Chapter 8 - THE FIANCÉE WHO HAD TWO STORIES
Camille did not run.
That surprised Adrian.
She sat in Hawthorne House's library between two detectives and waited for Monica to arrive from the hospital.
Peter had fractured two of Monica's ribs and kept her restrained inside an office at Pier Seven for three days.
When officers found her, she was dehydrated and terrified.
She also refused to speak until a lawyer was present.
By afternoon, she gave a statement.
Adrian listened from the adjoining study through an authorized video feed.
Leah sat beside him.
Camille sat across the hall.
Three people connected by a betrayal none of them yet fully understood.
Monica began.
"Miss Voss approached me four months after Mr. Marlowe was shot."
Camille closed her eyes.
Adrian's face became unreadable.
"She asked whether there was medication that could help with agitation."
The detective asked, "Was Mr. Marlowe agitated?"
"No."
"Then why did you agree?"
Monica swallowed.
"She told me his doctors wanted him calmer because stress could interfere with recovery."
"Did you verify?"
"I tried."
"And?"
"She gave me authorization."
"From Dr. Ellis?"
Monica nodded.
The dead doctor.
The detective continued.
"When did you realize it was forged?"
"Two weeks later."
Leah stared at the screen.
"Why did you continue?"
Monica began crying.
"Peter came to my apartment."
She wiped her face.
"He had photographs of my son leaving school."
Silence.
"He said if I stopped, if I told Adrian, if I went to police, my son would disappear."
Leah felt sick.
Adrian whispered, "Peter."
Monica continued.
"I reduced the doses whenever I could. I skipped some. That's why the records don't match."
The detective asked, "Did Camille know Peter threatened you?"
Monica hesitated.
"I don't know."
"Did Miss Voss ever personally ask you to harm Mr. Marlowe?"
"No."
"Did she ask you to keep him sedated?"
Monica looked through the glass toward Camille.
"Yes."
Camille started crying.
Adrian turned off the feed.
Leah looked at him.
"You don't want the rest?"
"I know enough."
"No, you don't."
He glared at her.
Leah stayed calm.
"You are angry. Rightfully."
"Thank you for your permission."
"But there is a difference between Camille wanting you sedated and Camille wanting you dead."
Adrian laughed bitterly.
"How comforting."
"I'm not defending her."
"Sounds remarkably similar."
Leah's eyes hardened.
"I am asking you not to become the kind of man who decides the ending before hearing the whole story."
That landed.
Because that was exactly how Adrian once operated.
He turned the video back on.
Camille was now speaking.
"I wanted him calmer."
The detective asked why.
"Because he was unbearable."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
Camille continued.
"He screamed at therapists. Fired nurses. Refused meals. Threatened doctors. He wouldn't sleep."
Leah looked at Adrian.
He didn't deny it.
Camille said, "I couldn't manage him."
The detective asked, "So you drugged him?"
"No. I asked about medication."
"You supplied a forged authorization."
Camille's voice broke.
"Peter gave it to me. He said the doctor had approved it verbally and the paperwork needed correcting."
"Did you believe him?"
"At first."
"And later?"
Camille looked down.
"No."
Silence.
"When did you realize?"
"After Adrian started sleeping through meetings."
"And you said nothing."
Camille began crying.
"No."
"Why?"
Her answer took a long time.
"Because it made my life easier."
Leah closed her eyes.
That was worse in some ways because it was so ordinary.
Not murder.
Not conspiracy.
Selfishness.
Camille continued.
"He wasn't angry when he slept."
She wiped tears.
"He didn't accuse me of looking at his chair. He didn't ask why I wasn't touching him. Peter handled business. The staff handled Adrian. I could leave."
Adrian's eyes were fixed on the screen.
Camille whispered, "So I told myself it was medical."
The detective asked about Peter.
"When did your relationship with him begin?"
"Three months ago."
"Romantic?"
Camille nodded.
Adrian looked away.
Leah said nothing.
The detective continued.
"Did Peter tell you about the shooting?"
"No."
"The property transfers?"
"Yes."
"And you helped?"
Camille nodded again.
"Why?"
"My brother Gavin was losing money. Peter said the transfer would save his company."
"At Adrian's expense."
Camille cried quietly.
"Yes."
The detective's final question was simple.
"Did you know Peter intended to kill Adrian?"
Camille shook her head violently.
"No."
"Did you know Mason intended to inject him?"
"No."
"Did you pay Mason?"
"No."
"His phone showed your initials."
Camille looked stunned.
"C.V. isn't me."
Adrian frowned.
Neither he nor Leah moved.
The detective asked, "Then who?"
Camille stared through the glass.
"Carlo Vescari."
Adrian went still.
Leah looked at him.
"Who is that?"
Adrian's voice changed.
"My uncle."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Carlo Vescari was his mother's older brother.
A respected businessman.
Family.
A man Adrian had visited every Christmas.
A man who had encouraged Adrian to place Peter in charge while Adrian recovered.
A man who sat three pews behind Eleanor's coffin.
Police moved quickly.
Carlo was arrested that evening at Philadelphia International Airport attempting to board a flight to Rome.
He carried two passports.
Three hundred thousand dollars in diamonds.
And a flash drive.
The drive contained communications with Peter.
The truth finally assembled itself.
Peter wanted revenge against the Marlowes for a theft that never occurred.
Carlo wanted control of Adrian's businesses.
Camille wanted freedom and money.
Gavin wanted his company saved.
Monica wanted her son safe.
Each person had entered the conspiracy for a different reason.
Only Peter and Carlo knew the full plan.
The shooting.
Adrian's prolonged sedation.
The transfer of valuable assets.
Eventually, Carlo would argue Adrian lacked capacity to manage his companies.
A court petition was already drafted.
If Adrian died afterward, it would appear tragic.
If he lived, he would become irrelevant.
They had planned something worse than murder.
Erasure.
Three days later, Adrian met Camille privately.
Leah did not attend.
She waited outside.
Camille emerged thirty minutes later.
Her eyes were swollen.
Her engagement ring was gone.
She stopped beside Leah.
"He loves you."
Leah froze.
"This isn't the time."
Camille laughed weakly.
"No. I suppose not."
She looked toward the study.
"I loved what Adrian was."
Leah said nothing.
Camille continued.
"I loved walking into rooms with him. I loved the restaurants. The travel. I loved people knowing who I belonged beside."
Her face twisted.
"Then he got hurt."
Leah replied quietly, "He was still Adrian."
"No."
Camille shook her head.
"He wasn't."
Leah's expression hardened.
Camille looked at her.
"Neither was I."
That surprised her.
Camille wiped her eyes.
"The worst thing isn't that I stopped loving him."
She looked toward the closed door.
"It's that I punished him for becoming someone I didn't know how to love."
Leah did not forgive her.
But she understood the honesty.
Camille handed Leah the engagement ring.
"Give this to Helena."
"Give it yourself."
"I don't want Adrian to think I'm trying to make a gesture."
"Then don't."
Camille nodded.
She placed it on the hallway table instead.
Before leaving, she said, "He's different with you."
Leah looked at the study door.
"So am I."
Camille gave a sad smile.
Then walked away.
Inside, Adrian sat alone.
Leah entered.
He looked at her.
"It's finished."
"The engagement?"
"Everything."
Leah approached slowly.
"How do you feel?"
"Like an idiot."
"Try again."
He sighed.
"Relieved."
"Better."
"Angry."
"Reasonable."
"Humiliated."
Leah sat in the chair across from him.
"That one's not yours."
He looked at her.
"She cheated."
"Her shame."
"I didn't notice."
"Noticing betrayal isn't a moral achievement."
"I trusted Peter."
"His shame."
"I let Carlo—"
"His."
Adrian looked almost annoyed.
"Do I own anything?"
Leah considered.
"Your terrible personality."
He laughed.
Then the laughter stopped.
Emotion moved across his face.
Adrian looked down at his hands.
"I don't know what comes next."
Leah's voice softened.
"Good."
His eyes rose.
"Good?"
"Maybe for once you get to choose instead of inheriting it."
The companies.
The family.
The fear.
The enemies.
The role.
Adrian had spent his entire life becoming the man everyone expected.
Then a bullet took away his ability to perform that role the same way.
Perhaps what frightened him most was not the wheelchair.
Perhaps it was freedom.
"What if I choose wrong?" he asked.
Leah smiled slightly.
"Then welcome to being everybody else."
Adrian studied her.
The silence changed.
Leah knew what was coming.
This time she didn't step away immediately.
Adrian said, "I'm not engaged anymore."
"No."
"And Peter's under arrest."
"Yes."
"And you're still working for me."
"There it is."
Adrian sighed.
Leah smiled.
"One problem at a time, Mr. Marlowe."
He rolled closer.
"How long until you're no longer working for me?"
Leah felt warmth rise into her face.
"I haven't decided I'm leaving."
"Decide."
She laughed.
"You're very bad at romance."
"I haven't started."
"Good."
Adrian's expression softened.
"When I do, you'll know."
Leah's heart stumbled.
Then Helena rushed into the study carrying a letter.
"Sir, this came by courier."
Adrian opened it.
His expression changed.
It was from the United States Attorney's Office.
A subpoena.
Not for Peter.
Not for Carlo.
For Adrian.
The government had used the investigation to reopen files on Marlowe Logistics.
For years, Adrian's family had survived because witnesses refused to cooperate.
Now the man who had almost been killed by his own organization faced a choice.
May you like
Protect the empire that had helped create Peter.
Or destroy it himself.
