Chapter 5 - The Marriage That Began With a Lie
I spent the next morning reading documents that turned six years of marriage into evidence.
Edward had told me we met by coincidence at a charity event.
The records showed his company had been tracking Sterling assets for eighteen months before that night.
He had told me purchasing my family’s former properties was simply business.
Emails showed he had negotiated options on several properties before Sterling Group formally defaulted.
He had told me he knew nothing about Victor Calder.
Financial records said otherwise.
But there was another surprise.
Edward had repeatedly rejected Calder’s most aggressive proposals.
That mattered.
The evidence did not paint a simple picture.
Edward had profited from my family’s collapse.
But someone else had engineered much of it.
Mercer warned me not to confuse degrees of guilt with innocence.
“He may not have started the fire,” he said, “but he bought the building while it burned.”
That afternoon Edward arrived at the hospital.
Matthew asked whether I wanted him removed.
“No.”
I wanted answers.
Edward entered alone.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked afraid.
“Valerie.”
“Did you know Victor Calder?”
“Yes.”
The admission came quickly.
“Did you know who I was when we met?”
“Yes.”
My heart broke quietly.
“Did you marry me because of Sterling Group?”
“No.”
“How am I supposed to believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
That surprised me.
Edward sat down.
“I was ambitious. Calder told me Sterling was collapsing because your father had made catastrophic decisions. He offered me properties at prices I knew were impossible.”
“And you bought them.”
“Yes.”
“You never wondered why?”
“I didn’t want to.”
There it was.
Not innocence.
Choice.
“Lauren?”
“I met her two years ago. She presented herself as an investment strategist. I didn’t know she was Calder’s daughter until tonight.”
“Were you sleeping with her?”
Edward closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The truth hurt less than the lies surrounding it.
“How long?”
“Four months.”
I looked toward the window.
He continued.
“She convinced me you were trying to reclaim Sterling assets through the marriage. She showed me documents.”
“Fake documents?”
“I know that now.”
“And that justified locking me downstairs?”
“No.”
Finally, he said something true.
“No,” he repeated. “Nothing justified that.”
I pressed the call button.
Matthew entered.
Edward stood.
“Valerie, there’s something else.”
I looked at him.
“Calder believed Andrew survived.”
Mercer stepped through the doorway.
“How do you know?”
Edward swallowed.
“Because three years ago, Calder asked me to help find him.”
“Why?”
Edward reached inside his jacket.
Matthew immediately stepped forward.
Edward slowly removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Andrew.
Standing beside a woman I didn’t recognize.
On the back was an address in New Mexico.
Mercer stared.
“When was this taken?”
“Six weeks ago.”
My heart pounded.
“You knew my brother might be alive for six weeks?”
Edward’s silence answered.
I stood despite the nurse’s warning.
“You let me mourn him.”
“I was trying to verify it.”
“You let me mourn him!”
Edward lowered his head.
Matthew stepped between us.
Mercer took the photograph.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
“When?”
Then he looked at me.
“Valerie, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“The address in New Mexico.”
My stomach dropped.
Mercer continued.
“Someone reached it before us.”
“Who?”
He turned toward Edward.
May you like
“Lauren.”
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