Chapter 2 - The Bride Who Ran Left Behind a Secret
Evelyn Aldridge had not disappeared because she was afraid of marrying Cassian.
At least, that was what my mother believed.
For the next six hours, that possibility turned the entire Vale estate upside down.
Cassian took me and my mother back to a secure guest residence attached to his compound.
He refused to move my mother again after the doctors warned him that the stress could trigger another cardiac episode.
He could have ordered anything.
Instead, he sat in the hospital room while her medications were adjusted.
Watching him there felt strange.
The man everyone described as a monster was sitting beside my mother's bed, reading the medication schedule himself.
When the nurse left, he looked at me.
“Your mother mentioned your father.”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“I don't know.”
“What exactly did she tell you about his death?”
“That he was killed in a warehouse accident.”
“And you believed that?”
“I was eight.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
I looked at him.
“Why does your family care about my father?”
He didn't answer immediately.
Then:
“Because he used to work for mine.”
My stomach dropped.
“He worked for your father?”
“Yes.”
“What was his job?”
“Accounting.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He was very good with numbers.”
“My father repaired engines.”
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
“Who told you that?”
“My mother.”
He was silent.
“Then someone lied to you.”
I stared at him.
“Who?”
“I don't know yet.”
He handed me a folder.
Inside were photographs.
My father.
My mother.
The Aldridges.
And Cassian's father.
All together.
At a dinner party.
My hands began to shake.
“When was this?”
“Twenty-nine years ago.”
I looked at the faces.
My father was younger.
My mother looked happy.
And in the corner stood Margaret Aldridge.
I had known her since childhood.
She had always acted as though my mother were beneath her.
But the photograph showed them laughing together.
“What happened?”
Cassian leaned forward.
“Your father discovered money moving through the Aldridge shipping accounts.”
“For criminals?”
“For people who couldn't appear in public.”
I understood.
Mafia money.
Political money.
Payments hidden through legitimate businesses.
“And?”
“He tried to expose it.”
“To who?”
“My father.”
“And your father killed him?”
Cassian looked at me.
“My father ordered people to silence him.”
The room became silent.
I stared at the photographs.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You still married me to Evelyn.”
“I didn't know who you were until today.”
I looked at him sharply.
“What do you mean?”
“There were no Carter records connected to you in my files.”
He turned the next page.
“Your mother had changed her identity.”
I looked down.
Helen Carter.
That had not always been her name.
She had once been Helen Bennett.
And my father had once been Daniel Bennett.
Both names were connected to a federal investigation into the Vale family.
My heart raced.
“Why were we hiding?”
Cassian answered quietly.
“Because someone wanted you erased.”
A knock sounded.
Thomas entered.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found Evelyn's vehicle.”
Cassian stood.
“Where?”
“An underground garage in Manhattan.”
“Anyone inside?”
“No.”
“What was left?”
Thomas handed him an evidence bag.
Inside was a hotel keycard.
Cassian's expression darkened.
“Bianca's hotel.”
I looked at him.
“Who's Bianca?”
His eyes moved toward mine.
“Someone I should have dealt with sooner.”
He didn't explain.
He didn't need to.
I had heard the rumors.
A woman had been seeing Cassian.
Perhaps even recently.
The scent of betrayal suddenly felt familiar.
“Your mistress?”
He went still.
“Yes.”
I looked away.
For some reason, I felt sick.
Not because I was his wife.
I wasn't.
But because I had already begun to trust him.
That scared me more than the armed guards.
“Did Evelyn know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She found out weeks ago.”
I stared at him.
“So she ran because of Bianca.”
“No.”
His answer was firm.
“She ran because she found something else.”
“What?”
He reached for another file.
“Your father."
Inside was a copy of an old ledger.
One page had been circled.
A code.
Seven numbers.
Under it, one line.
THE SEVENTH BRIDE OPENS THE DOOR.
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“We don't know.”
“Then why was Evelyn running?”
“Because she might have known.”
A second note appeared.
I recognized the handwriting.
My father's.
THE WRONG WOMAN WILL BE CHOSEN.
KEEP LYDIA AWAY FROM THE HOUSE.
My blood ran cold.
“Why would my father care whether I marry you?”
Cassian's voice was quiet.
“Maybe he didn't.”
“Then who did?”
He didn't answer.
His phone rang.
He listened.
Then his eyes met mine.
“We found Evelyn.”
“Where?”
“Boston Harbor.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“Take me.”
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Lydia.”
“She knows something about my father.”
He stared at me.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
The harbor was almost empty.
Rain fell hard against the pavement.
A warehouse door stood open.
We entered.
Evelyn sat on a wooden crate.
She looked exhausted.
When she saw me, she stood.
“You’re Lydia.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For what my mother did.”
She looked at Cassian.
“I never wanted this.”
“Then why did you run?”
Evelyn's gaze dropped.
“Because if I married you, they would kill you.”
Cassian's face hardened.
“Who?”
“My mother.”
Silence.
Evelyn pulled out a flash drive.
“I found this in her office.”
“What is it?”
“Everything.”
She handed it to Cassian.
He inserted it into a laptop.
Files appeared.
Payments.
Photographs.
Messages.
And recordings.
One recording stopped me cold.
My father's voice.
If my daughter ever finds this, tell her not to trust Margaret Aldridge.
Cassian looked at me.
The recording continued.
She knows about the house beneath the house.
And she knows where the ledger is hidden.
Then the recording ended.
I turned toward Evelyn.
“What house?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Cassian stared at the screen.
“Neither do I.”
Then the warehouse lights came on.
We were surrounded.
Men in dark clothes appeared along the upper platform.
A gunshot hit the wall beside us.
Cassian pulled me down.
“Stay behind me.”
I could barely breathe.
Another shot.
Evelyn screamed.
Thomas fired upward.
The men fled through the back.
Cassian stood.
He looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He checked my arms anyway.
Then my face.
His fingers brushed the side of my cheek.
The touch was brief.
But I felt it.
A warmth that shouldn't have existed between us.
He pulled his hand away.
“We need to go.”
Outside, Evelyn whispered:
“There’s another reason they wanted Lydia married to you.”
Cassian stopped.
“What?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Because your father left something only Lydia can find.”
May you like
“What?”
“A key.”
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