Chapter 7 - WHERE MARGARET TOOK EVELYN
Evelyn opened the apartment door herself.
That surprised me.
I had expected locks.
Guards.
Something dramatic.
Instead, she stood barefoot in a cream sweater and jeans, looking exhausted.
When she saw me, her face crumpled.
“Lydia.”
I didn’t hug her.
Not yet.
Cassian remained behind me.
Evelyn stared at him.
“You figured it out.”
“Some of it.”
She looked at Rebecca.
Then began to cry.
Rebecca crossed the room first.
They held each other for several seconds.
I stayed by the door.
Evelyn finally looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“You left me to wear your wedding dress.”
“I didn’t know she would do that.”
“Your mother threatened mine.”
“I know.”
“No. You know now.”
She flinched.
I regretted the cruelty immediately.
But not the anger.
Cassian stepped into the apartment.
“Why are you here?”
Evelyn wiped her face.
“Because my mother begged me to stay until the ceremony was over.”
“Why?”
“She believed if you discovered I had run before the wedding, you’d destroy the Aldridge companies.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I know that now.”
Cassian looked toward the bedroom.
Two suitcases sat open.
On the table was a stack of cash.
I recognized the amount immediately from Margaret’s accusation.
Forty thousand dollars.
“You stole it?” I asked.
Evelyn shook her head.
“Dominic gave it to me.”
Everything inside me tightened.
“When?”
“Four days ago.”
Cassian’s eyes hardened.
“What did he say?”
“That if I disappeared quietly, he would make sure my mother and the employees were protected.”
Rebecca whispered, “He paid you to run.”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“He wanted it to look like I stole money and ran.”
That was worse.
“Why take it?”
“Because I wanted proof.”
She pointed at the untouched stacks.
“I haven’t spent a dollar.”
Cassian stared at the money.
“And you contacted Rebecca.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dominic made a mistake.”
Evelyn went to her purse.
She removed a black onyx ring.
Cassian swore under his breath.
I had never heard him do that before.
“What is it?”
“My father’s.”
He took the ring.
A silver V was cut into the black stone.
“After my father died, I gave this to Dominic.”
Evelyn nodded.
“He showed it to me when he offered the money.”
“To prove he spoke for me.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“He showed me that too.”
Cassian closed his hand around the ring.
“What exactly did he say to you?”
Evelyn took a breath.
“He said men like you aren’t meant to have wives.”
No one spoke.
“He said every marriage changed you. Made you hesitate. Made you think about leaving the organization.”
Cassian frowned.
“Leaving?”
“He said after your second marriage, you talked about selling the clubs and cutting half your old operations.”
Cassian looked away.
That was apparently true.
Evelyn continued.
“He said hundreds of people depended on you. That you didn’t have the luxury of becoming somebody’s husband first.”
Rebecca sat down.
“So he destroyed the marriages.”
“I think he believed he was protecting Cassian.”
That changed something.
Not enough to forgive Dominic.
But enough to make him human.
Cassian’s voice was low.
“Dominic’s father worked for mine. When my father died, Dominic was twenty-seven. I was twenty-one. He kept the business together until I was old enough to take control.”
“He raised you,” I said.
“In some ways.”
That explained more than Cassian probably wanted it to.
The loyalty.
The blindness.
Evelyn looked at him.
“He doesn’t hate you.”
“That makes it worse.”
“Yes.”
She walked to the window.
“I was going to marry you before Dominic came to me.”
Cassian studied her.
“Why?”
“Because my family needed it.”
“Not because you wanted me.”
“No.”
For once, a failed wedding seemed like the healthiest possible outcome.
Evelyn smiled weakly.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
Cassian put his father’s ring into his pocket.
“You don’t owe me a marriage.”
Margaret had spent months telling Evelyn the opposite.
I saw the realization hit her.
She began crying again.
Quietly this time.
I finally hugged her.
Not because everything was forgiven.
Because she looked very young.
Too young to have been carrying everyone else’s fear.
When we pulled apart, I asked, “Why didn’t you leave this apartment?”
“I was going to.”
She looked at the cash.
“Then Rebecca called the apartment downstairs and said you were looking for her.”
Cassian turned to Rebecca.
Rebecca nodded.
“I wanted Evelyn to wait.”
“Why?”
Rebecca looked at Cassian.
“Because there is something she needed to tell you before Dominic could.”
Evelyn went pale.
“What?”
Rebecca spoke carefully.
“The first marriage.”
Cassian’s entire posture changed.
“Celeste.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Dominic manipulated five women.”
I felt the room tighten.
“Five?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Not six.”
Cassian’s face went completely still.
Rebecca whispered, “Evelyn found Celeste.”
He looked at them both.
“And?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“Your first wife didn’t leave because of Dominic.”
Cassian said nothing.
Evelyn’s voice softened.
May you like
“She left because of you.”
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