Chapter 6 - THE SILVER WATCH
By seven the next morning, Caroline Wells was sitting in Adrian’s breakfast room wearing the same silver evening dress from the night before and none of the confidence she had arrived with.
She had slept for less than two hours.
She was furious.
“My father?”
Adrian placed Marian’s housekeeping log on the table.
“Grant says Elena intended to meet him.”
Caroline read the entry.
Her face tightened.
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Then ask him.”
“No.”
Adrian’s eyebrows rose.
Caroline looked him directly in the eye.
“If my father knows something about your sister’s death, I want him telling me where I can see his face.”
Nora stood near the window.
For the first time, she saw something beneath Caroline’s polished surface.
Fear.
Not fear of Adrian.
Fear of what her own family might be capable of.
Adrian said, “You came here hoping to marry me because your father wanted an alliance.”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised everyone.
“My father’s construction business is overextended. Your transportation contracts could stabilize it.”
“And you agreed?”
“I’m thirty-three years old. I understood the arrangement.”
Her chin lifted.
“That doesn’t mean I wanted your diamonds.”
Nora remembered the necklace Caroline had chosen.
Caroline followed her eyes.
“I chose your grandmother’s necklace because my father told me anything sentimental would make me appear thoughtful.”
She laughed without humor.
“Apparently I was being tested by two men at once.”
Adrian leaned back.
“Do you still want it?”
“No.”
For the first time since arriving, Caroline looked tired.
“I want my own name back.”
At nine thirty, Benjamin Wells arrived.
He was sixty-two, silver-haired, controlled, and immediately angry when Caroline met him in the gallery.
“You shouldn’t be involved in this.”
“You involved me when you sent me here to marry a man for contracts.”
Benjamin looked toward Adrian.
“That was mutually beneficial.”
“Not anymore.”
Caroline placed Elena’s name between them.
“What did she want from you?”
Benjamin’s face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Adrian saw it.
“You met her.”
Benjamin exhaled.
“Yes.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
Four years of silence cracked open.
Benjamin explained that Elena Vale had contacted him two weeks before her death.
She believed Vincent Vale was hiding illegal payments through family companies.
She wanted evidence preserved outside the organization.
Benjamin had agreed to meet her.
Not from generosity.
From opportunity.
“If Vincent was vulnerable,” he said, “I wanted leverage.”
Caroline stared at him.
“You were going to use her.”
“I was going to protect myself.”
“Same sentence. Different suit.”
Benjamin did not answer.
Adrian asked, “Did she arrive?”
“No.”
“Did you see anyone else?”
“One car passed the meeting location twice.”
“What car?”
“Black sedan.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Vale vehicle?”
“I assumed so.”
“Driver?”
“Couldn’t see.”
“Anything else?”
Benjamin hesitated.
Then looked toward Grant.
“Your cousin knows.”
Every eye moved to Grant.
Grant became still.
Benjamin continued.
“He gave Elena my address.”
Adrian stepped toward Grant.
Grant held his ground.
“I did.”
The room tightened.
“Why?”
“Elena asked me to.”
“You knew she was trying to expose my father.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s fist closed.
Nora watched him force it open again.
Grant’s voice cracked for the first time.
“She wanted out, Adrian.”
“Then why didn’t you help her?”
“I thought I was.”
Grant swallowed.
“She told me Vincent was using the organization to trap all of you. She wanted Maya gone. She wanted you to have a choice.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“A choice about what?”
“She said Vincent planned to bind you to another family through marriage.”
Caroline gave a bitter laugh.
“Some traditions really are immortal.”
Grant looked at Adrian.
“Elena said you would become him if nobody broke the pattern.”
That landed harder than an insult.
Adrian looked around his mansion.
The seven women.
The alliances.
The test.
Nora saw realization move through him.
Four years after Elena died trying to escape a marriage-driven world, Adrian had invited seven women into the same house to select one strategically.
He sat down.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then Grant said, “There’s still Malcolm.”
Adrian looked up.
“Yes.”
Malcolm Voss was brought into the study at noon.
He knew immediately.
His eyes landed on the Christmas photograph.
Then the red notebook.
Then Nora.
“Marian’s daughter.”
Nora’s blood went cold.
“You knew me?”
“I knew who you were the day you applied.”
Adrian stood.
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Malcolm looked at Nora.
“Because her mother asked me not to.”
Nora stared at him.
“My mother hated you.”
“She had reason.”
Malcolm removed his watch.
Not silver.
Plain black leather.
He placed it on the table.
Adrian said, “Where is my father’s watch?”
Malcolm’s face became unreadable.
“Gone.”
“Maya remembers it.”
That broke him.
His eyes closed.
Only briefly.
When they opened again, the calm security chief seemed older.
“She remembers that night?”
“Enough.”
Malcolm sat without permission.
“I had a son.”
Adrian frowned.
“You still have a son.”
“I had a dying son.”
The room quieted.
“Four years ago, Caleb needed treatment insurance wouldn’t cover. Vincent knew.”
Malcolm rubbed his hands together.
“He offered to pay everything.”
Nora understood before Adrian did.
“What did he want?”
Malcolm looked at her.
“For me to follow Elena.”
Adrian’s voice became flat.
“And retrieve the red book.”
“Yes.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hurt her?”
Malcolm looked down.
“No.”
“Did you cause the crash?”
A long silence followed.
Malcolm raised his eyes.
“I followed her because I believed loyalty meant obeying the man who saved my son.”
His voice shook.
“I have spent four years knowing what that loyalty cost another child.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Answer me.”
Malcolm swallowed.
“I was there when Elena drove away.”
“Did you cause the crash?”
“No.”
Grant said, “Then why did Marian end up in the hospital?”
Malcolm looked at Nora.
“Because she ran into the road after Elena.”
Nora’s heart pounded.
“She saw you?”
“Yes.”
“And you hit her?”
“No.”
Malcolm shook his head.
“The second car did.”
Adrian became completely still.
“What second car?”
Malcolm looked toward Grant.
“The one Grant sent.”
Grant’s face emptied.
Then Malcolm said, “You want the truth? Ask him why he gave me Elena’s location in the first place.”
Grant stared at him.
May you like
Finally, in a voice barely above a whisper, he said:
“He’s right.”
