Chapter 3: The Folder
The man walked through the ballroom without saying a word.
People moved aside for him.
Adrian didn't.
He couldn't.
I had never seen my husband look like that.
Not angry.
Not arrogant.
Afraid.
The man stopped beside Caleb and handed him the leather folder.
Caleb opened it.
“Eight years,” he said.
Adrian's voice cracked.
“You can't be serious.””
Marcus folded his arms.
“Oh, we're very serious.””
Vanessa grabbed Adrian's sleeve.
“Who is he?””
Adrian didn't answer.
I stared at the stranger.
“Who are you?””
He looked at me.
“My name is Daniel Price.””
Something about the name struck me.
Not recognition.
Something colder.
A half-memory.
A name Adrian had once forbidden me to ask about.
Daniel opened the folder.
“I was your father's attorney.””
My breath caught.
“My father?””
Daniel nodded.
“Your father hired me the week before your wedding.””
Adrian stepped forward.
“That's enough.””
Daniel didn't even look at him.
“He was concerned about you.””
I whispered, “Why?””
Daniel's eyes softened.
“Because he believed you were being isolated.””
Adrian's face tightened.
“That man was obsessed with controlling her life.””
Daniel finally looked at him.
“No, Mr. Cole.””
He lifted a document.
“He was worried because you had already started controlling hers.””
The room became completely still.
Vanessa looked at Adrian.
“What is he talking about?””
Adrian snapped, “Nothing.””
Daniel placed the document on a nearby table.
“Your father instructed me to establish a trust in your name.””
I stared at the papers.
“A trust?””
“Yes.””
Adrian laughed.
“That's absurd.””
Daniel continued.
“It contained your inheritance, several properties, and controlling interest in a company your grandfather founded.””
I turned toward Adrian.
He had told me my grandfather's company had collapsed before I inherited anything.
He had told me there was nothing left.
Daniel watched my face.
“You were supposed to receive everything on your twenty-fifth birthday.””
I whispered, “I'm thirty-three.””
“I know.””
My knees nearly buckled.
Eight years.
Eight years of believing I had nothing.
Adrian stepped between us.
“She doesn't need this.””
Daniel's expression hardened.
“She needs the truth.””
Marcus moved beside me.
Julian took my other side.
For the first time in years, I wasn't standing alone.
I looked at Adrian.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
He said nothing.
“Adrian.””
Still nothing.
I stepped closer.
“You told me my grandfather's company was gone.””
His jaw flexed.
“It was complicated.””
“You told me my father left me nothing.””
“I was protecting you.””
“You told me my brothers hated me.””
His eyes flicked toward Marcus.
“They did.””
Marcus laughed once.
“You're still lying.””
Adrian's voice rose.
“You don't understand what she was like when I met her!””
Julian answered immediately.
“She was twenty-five.””
“She was unstable.””
“She was grieving.””
“She needed someone.””
“And you saw an opportunity.””
The words landed harder than the slap.
Adrian looked at me.
“I loved you.””
I stared at him.
“Then why did you spend eight years making sure nobody else could?””
He had no answer.
Vanessa suddenly pulled out her phone.
“I am leaving.””
Caleb blocked her path.
“Not yet.””
She glared at him.
“You can't keep me here.””
“No,” Caleb said.
“But you might want to hear what Daniel has next.””
Daniel opened the folder again.
“There is one final document.””
Adrian went completely still.
I noticed.
That frightened me more than anything else.
“What document?”” I asked.
Daniel looked directly at me.
“A letter from your father.””
My heart stopped.
“He wrote it the night before your wedding.””
Adrian whispered, “Daniel, don't.””
Daniel reached into the folder.
“I was instructed to give it to you only if you ever discovered that your husband had betrayed your trust.””
He handed me a sealed envelope.
My name was written across the front in my father's handwriting.
I hadn't seen that handwriting in eight years.
My fingers trembled as I touched the seal.
Then I noticed something beneath my name.
A second line.
May you like
Three words.
*Do not forgive him.*
