Chapter 4 - The Groom Who Came With a Confession
Marina reached the front door before Adrian caught up with her.
"Open the gate."
"Marina."
"Open it."
Adrian looked at Owen.
Owen touched his earpiece.
A moment later, the gates moved.
Bennett and Natalie entered through the side security entrance.
Marina waited in the foyer.
She was still wearing her wedding dress.
The hem was torn.
There was dried mud along the ivory silk.
Her carefully pinned hair had collapsed around her shoulders.
Bennett stopped when he saw her.
For several seconds, he simply stared.
"You look—"
"Don't."
He lowered his eyes.
Natalie stepped forward.
She was thirty-four, with tired brown eyes and a bruised wrist.
"Marina, I'm sorry."
Marina barely heard her.
She was looking at Bennett.
"Say it again."
Bennett swallowed.
"Your father didn't die naturally."
Marina remembered the call six years earlier.
Gerald had told her Daniel collapsed at the distillery after a long day.
There had been a funeral.
A closed casket.
A doctor who spoke in careful, sympathetic phrases.
Marina had been twenty-three and devastated.
She had asked almost no questions.
"What happened?" she whispered.
Natalie answered.
"Your father discovered money missing from Bell Creek."
Marina turned toward her.
"How much?"
"At first, four million. Then he found transfers going back years."
"To whom?"
"Westhaven Development."
Adrian's expression hardened.
The same company named in the old ownership agreement.
Natalie continued.
"Your father hired an independent forensic accountant. Three days later, he died."
Marina looked at Bennett.
"And you knew?"
Bennett's jaw tightened.
"I found out six months ago."
"Six months."
"Marina, I wanted to tell you."
"But you didn't."
"My father threatened—"
"Did you know about the wedding arrangement?"
He looked away.
That was answer enough.
Marina laughed once.
It sounded nothing like amusement.
"You proposed because of the company."
"No."
"Don't lie to me again."
Bennett stepped closer.
"I proposed because my father told me the marriage would stabilize Bell Creek. I didn't know the full structure at first."
"At first?"
"By the time I understood, we were engaged."
"And you stayed."
His eyes filled.
"Yes."
Marina nodded slowly.
"You let me plan a wedding."
"I know."
"You let me choose flowers."
"Marina—"
"You let me stand in front of a mirror wondering whether I was beautiful enough for you."
Bennett looked devastated.
She didn't care.
"All that time, you knew I was being sold my own company."
He whispered, "I'm sorry."
Marina looked at Natalie.
"Why did you come with him?"
Natalie hesitated.
"Because I contacted him this morning. I told him I was ready to expose what happened to your father."
"Why him?"
"His father controls the loan documents. Bennett could get copies."
Marina turned back.
"Did you?"
Bennett reached inside his jacket.
Owen immediately moved.
Bennett froze.
"It's a flash drive."
He removed it slowly.
Adrian took it.
"Nobody plugs this into our network until it's checked."
Bennett nodded.
Marina almost admired the absurdity.
She had spent eight months believing Bennett was the most cautious man alive.
Apparently he had finally found something worth risking.
Natalie sat down heavily.
"Daniel was going to fire Gerald."
Marina looked at her.
"He told you that?"
"Yes. He had also discovered the company had been used to move money through false shipping invoices."
Adrian folded his arms.
"Who controlled the shipping accounts?"
"Westhaven."
"And who owned Westhaven?"
Natalie looked frightened.
"We never found out."
Adrian's phone vibrated.
He read the message.
His face became unreadable.
"What?" Marina asked.
"Someone just attempted to access Bell Creek's trust records using your digital credentials."
Marina stared.
"I don't have digital credentials."
"Apparently somebody created them."
Evelyn appeared from the study.
"I've confirmed something else. Gerald's emergency petition was accompanied by a sworn statement from a physician claiming Marina suffered a severe psychological episode last month."
Marina shook her head.
"I haven't seen a doctor in months."
"That's what we need to establish."
Bennett suddenly spoke.
"The doctor is on my father's payroll."
Everyone turned.
He looked ashamed.
"His name is Dr. Alan Whitcomb."
Natalie covered her mouth.
"I know that name."
Marina looked at her.
"Why?"
Natalie hesitated.
"Because he signed your father's death certificate."
The silence was unbearable.
Marina slowly sat down.
The room seemed too bright.
Too large.
Her father's face appeared in her memory.
The way he used to taste whiskey from a tiny glass and pretend to be offended when she said it smelled terrible.
The way he carried peppermints in his coat pocket.
The way he called her his little storm.
She had believed his death was one of those cruel accidents life delivered without explanation.
Now she wondered whether everything she remembered had been arranged.
Adrian crouched beside her chair.
"Marina."
She looked at him.
"Can you prove it?"
"Not yet."
"Then don't promise me justice."
He held her gaze.
"I won't."
She nodded.
"Good."
Bennett stepped forward.
"There's something else."
Marina closed her eyes.
"Of course there is."
He reached into his pocket again.
This time he removed a folded photograph.
It showed Daniel Bell standing outside a warehouse.
Beside him was Adrian's father.
Between them stood a woman Marina had never seen.
Bennett handed her the picture.
"That was taken two days before your father's death."
Marina examined it.
On the back, written in Daniel's handwriting, was a single sentence.
If Marina ever asks, tell her about the second daughter.
Marina looked up.
"What second daughter?"
May you like
Nobody answered.
Then Natalie began to cry.
