Chapter 5 - The Mistress Had Another Name
Marcus arrived at Caldwell House two hours later.
Security almost refused him entry.
I allowed it.
Not because I trusted him.
Because I wanted to watch his face when Adrian showed him Vanessa's real identity.
Marcus stood across the library table.
Adrian turned the laptop toward him.
Vanessa Sloan.
Daughter of Raymond Sloan.
Marcus stared.
"No."
"That's her," I said.
"No."
"You've been sleeping with her for eleven months, Marcus. I assume you recognize her."
"Her name is Cole."
"Apparently not."
He sat down.
It was the first time I had seen him genuinely broken.
Not embarrassed.
Not angry.
Broken.
"She told me her parents were dead."
I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
"She lied."
Marcus rubbed both hands over his face.
Then he looked at me.
"I didn't know."
"About Vanessa?"
"Any of this."
"But you knew Raymond."
"Yes."
"And you hid that from me."
"Because I thought your father stole from mine."
I waited.
He continued.
"When Dad died, I found documents."
"The ownership claim."
His eyes widened.
"You found it?"
"My father kept the release."
Marcus looked away.
"He told me Charles cheated him."
"And you believed him."
"He was my father."
"So was Charles."
That silenced him.
Lily slept in a portable bassinet beside me.
Marcus looked toward her.
Something shifted in his face.
Regret perhaps.
But regret wasn't accountability.
"Did you marry me because of the company?" I asked.
His eyes returned to mine.
"No."
"Tell me the truth."
"I am."
"Marcus."
"I didn't know who you were when we met."
That much I believed.
"Then when?"
"Six months after we started dating."
"And you stayed silent?"
"I was afraid you'd think exactly what you're thinking now."
"Did you take the CEO position to reclaim what you believed belonged to your father?"
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
I closed my eyes.
Our marriage hadn't been completely fake.
Somehow that hurt more.
He had loved me.
And resented me.
Wanted me.
And wanted what belonged to my family.
Those contradictions had apparently lived beside each other for seven years.
"Did you forge my signature?"
"No."
"Did you authorize Vanessa to move trust funds?"
"No."
"Did you give her credentials?"
"Yes."
"Then your recklessness gave her the weapon."
He lowered his head.
"I know."
Adrian interrupted.
"There's more."
He had traced the shell companies.
The forty-eight million dollars had been headed toward entities linked indirectly to Raymond Sloan.
The transfer had failed because my father's trust required secondary verification for unusual movements.
That secondary verification was Adrian.
Vanessa hadn't known.
Marcus looked sick.
"So she was using me."
I said nothing.
He laughed once.
A bitter sound.
"Eleven months."
I wanted to say something cruel.
I wanted to tell him he deserved every second of humiliation.
Then Lily made a tiny sound.
And suddenly I was too tired for cruelty.
"You used me too," I said.
Marcus looked up.
"Maybe differently. But you did."
"I loved you."
"Love without honesty isn't enough."
His eyes became wet.
"I know."
"Do you?"
He looked at Lily.
"I ruined everything."
"No."
I shook my head.
"You made choices. Don't hide behind the word ruined like this was an accident."
He nodded slowly.
That was the first moment Marcus truly stopped defending himself.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message.
His face changed.
"Vanessa."
He showed us.
If you want your laptop back, come alone. You know where.
Adrian immediately said, "You're not going."
Marcus looked at him.
"I am."
"No."
"She has executive files."
"Law enforcement handles it."
Marcus shook his head.
"She won't meet anyone else."
I stood carefully.
Pain cut across my abdomen.
Marcus instinctively moved toward me.
I raised one hand.
He stopped.
"You don't get to play hero now."
"I'm not."
"Then what are you doing?"
"For once?"
He looked at Lily.
"Trying to fix something I broke."
Marcus forwarded the message to investigators.
He agreed to cooperate.
No secret meeting.
No reckless confrontation.
Authorities arranged surveillance around the location Vanessa had selected—an abandoned Meridian distribution facility outside the city.
Marcus wore a recording device.
I remained home with Lily.
At 8:42 p.m., Adrian called.
"They have Vanessa."
I closed my eyes.
"Raymond?"
"No."
"Where is he?"
"Unknown."
"Marcus?"
"Safe."
I exhaled.
I hadn't realized until then that part of me still cared whether he survived.
That didn't mean I wanted him back.
Some doors can close without hatred.
Then Adrian said, "Claire, Vanessa had your medical records."
My eyes opened.
"What?"
"Hospital schedule. Surgical notes. Discharge planning."
"Why?"
"We don't know."
My skin turned cold.
Three days after my C-section.
Marcus had expected me to remain somewhere else.
Vanessa had known exactly when I was vulnerable.
"Did she arrange for me to come home early?"
"We're checking."
Another call appeared.
Hospital.
I answered.
A nurse from maternity services introduced herself.
She sounded nervous.
"Mrs. Vale, we're reviewing an irregular access event involving your chart."
"What kind?"
"Someone accessed your discharge records using a physician's credentials."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Who?"
"We don't know yet."
Lily began crying upstairs.
I stood.
"Was any information changed?"
A pause.
"Mrs. Vale..."
My heart began pounding.
"What was changed?"
"Your approved emergency contact."
"To whom?"
Another pause.
"Vanessa Cole."
I gripped the table.
She hadn't simply wanted my husband.
She wanted access to me.
To my medical information.
To my discharge.
Possibly even to Lily.
Then the nurse said something worse.
"There was also an attempted amendment to your daughter's authorized pickup list."
My blood went cold.
"Whose name?"
"Vanessa Cole."
At that moment, the affair stopped mattering.
The mansion stopped mattering.
Even the forty-eight million dollars stopped mattering.
May you like
Someone had tried to gain authorized access to my newborn daughter.
And I was about to find out why.
