Chapter 11
Clara
When I arrived home the folder was ready for me.
Name: Not given.
No address listed.
Just a fat brown package, resting on my kitchen table like someone had come into my flat, placed it there and disappeared.
I saw it.
Then at the door locked.
I said, “Okay.” “That’s not creepy at all.”
I didn't touch it for nearly a minute.
After all that had happened, I had learnt a very important lesson.
Nothing with Alexander Vale was ever simple.
Finally I pulled out a chair and sat.
Inside photos.
Bank statements.
Copies of the emails.
And one photograph that made my stomach turn.
Vivian Hart was at the door of a private restaurant.
She had someone with her.
The man next to her was Daniel Cross.
Former CFO, Alexander.
The same individual Alexander had accused of stealing millions from Vale Holdings.
The same man who had apparently disappeared from the company six years earlier.
I glanced at the following photo.
Vivian and Daniel shook hands.
Another photo.
Vivian got in his car.
Another one.
They were sat across from each other at a table.
My heart started to race.
None.
I flipped another page.
There was a date.
Six years back.
Two months after Noah was born.
I swallowed hard.
Vivian hadn't just been sitting around waiting for my marriage to blow up.
She'd been involved.
I picked up the phone and contacted my attorney.
“Tell me you have a minute.
You sound like that; I always have a moment.”
“Daniel Cross, who is he?
There was a pause.
“Why?”
“Because I think he was in league with Vivian,” she said.
Another silence.
This one was longer.
Where did you get this, Clara?”
“I'll explain later. Could you look at the financial records?
“Can I?"
Tonight.
Don't you know it's almost midnight?
“Yes,”
“You are terrifying now.”
“I’ve had practice.
She gave a gentle laugh.
“Send me everything.
I put the phone down.
My hands shook.
Not that I was scared of Vivian.
Because I didn't know what to think about Alexander anymore.
Months ago I had told myself that his marriage to me was only out of necessity.
A duty.
A pregnancy.
A kid.
Convenient setup.
But what if there had been another?
I flipped through the pages.
At first they seemed normal.
Transfers.
Corporate payments.
Expenses on security.
Attorneys' Fees.
Then I saw something.
The payments were not random.
They were attached to me.
Security around my previous house.
An investigator.
Medical record.
Another security team reporting to Noah.
I held my breath.
I continued reading.
Every several months there were payments made to protect someone listed only as C.W.
My initials.
I looked at the screen.
Alexander was protecting me.
For years now.
Gently.
Without telling me.”
I recalled every time I’d accused him of not caring.
All the birthdays he had skipped.
I had gone to sleep alone every nite.
Every time I cried in the bathroom because my hubby couldn't seem to see me as a woman he wanted.
And now I was finding out that while I believed he'd forgotten me, he'd been paying people to make sure no one could hurt me.
It should have filled me with affection.
But that made me furious.
Honesty was not protection.
I didn't need a wealthy body guard.
I needed a wife.
I wanted Alexander there, sitting next to me, when I got terrified.
I wanted him to tell me the truth.
I needed him to say, I love you.
Instead, he’d created walls around me and called it security.
I threw the papers back.
Then another document I saw.
It was a report from six years back.
The first line made my blood run cold.
Threat Assessment: Clara Whitmore Vale and Minor Child.
I read the report through.
There were threats.
Genuine ones.
I got followed.
Somebody tried to obtain Noah’s medical records.
Someone had been trying to find out where we lived.
Alexander had known it.
He had known it all.
And he never told me.
My eyes were burning.
"Why?" I whispered.
And then it dawned on me, Vivian.
I glanced again at the pictures.
If Vivian was working with Daniel, maybe she knew about the threats too.
Perhaps she'd used them.
Maybe she'd helped to distract Alexander.
Perhaps every problem that had dragged him from his home had been meticulously fabricated.
But there was something I didn't comprehend.
Why would Vivian do that?
The answer arrived the following morning.
I discovered her at the Vale estate.
She looked absolutely together.
She did, of course.
Vivian always appeared like she was born knowing where the cameras were.
"You've come," she said.
“I needed the answers.”
“You earned them.”
That was a surprise.
She crossed her arms.
I loathed you. I didn't want Alexander to leave you.
I nearly laughed.
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“Not.
Her face fell.
I wanted him to leave you because I thought he loved me.
I looked at her.
What?
“I thought I was the lady he’d always loved.
She averted her gaze.
“When you came along, everyone told me the marriage was about the baby. Alexander never put them right. He never supported you. He never acted like your marriage mattered.
My chest constricted.
Vivian went on.
“So I waited.”
"You worked with Daniel.
“Yes.
My gut churned.
"But I never heard about the threats against you.
She seemed really rattled.
"Alexander was obsessed with the company," Daniel said. ‘If the pressure was increased, Alexander would inevitably crack,’ he claimed. I believed him.
“And the financial sabotage?”
Her eyes flooded with remorse.
“I helped make some of it.”
I looked at her.
“You broke up my marriage.”
Vivian gulped.
"I know."
There was no smugness, for once.
No competition.
Just guilt.
She dug in her handbag and gave me something, a little envelope.
“I discovered this after Alexander departed from the lake house.
I looked down.
The front was engraved.
"Mine wasn't.
I knew the penmanship.
Alexander's.
It was a date six years ago.
I opened it, my hands trembling.
There was a single sheet of paper inside.
I read the first line.
Clara,
My heart dropped.
The following sentence shattered something inside me.
"I don't know how to tell you that I love you already."
I quit breathing.
Six years back.
Before I ever asked him if he loved me.
Before I urged him to look at me.
Before I had decided I was nothing but an obligation.
These remarks were penned by Alexander.
And the letter had never been sent.
I looked at the date once more.
Then to Vivian.
“Where did you get this?
She shook her head.
“I think you should ask your husband.”
I glanced at the letter.
My hands were trembling.
Because suddenly the story I had believed about my marriage wasn’t the complete story.
Nowhere near.
And for the first time I feared what the rest of the truth could mean.
I tucked the letter into my chest.
Then I whispered the words I'd waited six years to hear.
“I love you already.
But Alexander had not been speaking to me.
He’d been writing to me.
Six years ago.
And strangely, that letter had never been in my hands.
Not so far.