Chapter 3 - The Woman They Expected to Blame
By morning, Adrian had Apex’s internal records.
My employment file sat on his desk.
So did something I had never seen.
A photograph of me entering Mount Sinai.
Another of Toby.
Another of our apartment building in Queens.
I felt sick.
“They were watching us.”
Adrian stood beside me.
“For at least six weeks.”
“Why?”
Luca answered.
“Because you were useful.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
Adrian understood first.
“They needed someone inside my home who would be easy to blame.”
Everything clicked.
The broke maid.
The sick brother.
The impossible medical bill.
If Adrian died from poison and investigators discovered I had financial problems, they could manufacture motive.
“They were going to frame me.”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
“And Vincent knew I saw him.”
“Yes.”
“So he tried to have Toby threatened.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
I looked at the photographs again.
“What do we do?”
Adrian studied me.
Yesterday I had been begging to leave.
Now I was asking to stay.
“We make them believe their plan worked.”
Richard Hale called me at 11:07 a.m.
Adrian placed the phone on speaker.
“Cara?”
I forced my voice to shake.
“Mr. Hale.”
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
Adrian watched me.
I continued.
“Mr. Duca fired me.”
A pause.
“Why?”
“I broke something.”
“What?”
“A glass.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Hale’s voice remained gentle.
“Did anything else happen?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
I looked directly at Adrian.
“Nothing.”
Hale exhaled.
“Good. Come to the Apex office tonight. We’ll discuss reassignment.”
“What time?”
“Eight.”
The call ended.
Luca shook his head.
“It’s a trap.”
“Obviously,” I said.
Adrian looked at me.
“You’re not going.”
“You just said we needed them to believe the plan worked.”
“I said we.”
“And I’m the bait.”
“No.”
“You can’t walk into Apex pretending to be me.”
Luca coughed.
Adrian shot him a look.
I leaned across the desk.
“They think I’m scared and desperate. Let them.”
At eight that night, I entered the Apex office wearing my cleaning uniform.
Adrian’s men were positioned outside.
A microphone was hidden beneath my collar.
Hale waited inside.
“You look tired.”
“Bad night.”
“Sit.”
I did.
He slid an envelope toward me.
Twenty thousand dollars.
“What’s this?”
“Severance.”
“I didn’t resign.”
“You should.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
His pleasant expression disappeared.
“Because you saw something you shouldn’t have.”
My pulse accelerated.
“Vincent?”
Hale leaned back.
“You really are smarter than you look.”
“Why Adrian?”
“That’s above your pay grade.”
“Then why me?”
“Because your brother made you perfect.”
My fingers curled beneath the table.
Hale smiled.
“A desperate young woman. Medical debt. Access to Duca’s home. If police found poison residue in your locker, who would question it?”
“You used Toby.”
“We researched you.”
“He’s a child.”
“He was leverage.”
I heard Adrian’s voice faintly through my earpiece.
“That’s enough.”
The office door opened.
Hale’s face changed.
Adrian walked in.
Luca followed.
Hale stood.
“You—”
Adrian placed his phone on the table.
Hale’s confession replayed through the speaker.
A desperate young woman.
Medical debt.
Access to Duca’s home.
Hale went pale.
Adrian looked at me.
“You did well.”
Then at Hale.
“You didn’t.”
Hale swallowed.
“Adrian, we can negotiate.”
“About what?”
“Vincent wasn’t the top.”
The room went still.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Name.”
Hale hesitated.
Adrian’s expression was enough.
“Sebastian Vale.”
For the first time, Adrian looked genuinely surprised.
I recognized the name too.
Everyone did.
Sebastian Vale was chairman of Vale International.
More importantly, he was Adrian’s oldest business partner.
Hale whispered:
May you like
“He wants everything you own.”
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