Chương 6
But I let it go.
“What else do you know?”
Rachel became quiet again.
“There is one more thing.”
I waited.
“Garrick did not marry you because of your company.”
My chest tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means he did not know the full extent of your assets.”
I frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does.”
Rachel continued carefully.
“Before the wedding, Garrick believed you were successful, but he underestimated you.”
A strange mix of emotions moved through me.
Relief.
Pain.
Confusion.
“So why?”
“Because he thought marrying you would give him access.”
I gripped the phone harder.
“Access to what?”
“Your connections.”
I said nothing.
“Your father’s contacts.
Your reputation.
Your business knowledge.”
I swallowed.
“He wanted to use me.”
Rachel did not answer.
She did not need to.
The silence was enough.
After the call ended, I stood in the hallway for several minutes.
Elise finally walked over.
“Who was that?”
I looked at her.
“Someone who knew my husband better than I did.”
She did not push.
That was different from the Elise I remembered.
The old Elise would have demanded every detail immediately.
The new Elise waited.
Maybe because she understood some wounds needed space before they could be touched.
I returned to the kitchen.
“I need to show you something.”
She sat across from me.
I placed my phone on the table.
The message from Rachel was still open.
Elise read it quietly.
Her expression changed line by line.
When she finished, she looked up.
“Alana.”
I stared at the table.
“I don’t understand.”
“What?”
“I spent years trying to prove I was not with him for money.”
My voice became quieter.
“And he spent years trying to prove he was not with me for mine.”
Elise reached across the table.
“That is not your fault.”
I pulled my hand back slightly.
“I know.”
But knowing something and feeling it were different.
That night, I barely slept.
Not because of Garrick.
Not because of Miriam.
Because every memory from my marriage had suddenly become uncertain.
The first dinner with his parents.
The proposal.
The conversations about the future.
Which moments were real?
Which ones had been carefully calculated?
At three in the morning, I walked into the kitchen for water.
My mother’s old clock was ticking above the doorway.
The same clock that used to wake me before school.
I stood there listening.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
I realized something.
For years, I had been afraid of losing everything.
The marriage.
The family.
The image.
But maybe the hardest part was not losing those things.
Maybe the hardest part was admitting I had never truly had them.
My phone buzzed.
This time, I expected another message.
It was from Thomas.
“Call me when you wake up.”
There was a second message underneath.
“We found something in the company records.”
I stared at the words.
Then another message appeared.
“This changes the entire case.”
I called immediately.
He answered before the first ring finished.
“You’re awake.”
“I am now.”
His voice was serious.
“That was not meant to scare you.”
“It did.”
“I know.”
I sat at the kitchen table.
“What did you find?”
A pause.
Then Thomas said the sentence that made me sit completely still.
“Garrick was not only hiding money.”
I waited.
“He was preparing to take control of Sovereign Crest.”
The room went silent.
“How?”
“We found documents.”
“What kind of documents?”
“Draft agreements.”
My heart started beating faster.
“With your signature?”
“No.”
Thomas stopped.
“With a forged signature.”
I looked at the dark window in front of me.
Outside, the neighborhood was asleep.
The world looked peaceful.
But somewhere across the city, Garrick Vance was waking up to the realization that his entire life was collapsing.
And now I knew something else.
He had not just betrayed my trust.
He had planned to erase me.
Thomas did not speak immediately after telling me about the forged signature.
That silence was unusual.
Thomas had always been a man who knew exactly what to say.
In courtrooms.
In negotiations.
In rooms filled with people who thought they were smarter than everyone else.
But now he sounded careful.
Like he was choosing every word because he knew some words could not be taken back.
“How long have you known?” I asked.
“We confirmed it tonight.”
“Confirmed.”
“Yes.”
I stood from the kitchen chair and walked toward the window.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we found enough evidence to believe the documents were not accidental.”
I stared at the empty street outside.
“Who found them?”
“Our forensic accounting team.”
I almost smiled.
Years ago, I would have asked what a forensic accounting team was doing looking into my husband.
Now it felt normal.
That was how quickly a life could change.
“What exactly did he try to do?”
Thomas exhaled.
“He attempted to create a legal structure that would transfer voting control of several assets connected to Sovereign Crest.”
I closed my eyes.
“He was trying to take my company.”
“Not exactly.”
The correction irritated me.
“Thomas.”
“I’m not defending him.”
“I know.”
“He was trying to create the appearance that he had authority over your company.”
“Why?”
“That is the part we are still investigating.”
I walked back to the table.
“Because he wanted money?”
“Maybe.”
“Because he wanted power?”
“Possibly.”
Thomas paused.
“But there is something else.”
I waited.
“Garrick was meeting with someone.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet.”
That answer bothered me.
Not because Thomas lacked information.
Because Garrick had always made me believe there were no secrets between us.
Now every unanswered question felt like another locked door.
“When did you find these documents?”
“Two days before the confrontation.”
I stopped.
“Two days?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Thomas was quiet.
“Because I did not have enough proof.”
I looked down.
“You knew something was wrong.”
“I suspected.”
“And you said nothing.”
His voice softened.
“I was trying to protect you.”
May you like
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
