Chapter 14
When I woke up,Lucas was sitting next to me, watching me. I remembered being pushed against the wall and hitting the floor. I even remembered seeing Thea and telling her that I had gotten lightheaded. I didn’t want her to know I was stupid, and Franklin had caught me off guard. I was done calling him my father because he had never been one to me.
“Anna found you in the bathroom, passed out, and told Thea. She called me, and I brought you here.” His voice was soft, almost pensive.
This man lied to me. He used me and my emotions against me. He probably orchestrated the attack on my home so he could make himself look better. What angered me was how he looked at me, like I was the one who betrayed him. I’d told him the truth this entire time. I hadn’t given him half-truths. I told him I couldn’t talk about it, and I couldn’t.
I sat up as I swallowed and nearly gasped. The muscles in my throat hurt.
“What happened?”
“I got lightheaded,” I rasped. “I’m sorry.” I swallowed and winced.
“What’s wrong with your throat?”
Like he didn’t know. He probably knew when my father would get home and knew he planned to ambush me in that restaurant. It was likely Lucas was right outside waiting for an update. They probably had a good chuckle at my expense.
Even as all this chaos was going on in my mind, my horrid, traitorous heart fought against me. I knew what my father said, and I knew he’d manipulated me in the past. My brain hurt from all the twists and turns and guesses. I didn’t know which way was up.
I did meet with Lucas. I did see my father enter his restaurant. He didn’t tell me that he would marry me that night. He told my father. He followed me. How could I be sure Lucas wasn’t manipulating me, too?
My entire body was achy, but I couldn’t stay in this room for one more second. I had to leave and get away from him. I needed a moment to sort through everything.
“I called my doctor. He should be here shortly to check you out.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary. I feel fine now.” I moved to stand, and he stilled me with his hand. I pushed it away. “Really, I’m fine now.”
When my eyes met his, daggers were being thrown at me. “He needs to check you out.”
“Lucas, tonight was a lot. I’ve gone from being me to being me with you to being me with you and your family. I haven’t been alone for years. I’m getting married in a few days. I’m just…overwhelmed.”
His posture softened. “I guess that is a lot.”
Brick by brick, the wall was built.
“Exactly.” I hugged myself. “I’m going to sleep in the guest bedroom tonight. I just need a little space.”
“All right.”
One more layer of bricks. I could barely see the tips of Lucas’s hair. There was zero insulation. A winter storm arrived, blowing arctic air over my soul, and I was so tired of trying to stay warm. Maybe frostbite wouldn’t be too bad. I would lose a few things, but by then, I would be so numb I wouldn’t care anymore.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Lucas.” I turned, walked down the hall, and into the guestroom. I shut and locked the door before stumbling to the bed and falling on it.
Curling on my side, I pulled a pillow to my chest, and the tears ran. For tonight, I was going to let myself hurt. I’d figure out my next move tomorrow.
The moment Lucas was gone,I was up, ready, and out of the condo as well. I was done being a coward. I’d spent my life cowering from Franklin, and those days were over.
As I opened the door to my home, I smiled at Ms. Ether. She’d been our housekeeper for years now, and like Remy, she’d been nice to me. I didn’t socialize with her, though. Not because I thought I was better than her but because I worried it could get her fired, or hurt. That was the reason I didn’t have friends. I couldn’t trust that they were safe from Franklin.
I refocused on the reason for my visit and put purpose in my steps. The closer I got to my father’s study slash office, the higher my pulse raced. I knew he wouldn’t catch me. He was at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for land that Benoit Financial had donated to the children’s hospital. I wasn’t stupid enough to think he didn’t have security cameras, which was why I found someone willing to part with a jammer. It had been on since the moment I walked through the door.
He would probably guess it was me, but he wouldn’t have proof, and he wouldn’t know why I was there. I planned on leaving his study exactly the way I found it. The same person who sold me the jammer had given me a quick lesson on picking locks, too. As long as it wasn’t too complicated, it shouldn’t be very hard. I was a lot smarter than he thought I was.
I had a limited amount of time, too, since I had an appointment for the final dress fitting today, and I was meeting Thea at the shop.
Thinking about her made me freeze. I was almost positive Lucas knew Franklin was in the bathroom with me. If he knew, she was the one who told him. What if…
I shook the thought away because I couldn’t get distracted. If Thea hated me, then she hated me. There was nothing I could do to convince them that I wasn’t working with Franklin.
“Looking for this?”
I whirled around and found Remy looking at me, holding a key up. He’d caught me. I held my breath.
He walked to the door, unlocked it, and pushed it open. “I’ll stand out here and keep watch. Find what you need to find.”
As I passed him, I looked up at him. “Why?”
“I know Franklin’s working with Marco, and they nearly killed me. If it weren’t for Thea, they would have. If Franklin doesn’t have any loyalty, then neither do I.”
All I did was nod in response and step the rest of the way into the study. I’d never really been in here because it was forbidden. I knew Franklin did business in here because that was how I learned about the trust fund and his plans for me.
He finally told me, but after he had discussed it with someone I didn’t get a chance to lay eyes on. It could have been Marco Moretti, but I wouldn’t know. I never even got to hear the person he was talking to.
I didn’t have a lot of time to just stand around. If Franklin finished up early or the security company let him know the cameras were down, he”d find me.
Rushing to the desk, I began to go through all the drawers. He was either cocky and thought I would never dare invade this space, or it was a trap. The second place I looked had the information I was after. I began furiously snapping photos because I didn’t want to risk taking the documents outright. All this brazen stuff was new to me, and I was pretty proud of myself for even being in that room.
Once I was done, I put everything back and continued going through his desk. I shouldn”t have, but I felt like I had to take the risk. I checked the rest of the desk, and it annoyed me. I hoped to find something that might hurt him.
My hip hit the desk, and a secret drawer popped open. I didn’t know if he just hadn’t closed it well enough or what. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. I pulled things out and took as many photos as I could. I wasn’t even reading the stuff, just snapping away.
“Hey, Claire, the car just pulled up.”
My heart rate skyrocketed. I rushed to put things back and paused as I began to close the secret compartment all the way and then thought better of it. I left it and everything else exactly the way I found it.
I raced to the door and pulled it shut. Remy waved for me to go to a closet just a few feet away. I ducked inside and was thrust into darkness. I wasn’t trying to disparage Remy, but there was a part of me that wondered if he was setting me up.
Paranoia was getting the better of me. Remy had been loyal to Franklin for over ten years, and Franklin couldn”t care less if he got killed. Of course, Remy couldn’t tell him he knew. Otherwise, he’d be a liability, just like me.
My father’s voice carried, and the moment I heard the second man, a tidal wave of emotions came over me. That was a voice I’d never forget. Never. It was like I was transported back in time. His stale, alcohol-laced breath, his calloused hands scraping against my skin, and his whispered dirty talk in my ear. I clamped my hand over my mouth as nausea tickled the back of my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut and begged God to get me out of there.
The closet door whipped open, and Remy rushed me to the back door. “Walk north. I’ll have a car pick you up.”
I nodded and raced out of the house. I was close to passing out by the time I slowed down. Then, another fresh wave of sickness overcame me. I could taste the bile. Dirty, disgusting, used, worthless, and a host of other words listed in my mind. Words my father had thrown at me since that night.
Logically, I knew it wasn’t true, but nothing about what happened to me was logical. Or right. I gasped as it hit me that Remy was probably going to call Lucas. He’d know that I’d been at Franklin’s and assume I was meeting him.
I’d have to figure this out on my own. I pulled out my phone, booked an Uber, and tucked myself away in the bushes so that no one could see me wandering down the street.
As I stepped off the street and disappeared into the foliage, I smiled. I’d broken into my house. Gone into a room I’d never had the guts to look at twice. I’d taken pictures of stuff that would make Franklin furious, and I had done it without getting caught. I liked this new me. She was powerful and capable and strong.
I was done with his crap. I was done with him. If it was the last thing I did, I would take him down.
When I returnedto the condo, I was relieved to find myself alone and frustrated that I’d been unable to get an appointment with a lawyer. While I’d waited for the car, I’d pulled up the photos I’d taken and slowly read through them.
Franklin lied to me. Perhaps to Lucas, too. I needed a lawyer to look at it to verify, but I was pretty sure I was going to be half a billion dollars richer as soon as I said I do—well minus Lucas’s half. All I needed to do was show proof that I returned the license to the clerk’s office.
I wondered if Lucas knew this or if Franklin planned a double cross. It was possible. More than possible, undoubtedly, that was the plan. There was no way Franklin was going to share my trust with him or anyone else.
During the drive back to the condo, I’d searched for a lawyer in Chicago, and thought better of it. I didn’t know who rubbed elbows with Franklin, but I felt I’d have a better shot with a lawyer out of town.
Over the next hour, I called office after office, and it was weeks until I could see anyone. I didn’t have weeks. I had days. Frustrated, I threw myself down on the couch and groaned.
Since there was nothing I could do about that, I pulled up the photos from the secret compartment in the desk. I sat up, my mouth slowly dropping open. What I was reading was huge and damning and incriminating.
Franklin and Marco have been working together much longer than I ever could have imagined. Not only did they plot together to kill Marco’s dad, they did it so they could start shipping in women and selling them across the country.
I swiped and continued reading. There were dates and times when they met. Locations of warehouses and partners outside the state. Information on a movie production company.
My heart dropped to the floor as I read through the names of the girls they’d targeted. Gianna Kalantz. Lucas’s sister. Her name wasn’t spelled the same way, but I knew. I also knew why they’d done that. To protect her. I suspect Franklin didn’t know who she was at first. According to what I read, he hadn’t directly killed her, but he was associated with her death. I knew his connection to the company wasn’t exactly proof, but it was all I needed. Her picture was tucked in with the papers I photographed. I couldn’t see all of her face, but enough to know she was young and beautiful. In the next picture, there was a write-up about a man being stabbed to death as he walked out of a store… Lucas’s dad.
My family took from Lucas more than once. It was no wonder he hated me. I hated me. How could he ever trust me? We were to be married tomorrow, and the thought of spending years with a man who would never confide in me or allow me any closer, crushed me.
I needed to tell him. Part of me wanted to race to find him and give him everything I had, but if I did, Franklin would likely kill him and marry me off to someone else, and I couldn’t risk that.
If anyone deserved my trust, it was Lucas. It would never compensate for what Franklin did, but it was something. And if I could keep my mouth shut long enough to marry him, half of my trust would be his.
It felt disgusting to know all of this and worse to keep it from him. I just hoped I could keep myself together long enough to get through the ceremony. Once I did, I could get the license to the clerk and get the receipt.
Once I was sure Lucas would receive the money, I’d go from there. I didn’t know where there was, but I wouldn’t be in Lucas’s life. How would he ever look at me without seeing his sister’s killer?
Divorce wasn’t on the table, but I didn’t see any other course of action.
I had fallen for my husband, and my marriage was over before I had even said I do.