Chapter 5
The hotel room suddenly felt too small.
Brooke stood in front of the television.
She looked like she had forgotten how to blink.
“Nathan’s ex-fiancée?”
I repeated it because I needed to be sure.
Brooke nodded.
“Marissa Cole.”
“How long ago?”
“Six years.”
I glanced at the photograph again.
Diane stood between Victor and Marissa at some kind of charity event.
They looked comfortable.
Not like strangers.
Like partners.
“Did Diane like her?”
Brooke laughed bitterly.
“She loved her.”
That told me almost everything.
Nathan had mentioned Marissa once.
Only once.
Their engagement had ended suddenly.
He had said they wanted different lives.
Brooke never pushed.
Now I wondered how much of that story had been true.
“Call him,” I said.
Brooke looked at me.
“I don’t want to.”
“You don’t have to forgive him.”
“I know.”
“But if his ex is connected to missing money, you need facts.”
She stared at her phone.
Then she called.
Nathan answered on the first ring.
“Brooke?”
She put him on speaker.
“Who is Marissa Cole?”
Silence.
Too much silence.
Brooke closed her eyes.
“Nathan.”
“She’s my ex.”
“I know that.”
“How?”
“She’s on the news.”
“What?”
He sounded genuinely shocked.
Brooke explained.
Nathan said nothing for several seconds.
Then:
“I haven’t spoken to Marissa in five years.”
Brooke looked at me.
“Did your mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
He breathed heavily.
“My mother kept in touch with her parents.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I saw Marissa at a company gala last year.”
Brooke went still.
“You never told me.”
“It wasn’t important.”
“Apparently your definition of important is different from mine.”
“Brooke, nothing happened.”
“I didn’t ask if anything happened.”
Nathan stopped.
She continued.
“Did your mother speak to her?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. They talked for maybe twenty minutes.”
“Did that seem normal?”
“My mother always liked her.”
Brooke flinched.
Nathan heard it.
“That came out wrong.”
“No, it didn’t.”
“She never accepted our breakup.”
“Why did you and Marissa break up?”
Silence again.
I saw Brooke’s expression change.
“Tell me the truth.”
Nathan’s voice became quieter.
“She wanted me to take over the company immediately after we married.”
Brooke frowned.
“What?”
“She and my mother had a plan.”
“For what?”
“Marissa wanted me to buy my father out.”
I looked at Brooke.
She sat down slowly.
Nathan continued.
“She thought Dad was too conservative. Mom agreed.”
“So you ended the engagement?”
“Not immediately.”
Brooke looked hurt.
“How long did you know?”
“A few weeks.”
“And?”
“I told Marissa I wouldn’t push Dad out.”
“What did she say?”
“That I lacked ambition.”
Nathan gave a tired laugh.
“She said if I couldn’t choose our future over my father’s feelings, she couldn’t marry me.”
Brooke stared at the television.
“So she left?”
“Yes.”
“And your mother blamed you.”
“Yes.”
That explained Diane’s hostility toward Brooke more clearly than anything else.
Brooke wasn’t simply a daughter-in-law Diane disliked.
She was proof Nathan had chosen a different life.
A life Diane didn’t control.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Nathan answered quickly.
“Because I didn’t want you comparing yourself to her.”
Brooke’s voice cracked.
“I never would have.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
He went quiet.
Brooke rubbed her forehead.
“Where are you?”
“Conference room downstairs.”
“With police?”
“They just finished talking to me.”
“Your mother?”
“In another room.”
“Your father?”
“Here.”
Brooke hesitated.
“Is he okay?”
Nathan’s voice softened.
“No.”
Even after everything, Brooke cared.
That was who she was.
Nathan continued.
“Dad says he wants to cooperate fully.”
“What about Victor?”
“He gave them his phone.”
“That recording?”
“And messages.”
I sat forward.
“What messages?”
Nathan heard me.
“Claire?”
“I’m here.”
He exhaled.
“Victor says he kept everything.”
Brooke’s expression tightened.
“Everything?”
“Texts, emails, wire instructions.”
“From Diane?”
“And possibly Marissa.”
There it was.
The name nobody wanted to hear.
Brooke looked toward the television again.
“What happened eight months ago?”
Nathan answered quietly.
“I don’t know.”
“Could you have known?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That isn’t the same as no.”
He didn’t defend himself.
Good.
Maybe he was finally learning.
“I’m checking every account I have access to,” he said.
Brooke looked at me.
“What should I do?”
That question wasn’t for Nathan.
It was for me.
I chose my words carefully.
“Protect yourself first.”
Nathan heard.
“I agree.”
Brooke seemed surprised.
He continued.
“David can arrange independent counsel for you.”
She frowned.
“Independent from you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your lawyer should protect you, not me.”
That was the first thing he had said all night that made Brooke breathe easier.
“Okay.”
“I’ll pay for it.”
“No.”
“Brooke.”
“No. I don’t want anything tied to your family right now.”
He paused.
“Fair.”
They sat in silence over the phone.
Then Nathan whispered, “Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“Are you safe?”
Brooke’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He swallowed.
“That’s all I needed.”
She ended the call.
Then she cried again.
Not loudly.
Just tears slipping down her face while she stared at nothing.
I sat beside her.
“You still love him.”
She nodded.
“I hate that I do.”
“You don’t have to hate it.”
“He lied.”
“Yes.”
“He also sounds terrified.”
“Yes.”
“And I don’t know which version of him is real.”
“Maybe both are.”
She looked at me.
I continued.
“He can love you and still have failed you.”
That hurt her.
But she nodded.
A knock sounded at the door.
I stood immediately.
“Who is it?”
“Hotel security.”
I checked the peephole.
Two guards stood outside with a woman in a business suit.
I opened the door halfway.
The woman introduced herself.
“Anna Morales. I’m with hotel security management.”
“What happened?”
She glanced toward Brooke.
“We found someone trying to access the service elevator to this floor.”
My skin prickled.
“Who?”
“A woman.”
Brooke stood.
Anna held up a phone.
“We pulled a still image from the camera.”
She showed us.
Brooke gasped.
I recognized the face from television.
Marissa Cole.
“What did she want?” I asked.
“She left when staff confronted her.”
Brooke grabbed my arm.
“Call the police.”
“We already did.”
Anna nodded toward the hallway.
“We’re posting security outside your room.”
I thanked her.
Then she handed me something.
“She dropped this near the elevator.”
A hotel key-card sleeve.
Inside was a folded note.
My name wasn’t on it.
Brooke’s was.
She opened it with shaking fingers.
Only one sentence had been written.
Ask Nathan what happened the night before our wedding.
Brooke stopped breathing.
I took the note.
“This could be manipulation.”
“I know.”
“She wants you scared.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t assume it’s true.”
Brooke stared at me.
“I said the exact same thing about Diane three hours ago.”
That silenced me.
Her phone buzzed again.
Nathan.
Brooke stared at the screen.
Then she answered.
“What happened the night before your wedding to Marissa?”
The line went silent.
Brooke closed her eyes.
“Nathan?”
His voice finally came.
Low.
Broken.
“She disappeared.”
Brooke’s face drained.
“What do you mean?”
“The night before our wedding, Marissa vanished for fourteen hours.”
I felt cold.
Brooke whispered, “Where was she?”
May you like
Nathan answered.
“I never found out.”
