Chapter 5 - THE MAID OF HONOR RUNS
Olivia reached the twenty-fourth floor before security intercepted her.
She did not resist.
She asked to speak with Mary alone.
Rebecca objected.
“She is potentially involved in conspiracy, fraud, and theft.”
Olivia stood inside the conference room with her arms wrapped around herself.
Her bridesmaid dress was wrinkled.
Her makeup had streaked beneath her eyes.
“I will talk in front of the attorney.”
Rebecca activated an audio recorder.
Olivia stared at it.
Then she placed Ethan’s phone on the table.
“He was going to delete everything.”
Mary remained standing.
“How long?”
Olivia swallowed.
“Eight months.”
The answer struck harder than Mary expected.
Eight months included Christmas.
Her father’s memorial.
The weekend Ethan proposed.
“You were beside me when he proposed.”
Olivia’s voice cracked.
“I know.”
“You helped me choose my dress.”
“I know.”
“You stood in my apartment and promised my father would have been proud of me.”
Olivia lowered her head.
“I know.”
Mary wanted to demand an explanation.
She wanted to understand what kind of person could participate in another woman’s happiness while quietly helping destroy it.
Instead, she asked the question that mattered.
“What is on the phone?”
Olivia looked toward Rebecca.
“Messages.”
“Voice recordings.”
“Photographs of documents.”
“Ethan keeps evidence because he trusts no one.”
“Not even his father.”
Mary glanced at the device.
“Why bring it to me?”
“Because he lied to me too.”
A bitter laugh escaped Olivia.
“He told me he was marrying you to save his employees.”
“He said your money would stabilize the company.”
“He promised the marriage would last one year.”
“After that, he would claim you were unstable, file for divorce, and marry me.”
Mary felt Rebecca go still beside her.
Olivia continued.
“Last night, I discovered he had been arranging a transfer to Switzerland.”
“The money was for himself.”
“There was no account for me.”
“There was no future for us.”
Mary’s expression remained cold.
“So you decided to develop a conscience when you realized you would not be paid.”
Olivia flinched.
“I know what I am.”
“No.”
“You know what happened to you.”
“You still have not understood what you did to me.”
Olivia wiped her eyes.
“The phone contains a recording from three weeks ago.”
“He was speaking with Charles.”
“They discussed your father.”
Mary’s breath caught.
Her father, Thomas Whitmore, had died eighteen months earlier after his car left an icy mountain road.
Police ruled it an accident.
Ethan had been the first person to reach the hospital.
He had stayed beside Mary through the funeral.
“What did they say?”
Olivia unlocked the phone.
She opened a voice file.
Charles’s voice filled the room.
Thomas should have signed before the accident.
Ethan answered.
He was never going to surrender control.
Charles spoke again.
Then perhaps the accident accomplished what negotiations could not.
Mary gripped the edge of the table.
The recording continued.
Ethan’s next words changed everything.
It does not matter how he died.
May you like
Mary trusts me now.
By tomorrow, she will belong to us.
