Chapter 9 - The Man She Married
Victoria waited until they reached home.
Then she locked the penthouse doors.
Jonathan stood near the windows.
“What did my father mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t.”
“Victoria—”
“What did you do before you married me?”
Jonathan poured himself whiskey.
She took the glass from his hand and poured it into the sink.
“Talk.”
He stared at her.
Finally he sat down.
“Twenty years ago, I was a junior associate at Pike & Browning.”
“I know.”
“Warren assigned me administrative work on the Rosewood estate.”
Victoria’s hands became cold.
“The letter.”
“Yes.”
“You signed for Emily’s letter.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I gave it to Warren.”
“Did you read it?”
Jonathan looked away.
“That means yes.”
“I was instructed to review incoming correspondence.”
“What did it say?”
“That Emily denied signing the settlement. She claimed Charles had threatened her.”
Victoria sat opposite him.
“You knew.”
“I knew she disputed it.”
“You knew before we met.”
“Yes.”
The word destroyed eighteen years in one breath.
Victoria stood.
“When we met at the Harrington Foundation gala, did you know who I was?”
“Of course I knew who you were.”
“I mean did you know me because of Emily?”
Jonathan hesitated.
“Yes.”
Victoria turned away.
The city blurred beyond the glass.
“Did my father arrange our meeting?”
“No.”
“Did Warren?”
“No.”
“Did you approach me deliberately?”
“No.”
“Why should I believe anything?”
Jonathan stood.
“Because that part is true.”
She turned.
“You read my sister’s letter. You knew she accused my father of fraud. Three years later you started dating me and said nothing.”
“I was bound by confidentiality.”
“You weren’t representing me.”
“I was representing the firm’s client.”
“My father.”
“The estate entities.”
“Don’t lawyer me.”
Jonathan’s voice rose.
“What would you have had me do? Destroy my career at twenty-seven over allegations I couldn’t prove?”
“Maybe not marry the woman whose sister you helped silence.”
“I did not silence her.”
“You handed her letter to the man helping bury it.”
“I was an associate.”
“And later?”
Jonathan’s face tightened.
Victoria stepped closer.
“You told me you discovered irregularities eight years ago. That was another lie. You knew Emily protested from the beginning.”
“I didn’t know the signature was forged.”
“But you suspected.”
“I suspected Charles had forced a settlement.”
“And the eleven million?”
Jonathan looked exhausted.
“Meridian began receiving money nine years ago.”
“For what?”
“Risk management.”
“Try English.”
“Charles wanted protection.”
“From Emily?”
“From several things.”
Victoria went still.
“Northline.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“You know about that too.”
“Fake renovation invoices. Money routed to Dad and Adrian.”
“It was more complicated.”
“Was it illegal?”
Jonathan did not answer.
Victoria nodded.
“Thank you.”
“I helped restructure old vendor relationships and reduce exposure.”
“You helped conceal embezzlement.”
“I prevented a scandal that would have destroyed thousands of jobs.”
There it was.
The justification.
Family criminals never stole for themselves.
They stole to protect everyone else.
“So the eleven million was your fee?”
“Some of it.”
“What was the rest?”
“Retention.”
“Bribery.”
“Compensation.”
“For silence.”
“For handling problems no one else could handle.”
Victoria stared at him.
“Was marrying me one of the problems you handled?”
His face twisted.
“No.”
“Did you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you love me when you knew my entire relationship with Emily was based on a lie?”
“Yes.”
“That isn’t love.”
“I thought telling you would destroy you.”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice softened.
“You thought telling me would destroy this.”
She gestured around them.
The penthouse.
The paintings.
The view.
The life.
Jonathan’s silence confirmed it.
Victoria went to their bedroom and returned with a suitcase.
“You should leave.”
“This is our home.”
“It is owned by a trust in my name.”
“We’re married.”
“For the moment.”
Jonathan flinched.
“You’re going to divorce me over something that happened before we met?”
“I’m going to divorce you because you looked me in the face for eighteen years and let me believe my sister abandoned me.”
“That is not all I did.”
“No.”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“You also got rich hiding it.”
He took a step toward her.
“Victoria, if you turn everything over to Nina, you could trigger federal investigations, lender defaults, shareholder claims. Rosewood could collapse.”
“Maybe Rosewood deserves to.”
“Thousands of employees don’t.”
She stopped.
He saw the hesitation.
And used it.
“If Blackridge walks away, the company’s debt refinancing becomes difficult. Two hotel loans mature this quarter. There could be layoffs. Closures.”
Victoria hated that he had found the one argument capable of hurting her.
Rosewood employed nearly twelve thousand people.
Housekeepers.
Cooks.
Engineers.
Front-desk staff.
People who had nothing to do with Charles.
Jonathan lowered his voice.
“You can expose the family and destroy innocent employees, or you can negotiate.”
“With criminals?”
“With your father.”
Victoria stared at him.
Then his phone lit up on the counter.
A message appeared.
ADRIAN: DID SHE FIND THE PIKE BOX?
Jonathan grabbed the phone.
Too late.
Victoria had seen it.
“What Pike box?”
“Nothing.”
She held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Jonathan.”
“No.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“Where is Warren Pike’s old Rosewood file?”
Jonathan said nothing.
She stepped closer.
“Did you keep it?”
He backed away.
And Victoria understood.
Whatever remained in Warren Pike’s old case files mattered enough that Adrian was afraid she might find it.
She grabbed her coat.
Jonathan blocked the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To Connecticut.”
His face changed.
“Victoria, don’t.”
That was all the confirmation she needed.
She opened the door.
Jonathan caught her arm.
“If you find that box, you may wish you hadn’t.”
Victoria pulled free.
“For twenty years, everyone in this family has survived by making sure I didn’t know things.”
May you like
She looked directly at him.
“That ends tonight.”
