Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Ivory Suit
For several seconds, Elena could hear nothing except the distant ticking of the grandfather clock.
Vivian stood in front of her, holding the photograph between two perfectly manicured fingers.
"You should explain that," Elena said.
Vivian glanced toward the hallway.
"Not here."
"Then you shouldn't have come here."
"Elena, please."
The word sounded strange coming from a woman Elena had always imagined as effortlessly superior.
Vivian looked frightened.
Not theatrically frightened.
Actually frightened.
Her hand shook as she returned the photograph to her purse.
"Richard knows you visited Margaret Shaw."
Elena kept her face still.
"Who told him?"
"I don't know. But he's been watching her office."
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because I made a mistake."
Elena folded her arms.
"Which one?"
Vivian looked directly at her.
"Believing Richard Cole would protect me."
They moved into the conservatory.
Sunlight spilled through tall glass windows onto white orchids and polished stone.
Vivian refused the tea Elena offered.
Instead, she took a small encrypted storage drive from her handbag.
"Six months ago, Richard asked me to arrange a meeting between Vincent and a shipping investor from Switzerland."
"The hotel photograph?"
Vivian nodded.
"The investor never arrived. Richard wanted someone to photograph us together."
Elena stared at her.
"Why?"
"Insurance. If I became inconvenient, he could tell Vincent I'd tried to interfere with his marriage. If Vincent became inconvenient, he could use the photographs to create a scandal."
"That's a remarkably complicated way to ruin someone's reputation."
"Richard doesn't ruin reputations for pleasure. He uses them to control people."
Elena looked at the drive.
"What's on that?"
"Copies of transactions I wasn't supposed to see."
"Why do you have them?"
Vivian swallowed.
"Because I was working for him."
The admission hung between them.
Vivian had been involved in arranging offshore investments for wealthy clients.
She claimed she believed the transactions were legitimate until she discovered that several accounts were funded through Northstar Maritime.
One account contained payments labeled as consulting fees to a company controlled by Meredith Sloan.
Another received money through a chain of shell companies tied to Richard.
Elena felt cold.
"Meredith?"
Vivian nodded.
"The woman who insulted you at the gala."
"That wasn't random?"
"I don't think so."
Elena remembered Meredith's bright smile.
The laughter.
Vincent's refusal to intervene.
The humiliation that had started everything.
"Richard wanted me embarrassed."
"He wanted you isolated. There's a difference."
Elena looked toward the garden.
"Why?"
Vivian hesitated.
"Because your father's ownership interest has become a problem."
"What kind of problem?"
"The kind that could expose years of fraudulent transfers."
Elena turned back.
"And what does Vincent know?"
Vivian's expression softened.
"I don't know."
"Do you love him?"
The question surprised them both.
Vivian looked down.
"Once."
"And now?"
"Now I know the difference between loving a powerful man and trusting him."
Elena almost smiled.
"Apparently, that makes two of us."
Vivian reached for her handbag.
"You need to leave before Richard realizes what you know."
"I'm working on it."
"Work faster."
That night, Vincent returned home early.
He found Elena in the library, reading.
For the first time in years, she did not immediately close her book when he entered.
"Vivian came by," he said.
"I know."
"What did she want?"
"To talk."
"About what?"
Elena turned a page.
"Old times."
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
"Don't play games with me."
She looked up.
"Then stop treating every conversation like an interrogation."
He stared at her.
Something had changed.
He had noticed it at breakfast, in the hallway, across the dining table.
The woman who once studied his moods before speaking no longer seemed interested in predicting them.
She wasn't trying to punish him.
That was what unsettled him.
Punishment would mean she still wanted something.
This looked like indifference.
"Elena," he said, more quietly. "What's going on?"
She closed her book.
"Would you believe me if I told you?"
"Try."
She considered it.
Then she asked, "Did you know my father left me forty percent of Northstar?"
Vincent's expression tightened.
"Yes."
"Did you know someone had signed documents in my name?"
He went still.
"What documents?"
"Authorizations. Transfers. Legal agreements."
"Who told you that?"
"That isn't an answer."
Vincent took a slow breath.
"No. I didn't know your signature was being used without your consent."
Elena searched his face.
For once, she thought he might be telling the truth.
"Then you should look into Richard."
Vincent's eyes sharpened.
"Why?"
"Because your attorney seems to know more about my inheritance than I do."
She stood.
Vincent stepped toward her.
"Elena, if there's something happening—"
"There is."
He stopped.
She looked at him with an exhaustion that made his chest tighten.
"I'm leaving you."
For a moment, he didn't seem to understand the words.
Then his expression closed.
"No."
Elena blinked.
"No?"
"We're not doing this."
"Vincent, I wasn't asking permission."
"You don't know what you're getting into."
"Then explain it."
He looked away.
"Not yet."
Elena gave a small, devastated laugh.
"Two years. And you still think 'not yet' is an acceptable answer."
She walked past him.
Vincent caught her wrist.
Not hard.
But firmly enough to stop her.
She looked down at his hand.
Then at his face.
"Let go."
Something in her voice made him release her immediately.
Elena continued toward the door.
Before leaving, she turned.
"You told me I wasn't your choice."
Vincent said nothing.
"Well, this time, I get to make mine."
At 11:18 p.m., Vincent called his head of security, Gabriel Rourke.
"I want a discreet review of Richard Cole."
Gabriel paused.
"How discreet?"
"Nobody knows. Not even my executive team."
"Understood."
"And Gabriel?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Find out who has been watching my wife."
Silence.
Then Gabriel said something Vincent did not expect.
"Sir, I was hoping you would ask."
Vincent straightened.
"What does that mean?"
"I've been trying to tell you something for three weeks."
"Then tell me now."
Gabriel exhaled.
"Someone inside your company has been paying an outside surveillance team to follow Mrs. Vale."
Vincent's fingers tightened around the phone.
"Who authorized it?"
"I traced the payments to a legal services account."
"Richard?"
"That's what I thought."
Vincent closed his eyes.
"But there's something worse," Gabriel continued.
"What?"
"The team received new instructions this afternoon."
Vincent felt the first real movement of fear.
"What instructions?"
Gabriel's voice became very quiet.
May you like
"They've been told to prepare for your wife's disappearance."
End of Chapter 4.
