Chapter 2 - The Woman in Red
Genevieve did not open the door.
“Why are you here?”
Rosalind answered through the wood.
“Because Gideon is bleeding.”
Beatrice went pale.
Genevieve’s grip tightened around the photograph.
“Where?”
“East wing.”
“And you left him?”
“He told me to.”
Genevieve almost laughed at the absurdity.
Her husband had abandoned their wedding night for his alleged mistress, and now that mistress stood outside asking his bride for help.
“Open the door,” Rosalind said. “Or the next people who come won't knock.”
Genevieve glanced at Beatrice.
Then she unlocked it.
Rosalind Hastings entered wearing the same red gown that had fueled whispers throughout the reception.
Up close, she looked nothing like a victorious mistress.
Blood stained her left sleeve.
“Whose blood?” Genevieve asked.
“Gideon’s.”
Rosalind locked the door again.
Then her eyes found the photograph.
Every trace of color left her face.
“Where did you get that?”
“Under my door.”
“Then they know.”
“Who?”
Rosalind ignored the question.
She crossed to the contract and saw the broken seal.
“You opened it.”
“I’m developing a habit of opening things people hide from me.”
“You need to leave.”
“I was already considering it.”
“Not the marriage. The estate.”
Genevieve folded her arms.
“Start explaining.”
Rosalind looked toward Beatrice.
“She stays.”
“You trust her?”
“With my life.”
“That may become literal.”
Rosalind took a breath.
“I am not Gideon’s mistress.”
Genevieve said nothing.
“For six years,” Rosalind continued, “Gideon has allowed people to believe that because it gave me access to places no legitimate associate of his could enter.”
“You’re an operative.”
“I’m an investigator.”
“For whom?”
“Originally? Gideon.”
“And now?”
Rosalind met her eyes.
“Your mother.”
The silence was absolute.
Genevieve felt the room tilt.
“My mother is dead.”
“No.”
One syllable.
Eighteen years collapsed beneath it.
Rosalind removed something from her purse.
A silver pendant.
Genevieve knew it instantly.
Her mother had worn it every day.
An oval locket engraved with tiny winter branches.
Genevieve touched her throat.
“Where did you get that?”
“Eleanor gave it to me three weeks ago.”
Beatrice sat down hard.
Genevieve did not move.
She could not.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone found her.”
Rosalind explained quickly.
Eleanor's crash had not been an accident.
She had uncovered a financial network moving money through Winterborne shipping manifests and Vale-controlled warehouses.
Someone close to both families had discovered what she knew.
Eleanor survived the crash.
To keep Genevieve alive, she disappeared.
Only three people had known.
One was dead.
One was Eleanor.
The third had been Gideon’s father.
“Gideon learned the truth six years ago,” Rosalind said.
“And never told me?”
“He believed telling you would make you a target.”
“He married me.”
“Yes.”
“That seems considerably more conspicuous than telling me.”
“The marriage was supposed to end the threat.”
Genevieve laughed once.
Coldly.
“How?”
Rosalind looked at the contract.
“The ledger.”
There it was again.
“What is it?”
“A record your mother created. Payments. Names. Shipping numbers. Judges. Police. Politicians. Executives. Every person involved in the organization that has been feeding off both families for twenty years.”
“And where is it?”
“Nobody knows.”
“The note says it remains with the bride.”
Rosalind stared.
“What?”
Genevieve showed her.
Rosalind read it.
Her expression changed.
“Gideon has never seen this.”
“How convenient.”
“I watched him review the final contract.”
“Apparently not carefully enough.”
“No.” Rosalind touched the binding. “I mean this page wasn't there.”
Someone had altered the contract after Gideon reviewed it.
Genevieve looked toward Beatrice.
“Who handled this case?”
“Your father's legal team. Vale's attorneys. The officiant's clerk.”
“And my father?”
“Genevieve,” Beatrice said quietly.
Another knock.
This time Gideon’s voice came from outside.
“Genevieve.”
Rosalind stiffened.
Genevieve opened the door.
Gideon stood there with blood soaking through his shirt near his ribs.
His eyes went immediately to Rosalind.
Then the photograph.
Then the broken black seal.
“What did you open?”
Genevieve held up the photograph.
“My mother is alive.”
Gideon closed his eyes.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
Genevieve slapped him.
The guards looked away.
Gideon did not move.
“You knew for six years.”
“Yes.”
“You stood beside me at my mother’s grave every year.”
“Yes.”
“You let me mourn her.”
His voice dropped.
“I kept you alive.”
“You don't get to call that mercy.”
“No.”
His acceptance made her angrier.
“Tell me where she is.”
“I can't.”
“Then our marriage ends at nine.”
Gideon looked at her.
Pain crossed his face.
Not physical pain.
Something worse.
“If that is what you want.”
She had expected resistance.
Threats.
Negotiation.
Instead he reached into his coat.
He removed a folded document.
An annulment consent.
Already signed.
Genevieve stared.
“You prepared this?”
“Before the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew there was a chance you would discover everything tonight.”
“And you were willing to let me believe you were sleeping with Rosalind?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because humiliation keeps society looking at a scandal.”
His eyes hardened.
“Truth makes people start killing.”
A gunshot exploded downstairs.
Everyone froze.
Then another.
Gideon grabbed Genevieve and pulled her behind him.
The lights died.
Guards shouted in the corridor.
Rosalind drew a pistol from beneath her dress.
Genevieve stared at it.
“You brought a gun to my wedding?”
Rosalind chambered a round.
“I brought two.”
Emergency lights flickered red.
Gideon pressed a hand against his wound.
“Service staircase.”
They moved.
Genevieve stopped beside the desk.
The contract.
She grabbed it.
Gideon saw.
“Leave it.”
“No.”
“That document is why they're here.”
“Then I definitely want it.”
Despite everything, something almost like admiration crossed his face.
They reached the hidden staircase behind the dressing room.
Beatrice entered first.
Rosalind followed.
Genevieve stepped toward it.
Her phone vibrated.
A message from her father.
DON'T TRUST GIDEON.
Another appeared.
I KNOW WHERE YOUR MOTHER IS.
Then a photograph loaded.
Arthur Winterborne stood beside Eleanor.
The photograph had been taken tonight.
Genevieve stared at the timestamp.
12:47 A.M.
Her mother had been alive less than an hour ago.
Then a final message appeared.
COME ALONE BEFORE NINE OR YOU WILL NEVER SEE HER AGAIN.
Genevieve looked up.
Gideon was watching her.
“What did Arthur send?”
She slowly locked her phone.
“Nothing.”
May you like
For the first time that night, Genevieve lied to her husband.
And somewhere below them, someone screamed that Arthur Winterborne had disappeared.
