My mistress laughed outside my wife's ICU room and whispered, "She's gone, Vincent. Come home." But nobody had told her my wife was dead. And when the doctor stepped into the hallway, looked straight at me, and said, "Your wife is alive—but someone tried to kill her," I realized the most dangerous threat to my family might have been standing right beside me.

Detective Ellis released me under strict conditions while the investigation continued. I wasn't allowed to leave Harbor City, contact witnesses, or interfere with evidence.

I agreed to every condition.

Then I called Theo.

"Find Vanessa."

"We're searching the properties connected to Northstar."

"Not the properties. The people."

Theo understood.

Within an hour, he had traced the sedan from Dock Street to an abandoned cold-storage facility near the east harbor.

The building had once belonged to one of my shipping companies.

It had been sold three years earlier.

The buyer was a holding company represented by Daniel Mercer.

I arrived with Theo and two officers Detective Ellis had assigned to the search. We entered through a loading bay, moving carefully through the dark warehouse.

A single light burned in an office upstairs.

Vanessa was inside.

She sat bound to a chair, her face swollen, her silver dress stained with dust. When she saw me, she started crying.

"Vincent."

I stopped several feet away.

"Who did this?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know."

"Why were you at my house last night?"

Her expression crumpled.

"Because Gabriel called me."

I felt Theo tense beside me.

"What did he tell you?"

"That Claire had found something dangerous. He said she might be in trouble and asked me to come over."

"Why?"

"Because he thought I could persuade her to leave."

I stared at her.

"Why would you help him?"

Vanessa looked down at her hands.

"Because I knew what she had found."

Silence filled the room.

She took a shaky breath.

"Six months ago, Daniel approached me. He said you were preparing to restructure your companies and that I could help him protect certain accounts. He offered me money to obtain information from your personal office."

"What information?"

"Shipping manifests. Private correspondence. Anything related to the medical foundation."

"Did you take it?"

"Yes."

The answer was so quiet I almost didn't hear it.

I turned away.

For months, I had allowed Vanessa into the spaces where I kept my business and my secrets. I had believed I was controlling the arrangement.

Instead, I had opened the door for someone who wanted to destroy my wife.

"Why did you tell me Claire was dead?"

Vanessa began to cry harder.

"Daniel told me the ambulance had lost her. He said the doctors had given up."

"Who told Daniel?"

"I don't know."

"You arrived before anyone confirmed her death."

"I thought it was over. I thought if Claire was gone, you would finally leave the marriage and come back to me."

I looked at her.

"Come back to you?"

She flinched.

"I know how that sounds."

"No. You know exactly how it sounds."

Her tears fell silently.

"I was jealous. I hated that you could barely look at me when Claire was around. I hated that you went home to her while telling me you couldn't live without me."

I had no defense.

I had made promises to two women and betrayed both of them in different ways.

But only one of them had nearly died.

"Did you poison Claire?"

"No."

"Did you hold her down?"

"No."

"Then why were you at the house?"

Vanessa looked at the floor.

"Because Daniel wanted me to retrieve a file from your study. He said Claire had copied it and hidden it somewhere."

"What file?"

"A list of patients who had received drugs through Northstar Clinical."

"Did you find it?"

"No. Claire came into the hallway before I could reach the study. She asked what I was doing there. We argued."

"What did she say?"

Vanessa closed her eyes.

"She said she knew about us. She said she didn't care anymore because she had found something worse."

My chest tightened.

"What happened next?"

"Gabriel arrived. Claire was already feeling sick. She told him to get her away from the house. Then she collapsed."

"Did you see anyone touch her?"

Vanessa shook her head.

"But I heard someone in the study. After Gabriel left, I went looking for the file again. There was a man in the room."

"Who?"

"I couldn't see his face. He was wearing gloves."

"Was he wearing a camel-colored coat?"

Her eyes widened.

"Yes."

Theo stepped forward.

"Did you see the button come off?"

"No. But I heard it hit the floor."

I took out the evidence photograph and showed it to her.

She nodded.

"That's the coat."

"How did you know Claire was dead?"

"Daniel called me at the hospital. He said the doctors had lost her and that you would be too devastated to think clearly. He told me to come home and wait."

"Why?"

"Because he said you would need someone you trusted."

The words almost made me laugh.

Someone I trusted.

That was what Daniel had wanted to become.

"What did the men who took you ask?"

Vanessa swallowed.

"They wanted to know whether Claire had given you the ledger. They said if I told them where it was, they'd let me go."

"Did you tell them?"

"No."

"Why not?"

She looked at me with exhausted eyes.