Chapter 9 - THE MARRIAGE ADRIAN DESIGNED
Marcus found the first proof at 2:00 a.m.
A recruitment payment.
Fourteen years earlier.
Adrian Bennett had paid an executive-search firm to identify promising young real-estate professionals.
One name had been highlighted.
Ryan Collins.
Years before Charlotte ever met him.
Then came photographs.
Adrian meeting Ryan at restaurants.
Golf clubs.
Conferences.
Long before Ryan claimed they were introduced.
Charlotte stared.
“How long?”
Marcus answered.
“Adrian appears to have known Ryan for at least fifteen years.”
Her marriage lasted eleven.
Ryan had lied from the first day.
She confronted him in his office.
He did not deny it.
“I knew Adrian.”
“How did we meet?”
Ryan looked at the floor.
“Through him.”
The answer was almost physically painful.
“The bookstore?”
“Arranged.”
The Boston bookstore where Ryan supposedly knocked over a stack of travel guides.
Where they laughed.
Where he bought her coffee.
Where their story began.
Fake.
“All of it?”
“The meeting.”
“Not what happened afterward.”
Charlotte laughed.
“Do not give me that.”
“I fell in love with you.”
“You targeted me.”
“Yes.”
The honesty stopped her.
“Why?”
“Adrian told me you were an heir.”
“How much did you know?”
“That you had money.”
“Did you know I controlled Bennett?”
“No.”
“Did you marry me for access?”
Ryan’s eyes filled.
“At first, I stayed because of it.”
She turned away.
“At first?”
“Then I loved you.”
“Stop saying that as if it improves anything.”
“It doesn’t.”
He continued anyway.
“Adrian promised me backing for Collins Development if I became part of the family.”
“And after we married?”
“He kept his promise.”
“Using my money.”
“Yes.”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
Eleven years.
A house.
Vacations.
Christmas mornings.
Arguments over groceries.
Sunday coffee.
All standing on a beginning he had hidden.
“When did the lie become real to you?”
Ryan whispered.
“The morning after our wedding.”
She almost hated him for answering beautifully.
“Why?”
“You woke up and asked me whether I wanted pancakes.”
A tear escaped his eye.
“You had just married me.”
“You could have asked for anything.”
“You asked whether I wanted pancakes.”
Charlotte looked away.
He continued.
“I realized I had gotten what Adrian wanted.”
“But I wanted something completely different.”
“You.”
The silence between them became unbearable.
Then she asked the question that mattered.
“Why Sabrina?”
Ryan had no beautiful answer.
“Because I became resentful.”
“Of me?”
“Of who I was beside you.”
“You didn’t know who I was.”
“That was the problem.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You were content.”
“I kept chasing more.”
“Every success made me afraid somebody would discover I hadn’t earned enough of it.”
“Sabrina made me feel like the man I pretended to be.”
Charlotte finally understood.
Ryan had not cheated because Sabrina was more beautiful.
Or more successful.
He cheated because she reflected the version of himself he wanted to believe.
Charlotte reflected the truth.
“Did you help Adrian steal from Bennett?”
“No.”
“Did you sign documents?”
“Yes.”
“Knowing they could hurt me?”
His silence answered.
Charlotte opened the door.
“We’re done.”
“Charlotte—”
“No.”
“This time I’m not talking about the marriage.”
May you like
She looked back.
“I’m talking about your immunity.”
