Chapter 4 - The Engagement Ends at Table One
Garrett stared at Madison.
“Belonged to your family?”
“My father built Cole Development.”
“By stealing forty million dollars.”
Madison laughed.
“You think your father was clean?”
“No.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Garrett continued.
“But he kept evidence.”
Madison glanced toward the flash drive.
“That evidence destroys my family.”
“Then perhaps your family shouldn’t have created it.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You’d throw away everything we planned?”
Garrett looked at her.
“What exactly did we plan, Madison?”
“Our marriage.”
“No.”
His voice was calm.
“You planned access.”
Madison’s face tightened.
“You think I spent two years with you for a flash drive?”
“I think you spent two years trying to get close enough to my family that nobody would question you.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Garrett pointed toward the laptop.
“You searched my mother’s room.”
Madison froze.
Victor placed several photographs on the table.
Security images.
Madison entering Margaret’s private suite.
Opening drawers.
Searching cabinets.
Garrett continued.
“You followed her driver.”
Another photograph.
“You paid Aldridge.”
A bank record.
My mouth fell open.
Garrett looked toward me.
“That’s why he moved your section.”
Madison’s voice sharpened.
“You’ve been busy.”
“You threatened the wrong person.”
“Rachel?”
“No.”
Garrett looked at his mother.
“Her.”
Madison laughed bitterly.
“Your mother hated me from the beginning.”
Margaret finally spoke.
“No, dear.”
Everyone turned.
Margaret straightened in her chair.
“I tried very hard to like you.”
Madison scoffed.
“You judged me.”
“I watched you.”
“There’s a difference?”
“A very large one.”
Margaret stood.
“You mistook silence for weakness.”
Madison stepped forward.
Garrett moved instantly between them.
“Don’t.”
Madison stopped.
Garrett’s voice became even quieter.
“Yesterday, Rachel said those words to you.”
His eyes hardened.
“Today, I’m saying them.”
Madison looked around.
“You’re choosing a waitress and a frightened old woman over me?”
Garrett’s expression went cold.
“I’m choosing my mother.”
Then he removed the engagement ring he wore on a chain beneath his shirt.
He placed it on the table.
“And I’m ending this.”
Madison stared at it.
“You’ll regret humiliating me.”
“You humiliated yourself.”
“You think this is over?”
“No.”
Garrett slid a folder toward her.
“You’re being investigated for financial conspiracy, coercion, unlawful access to private property, and several other things my attorneys will explain better than I can.”
Madison’s face lost its color.
“You called the police?”
“I called people whose job is to deal with evidence.”
“You bastard.”
Garrett didn’t react.
Madison turned toward me.
“This started because of you.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
She glared.
“It started because someone finally saw you.”
For a moment, I thought she might come toward me.
Victor stepped between us.
“Time to leave.”
Madison looked at Garrett one last time.
“You’re going to trust her now?”
Garrett’s eyes followed Madison’s.
They landed on me.
“Yes.”
That single word made the room strangely quiet.
Madison was escorted out.
The elevator doors closed.
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“Well.”
Garrett looked at me.
“Well?”
“I assume I’m still fired.”
Margaret laughed.
Actually laughed.
Garrett stared at me as if I were impossible.
“You think I’m firing you?”
“You sent me home.”
“Because I needed you away from Madison while I figured out what happened.”
“You could’ve mentioned that.”
“I was angry.”
“At me?”
“At myself.”
That silenced me.
Garrett looked toward his mother.
“I should have seen it.”
Margaret touched his arm.
“You see it now.”
“That doesn’t erase six months.”
“No.”
She glanced at me.
“But perhaps you can do something useful with what happens next.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret smiled.
“I want lunch.”
Garrett blinked.
“Mom.”
“I’ve had enough criminal conspiracies before noon.”
She looked at me.
“Rachel?”
“Yes?”
“Would you sit with us?”
“I’m working.”
Garrett looked around the empty restaurant.
“No, you’re not.”
I stared at him.
“Are you always this irritating?”
Margaret answered for him.
“Since birth.”
Garrett actually smiled.
May you like
And that was the first time I realized Chicago’s most feared man looked completely different when he did.
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