Chapter 11 - Why Ethan Left
Nora read the payment record three times.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Ethan’s consulting company.
Daniel Vale’s shell corporation.
The date.
Everything matched.
“I don’t understand.”
Adrian sat opposite her.
“Neither did I.”
“You investigated Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
His expression tightened.
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like every other person deciding what information I can handle.”
“You’re right.”
That disarmed her.
Adrian continued.
“I should have told you the moment I found the connection.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I wanted evidence first.”
“That is still deciding for me.”
“Yes.”
He did not excuse it.
Nora appreciated that more than she wanted to.
“What did Daniel pay him to do?”
“Initially, I thought simply leave you.”
“Why?”
“Daniel knew Claire was alive. He suspected she might contact you if something destabilized your life.”
Nora frowned.
“Breaking my heart was supposed to draw my mother out?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“Daniel was desperate to find Claire and the password.”
Nora looked again.
“But Mom didn’t contact me.”
“No.”
“So Ethan got paid for nothing.”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
Adrian hesitated.
Nora’s eyes narrowed.
“What else?”
“Ethan may have been reporting information about you for years.”
The room became very quiet.
“Years.”
“Yes.”
Nora remembered everything.
Ethan asking about childhood vacations.
Her mother’s belongings.
Old photographs.
Whether Claire kept journals.
Questions Nora had mistaken for intimacy.
She felt sick.
“I need to see him.”
Adrian immediately said, “I’ll come.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“I need to do this without a billionaire bodyguard standing behind me.”
“I’m not your bodyguard.”
“You absolutely behave like one.”
“I was going to say boyfriend.”
Nora froze.
Adrian did too.
They had kissed.
Spent nearly every day together.
Shared things deeper than most couples shared in months.
But neither had named it.
Nora’s mouth twitched.
“That was smooth.”
“I’m recovering from major surgery.”
“You’re going to use that forever.”
“Probably.”
Despite everything, warmth spread through her.
Then she looked at the payment record.
“I need to see Ethan alone.”
Adrian hated it.
But he respected it.
That mattered too.
Ethan agreed to meet in a public park.
He looked terrible.
Nora felt nothing romantic when she saw him.
That surprised her.
Grief, perhaps.
Anger.
But the old pull was gone.
She placed the payment record on the bench.
Ethan closed his eyes.
“So it’s true.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
He looked at her.
“Daniel approached me three years ago.”
Nora laughed in disbelief.
“We were together.”
“Yes.”
“What did you tell him?”
“At first, nothing important.”
“At first.”
“He said he represented a private investigator looking for Claire’s missing relatives.”
“And you believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked ashamed.
“Money.”
There it was.
No noble reason.
No protection.
Money.
Nora appreciated the ugliness.
“How much total?”
“Almost four hundred thousand.”
She stared.
“You sold pieces of my life for four hundred thousand dollars.”
“I never thought you’d be hurt.”
“You made me believe I was hard to love.”
His eyes filled.
“Nora—”
“You criticized my body. My work. My emotions. You trained me to question myself so that when you left, I would blame myself instead of wondering whether something else happened.”
Ethan cried quietly.
“I was told to make the breakup convincing.”
Her anger nearly became physical.
“You were paid to destroy my confidence.”
“Yes.”
Nora stood.
Ethan reached toward her.
She stepped away.
“Don’t.”
His hand dropped.
“Did you ever love me?”
“Yes.”
The answer came instantly.
That hurt most.
“You loved me and still did it.”
“I was weak.”
“Yes.”
No comforting him.
No softening it.
Just truth.
Ethan looked down.
“Daniel contacted me again before the wedding.”
“The invitation.”
“Yes.”
“He offered more?”
“Vanessa got the offer separately. I recognized the language. That’s why I was scared when Adrian arrived.”
Nora frowned.
“Because?”
“Daniel told me years ago that if Adrian Vale ever got close to you, I should call him immediately.”
Nora’s pulse quickened.
“Did you?”
Ethan stared.
“Yes.”
She stepped back.
“When?”
“The night before the wedding.”
At the hotel bar.
Daniel knew Adrian had met her before the wedding even started.
That explained the speed.
Nora whispered, “You started all of it.”
Ethan shook his head.
“I didn’t know—”
“You never do.”
She turned.
“Nora.”
She stopped.
Ethan stood.
“There’s something else.”
She looked over her shoulder.
His face had gone pale.
“Daniel wasn’t the only person paying me.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“I never knew the name.”
“Then what do you know?”
“Every month, I received cash through a courier.”
“For what?”
“To report on Adrian.”
Nora frowned.
“You didn’t know Adrian.”
“No.”
“Then how?”
Ethan reached into his coat.
He produced a small black device.
Nora recognized it.
A memory card.
“I was supposed to give this to Daniel if you ever met Adrian Vale.”
Nora stared.
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never checked?”
“I was warned not to.”
She took it.
“Who gave it to you?”
Ethan hesitated.
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
“I only saw her once.”
“Describe her.”
“Early sixties. Elegant. Dark hair with gray. She said she knew Adrian better than anyone.”
Nora’s pulse stopped.
Evelyn.
“No.”
Ethan looked confused.
“What?”
Nora grabbed her phone.
She called Adrian.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then a text appeared.
From Adrian’s number.
Come to the Bellamy penthouse.
Alone.
Nora stared at it.
A second message arrived.
We need to talk about my mother.
Then the screen changed.
Incoming call.
Evelyn Vale.
Nora answered.
“Evelyn?”
For several seconds, only breathing.
Then Evelyn whispered:
“Nora, whatever Adrian just texted you, don’t go upstairs.”
Nora’s blood went cold.
“Why?”
May you like
Evelyn’s next words were barely audible.
“Because Adrian isn’t the one holding his phone.”
