Chapter 6 - The Woman I Was Going to Marry
Vivienne returned home at 1:38 in the morning.
I was sitting in the dark.
She entered through the foyer, removed her coat, and froze when she saw me.
“Jesus, Adrian.”
“Where were you?”
Her answer came too quickly.
“Claire’s.”
“Who is Claire?”
She blinked.
“My friend.”
“You don’t have a friend named Claire.”
“Of course I do.”
“I’ve known you for three years.”
“You don’t know every person I know.”
“No.”
I stood.
“Apparently I don’t know you either.”
Her face changed.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
I wanted to throw Crosswood at her.
Julian.
The barn.
The kiss.
The document.
Instead, I remembered Ethan’s warning.
We still didn’t know where Bruno had been moved.
So I smiled.
“Nothing.”
She stared.
“You’re acting strange.”
“My dog is missing.”
She exhaled.
“Adrian, I’m tired.”
“So am I.”
She walked toward the stairs.
“Come to bed.”
“In a minute.”
She stopped.
For one second, I thought she knew.
Then she continued upstairs.
I waited until the bedroom door closed.
Ethan entered through the library.
“We found something.”
He placed a folder on the table.
The transfer agreement from Crosswood was real in structure but fraudulent in purpose.
It involved a shell corporation called Arden Pacific Holdings.
Ethan’s team traced it through layers of ownership.
Eventually, a name appeared.
Julian Cross.
Another name appeared behind a second company.
Vivienne Laurent.
They had been financial partners long before she met me.
Not simply business acquaintances.
Partners.
Lovers.
And perhaps still both.
“What would twelve percent give them?” I asked.
“Your family company has voting restrictions. Twelve percent combined with three smaller blocks could trigger a board challenge.”
“They don’t own the other blocks.”
“Not yet.”
Ethan slid over additional papers.
Three minority shareholders had recently received private purchase offers.
From shell companies linked to Julian.
My stomach went cold.
“They’re attempting a takeover.”
“Looks that way.”
“Through marriage?”
“Marriage gives Vivienne access, but the signature document matters more. If she could get you to approve the transfer during wedding paperwork—”
“I read everything I sign.”
“Yes.”
“She knows that.”
“Yes.”
“Then what was the plan?”
Ethan looked uncomfortable.
“I think there’s another document.”
“What?”
He hesitated.
“Your medical power of attorney.”
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
“You think she planned to incapacitate me?”
“We know she had access to sedatives.”
“Dog sedatives.”
“Some veterinary drugs overlap with medications used in humans.”
I thought about my wedding.
Hundreds of guests.
Champagne.
Private suite.
Documents prepared by attorneys.
Vivienne insisting recently that we sign a “simple marital asset update” before the ceremony.
I had postponed it because of Chicago.
“What happens if I become medically incapacitated after we marry?”
“Depends on the agreements.”
“She gets decision-making authority.”
“Potentially.”
“And if I die?”
“Adrian—”
“If I die?”
He met my eyes.
“She inherits enough to matter.”
For the first time, Bruno’s disappearance made terrible sense.
Bruno slept outside my bedroom.
Bruno refused food from strangers.
Bruno became aggressive when he sensed someone entering at night.
Bruno was not merely loved.
He was an obstacle.
Vivienne had removed him before I returned because something was supposed to happen after I came home.
Something connected to the wedding.
I walked to the window.
“You think she planned to kill me.”
“I think we don’t know enough yet.”
That was Ethan’s careful way of saying yes.
At three in the morning, my phone vibrated.
Another photograph.
Bruno inside a vehicle cage.
His head was lifted.
He looked more alert.
The message read:
SIGN WHAT YOU ARE GIVEN. YOUR DOG COMES HOME AFTER THE WEDDING.
I showed Ethan.
“We have confirmation.”
He nodded.
“They expect the wedding to happen.”
“It will.”
He stared at me.
“Adrian.”
“If I cancel, they kill Bruno or disappear.”
“You’re proposing we let them continue?”
“I’m proposing they believe they’re winning.”
Ethan considered it.
“You understand this gets dangerous.”
“It already is.”
The next morning, I went to breakfast.
Vivienne was sitting at the table scrolling through wedding photographs.
She smiled.
“I was thinking about white roses instead of orchids.”
I sat opposite her.
“White roses are fine.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“You hate roses.”
“Maybe I’m becoming easier.”
She laughed.
“I’ll believe that when I see it.”
I reached across the table and took her hand.
The diamond was back.
Cold beneath my fingers.
“I’m sorry I’ve been distracted.”
Her eyes searched mine.
“Because of Bruno?”
“Yes.”
“Adrian…”
“I don’t want this ruining our wedding.”
She relaxed.
There.
Just enough.
“I don’t either.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
I forced myself to smile.
“We should move forward. Everything. The legal paperwork. Guest list. Whatever needs signing.”
Her breathing changed.
Barely.
But I caught it.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She squeezed my hand.
“I think that’s good.”
“Send the paperwork to my office.”
“I will.”
Then she leaned over and kissed me.
I let her.
That was the hardest performance of my life.
When she left the room, Sofia appeared in the doorway with Maria.
The child carried a drawing.
A huge black dog.
A black car.
A man.
A woman.
And something else.
A tall building behind them.
On top of the building she had drawn a yellow circle.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Sofia pointed.
“Clock.”
Maria frowned.
“A clock?”
Sofia nodded.
“The car went there before Bruno left.”
My heart shifted.
“You saw where they went?”
“No.”
She tapped the drawing.
“Bruno’s collar said ding-ding when man picked him up. Then man said…”
She struggled to remember.
“What did he say?”
Sofia looked at me.
“He said, ‘Take him to the old clock place.’”
Ethan, standing behind me, went still.
There was an abandoned textile mill outside town.
Everyone locally called it the Clock Mill because a century-old clock tower rose above the roof.
Crosswood had been temporary.
The photograph with the concrete floor and yellow stripe suddenly made sense.
Bruno might not be at the equestrian property anymore.
But now we had another place to look.
May you like
And this time, I wasn’t waiting until midnight.
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