Chapter 12 - Lauren’s Confession
Lauren was brought into the hotel library shortly after midnight.
Grant Mercer had escaped.
Lauren had not.
She looked exhausted.
Mary sat across from her.
There were no lawyers in the room.
No parents.
No Ethan.
Just Mary and the woman who had once been closer than a sister.
“Tell me everything.”
Lauren began crying.
Mary waited.
Eventually Lauren whispered, “I hated you.”
Mary had expected excuses.
Not that.
Lauren wiped her face.
“I hated how easy everything looked for you.”
“It was not easy.”
“I know that now.”
Mary said nothing.
Lauren continued.
“You never talked about money.”
“Because it embarrassed me.”
“I thought it was because you knew you were better than everyone.”
Mary almost laughed from disbelief.
“You were my best friend.”
“I know.”
“Were you sleeping with Ethan because you hated me?”
Lauren looked down.
“At first, no.”
Mary’s jaw tightened.
“At first?”
“He came to me eight months ago.”
“Why?”
“He said he was scared about marrying into your family.”
“And you comforted him in bed?”
Lauren flinched.
“Not immediately.”
Mary leaned back.
Every answer made the betrayal worse.
Lauren continued.
“Mercer contacted me afterward.”
“What did he want?”
“He wanted information about you.”
“Such as?”
“Your schedule.”
Mary’s expression hardened.
“Your relationship with your parents.”
Lauren looked ashamed.
“Whether you planned to sign a prenup.”
Mary remembered months of conversations.
Lauren asking casual questions.
Lauren joking about rich families.
Lauren encouraging Mary not to involve lawyers because it might insult Ethan.
None of it had been casual.
“How much did they pay you?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
Mary stared at her.
Lauren began crying again.
“I was drowning in debt.”
“You could have asked me.”
“I didn’t want charity.”
“So you sold me instead.”
Lauren had no answer.
Mary stood.
Then Lauren said something that stopped her.
“Mercer wasn’t running it.”
Mary turned.
“Who was?”
“I never met them.”
“But?”
“But he called them ‘the Architect.’”
Mary frowned.
Lauren continued.
“Every major decision came from the Architect.”
“Thomas?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Mercer hated Thomas.”
Mary thought back to the phone call.
Thomas is panicking.
Rebecca says the contingency is compromised.
Both might have been pawns.
“Did you ever hear the Architect?”
Lauren nodded.
“Once.”
Mary stepped closer.
“Man or woman?”
Lauren hesitated.
“Man.”
Mary felt a strange sense of relief.
Rebecca might actually be innocent.
“Anything else?”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“The voice was familiar.”
Mary waited.
“I just couldn’t place it.”
Mary moved toward the door.
Lauren suddenly called her name.
“Mary.”
She stopped.
“Ethan loved you.”
Mary turned around.
Lauren continued.
“I know that doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It doesn’t.”
“But the plan changed after he fell in love with you.”
Mary stared at her.
“What changed?”
Lauren wiped her tears.
“He started trying to get out.”
Mary said nothing.
May you like
Lauren’s next sentence made her stomach drop.
“That’s why the Architect decided Ethan had to take the fall.”
