Chapter 6 - BROOKE WASN’T JUST THE MISTRESS
By nine that morning, I hadn’t slept.
Sarah traced North Harbor Consulting.
It wasn’t a consulting company.
It was a shell.
Money went in.
Money disappeared.
Vivian had transferred more than a million dollars into it over six years.
Brooke had been receiving payments long before Richard claimed they started their affair.
“How long?” I asked.
Sarah looked uncomfortable.
“The earliest transfer was seven years ago.”
“Richard met me six years ago.”
“Exactly.”
“So Brooke was already in his life.”
“Yes.”
My phone buzzed.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
I answered.
“Amanda?”
Brooke.
My jaw tightened.
“How did you get this number?”
“Richard.”
“Then you have five seconds.”
“Please don’t hang up.”
“Four.”
“I didn’t send that man.”
I stopped.
“What man?”
Silence.
Then Brooke whispered, “The one who broke into your house.”
Cold moved through me.
“How do you know about that?”
“Because Richard called me after it happened.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then goodbye.”
“Wait!”
Her voice cracked.
“Richard lied to me too.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You had his baby.”
“Yes.”
“While he was married.”
“Yes.”
“And now you want sympathy?”
“No.”
Brooke started crying.
“I want to keep Chloe alive.”
I went still.
“What?”
“Vivian came to the hotel last night.”
Sarah leaned closer.
I put the call on speaker.
Brooke continued.
“She said we needed to leave the state.”
“Why?”
“She said Amanda found the file.”
My blood ran cold.
“What file?”
“I don’t know.”
“You owned North Harbor Consulting.”
Silence.
“How do you know that?”
“Answer me.”
Brooke breathed rapidly.
“My father created it.”
“For what?”
“I thought it was for investment payments.”
“From Vivian?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My father worked for the Whitmans.”
“What did he do?”
Brooke hesitated.
“Security.”
“For Richard?”
“For his father.”
I looked at Sarah.
“What does that have to do with Daniel?”
Brooke began sobbing.
“I didn’t know his name back then.”
“Whose?”
“The man at the lake.”
Everything inside me stopped.
“What man?”
“I was nineteen.”
Her breathing grew shaky.
“My father made me drive him to a lake outside Portland.”
I couldn’t speak.
“There was another car there.”
“Brooke…”
“And a man.”
“What man?”
“He was fighting with Richard.”
My knees weakened.
Sarah grabbed my arm.
Brooke whispered the next words.
“I think it was Daniel.”
Then a crash sounded through the phone.
May you like
Brooke screamed.
The line went dead.
