Chapter 6 - David Finally Told Her Why He Chose HerDavid Hayes looked terrible.
Audrey felt no satisfaction in that.
He sat inside a federal interview room with a bruise across his jaw and a bandage around one wrist.
When Audrey entered, he looked up.
For one brief second she saw the husband she remembered.
Then memory corrected her.
This was the man who had used her signature to protect himself.
Roman remained outside.
Audrey had asked for five minutes alone.
“I’m filing for divorce tomorrow,” she said.
David closed his eyes.
“I figured.”
“I want one thing from you.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
“I’ve told you—”
“No. You’ve told pieces of truth after each lie stopped working.”
David looked down.
Audrey sat across from him.
“When did it start?”
He was silent for a long time.
“Two years ago.”
Audrey’s chest tightened.
Before Chloe.
Before Marcus.
Before Northpoint.
Before their second miscarriage.
“What happened?”
“Work.”
“Try harder.”
David swallowed.
“My numbers were bad. I thought I could fix them.”
“How?”
“Private investments.”
“With your money?”
“Client money.”
Audrey stared.
He looked ashamed.
“I made it back at first.”
“And then?”
“I lost ninety thousand.”
Audrey exhaled.
“I borrowed from somewhere else to replace it.”
“Victor Sloane.”
“Eventually.”
“How did you know him?”
“A client introduced us.”
David rubbed his face.
“Victor said he could help. He gave me money. Then he wanted favors.”
“What favors?”
“Information. Accounts. Company contacts.”
“And Marcus?”
“Marcus found out.”
“When?”
“Seven months ago.”
Audrey leaned back.
“The same month you approached Roman.”
David nodded.
“Marcus told me I could erase everything if I helped with Northpoint.”
“And you used me.”
David’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t think anyone would get hurt.”
Audrey laughed sharply.
“You stole my inheritance.”
“I was going to replace it.”
“You forged my professional seal.”
“I thought the project would never actually open.”
“You helped plan a fraud that put a murder on paper with my signature.”
“I didn’t know Roman was supposed to die until later.”
“And when you learned?”
David said nothing.
Audrey waited.
He began crying.
“I was scared.”
“So was I yesterday when someone broke into my house.”
“I know.”
“No, David. You don’t.”
Her voice stayed calm.
“That is the difference between us. When I was afraid, I didn’t sacrifice you.”
David looked at her.
“I loved you.”
Audrey’s eyes burned.
“I think you loved being loved by me.”
He flinched.
She continued.
“You liked that I believed you were good. You liked coming home to someone who still saw the version of you that you wanted to be.”
David wiped his face.
“And Chloe?”
His shame deepened.
“Was real.”
Audrey nodded.
Oddly, that hurt less now.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“She said five.”
David’s silence told her the rest.
Audrey stood.
“Of course.”
“Audrey, please.”
She turned.
“Did you ever plan to leave with her?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Audrey almost felt sorry for Chloe.
Almost.
David continued.
“She was an escape.”
“And I was what?”
He looked at her.
“Home.”
Audrey stared at him for several seconds.
Then she said quietly:
“You burned it down.”
She walked out.
Roman was waiting in the hall.
He didn’t ask what David said.
Audrey appreciated that.
They walked toward the elevators.
“Marcus has forty-eight hours before Pier 19’s opening event,” Roman said.
“Why forty-eight?”
“The board moved the event.”
Audrey stopped.
“What?”
Roman looked annoyed.
“Marcus sent messages from a company account suggesting a security threat. The board moved the ceremonial opening forward before investors panic.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Corporate boards rarely consult engineers.”
“Apparently they rarely consult survival instinct either.”
Roman almost smiled.
“The event is Friday.”
Audrey’s stomach tightened.
“Two days.”
“Yes.”
“You have to cancel.”
“We tried.”
“And?”
“Investors are threatening litigation. The city has permits. Media is already scheduled.”
Audrey stared.
“Roman, someone intends to collapse that structure.”
“We don’t know how.”
“I do.”
His expression changed.
Audrey pulled out the photographs she had taken beneath the platform.
“The added steel reinforcement.”
“What about it?”
“It isn’t reinforcement.”
Roman waited.
“It’s isolation.”
“Meaning?”
“Someone modified the structure so a localized failure won’t behave naturally.”
Roman frowned.
Audrey continued.
“If Marcus wants it to look like engineering negligence, he needs the collapse to follow the failure pattern described in my forged report.”
“You think he altered the structure to match the fake calculations.”
“Yes.”
Roman went very still.
“That level of planning would take months.”
“Exactly.”
A terrible realization passed between them.
David had joined the conspiracy seven months earlier.
But Northpoint had existed before David.
Audrey whispered, “They didn’t create this plan around me.”
Roman understood.
“They were always going to kill me.”
“They only added you later,” Audrey said.
“To blame me.”
The elevator doors opened.
Neither moved.
Roman looked at her.
“You’re staying away from the harbor Friday.”
“No.”
“Audrey.”
“I’m the only engineer who knows which documents are false.”
“I have other engineers.”
“They’ll need days to understand the modifications.”
“You have two.”
“Yes.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not putting you there.”
“You don’t put me anywhere.”
“Audrey.”
She stepped closer.
“You came to my house because you wanted my expertise.”
“I came because I thought you owed me money.”
“And now?”
Roman looked down at her.
The hallway seemed suddenly too quiet.
“Now,” he said, “I know exactly what you’re worth.”
Audrey’s heartbeat changed.
Neither moved.
Then Caleb appeared at the far end of the hall.
“Boss.”
Roman stepped back.
“What?”
“We found Marcus’s car.”
“Where?”
“Near Pier 19.”
Audrey looked at Roman.
Caleb continued.
“There was something inside.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
He handed it over.
Roman stared.
Then gave it to Audrey.
The photograph showed Audrey leaving her engineering office six months earlier.
May you like
Written across the bottom were four words.
SHE’LL MAKE THE PERFECT FALL.
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