian swore under his breath.
Ten minutes later we were in an SUV heading north.
Rain blurred the highway.
Mateo drove.
Cassian sat beside him while I stayed in the back.
No one spoke for twenty minutes.
Then Mateo’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
“Connecticut police are already at the property.”
“Why?”
“Anonymous emergency call.”
I leaned forward.
“Evelyn?”
“Maybe.”
Another message arrived.
Mateo read it.
His face went still.
“What?”
Cassian asked.
Mateo turned the phone.
“House is empty.”
My chest tightened.
“And Evelyn?”
“No sign.”
Cassian stared ahead.
Mateo continued.
“But they found blood in an upstairs bedroom.”
My stomach dropped.
Cassian turned toward me.
Before either of us could speak, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
No voice.
Just a text.
A photograph appeared.
Evelyn was sitting in the back seat of a car.
Alive.
Terrified.
Someone had photographed her from the front passenger seat.
Underneath were seven words.
BRING LYDIA CARTER’S FATHER’S FILES OR SHE DIES.
I showed Cassian.
He read it twice.
Then he looked out into the rain.
“They made one mistake.”
“What?”
“They think we have the files.”
I stared at him.
“And we don't.”
“No.”
His eyes became cold.
“But we're going to find them.”
Because somewhere between a missing bride, my dead father's money and Cassian’s dead father, somebody had decided eighteen-year-old secrets were worth killing for.
And for the first time, I understood why Evelyn had run.
She had not been escaping a marriage.
May you like
She had been running from the same people who had been controlling my life since I was eight.
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