Chapter 5 - THE LETTER I NEVER WROTE
Leah stopped Rosa before she opened the envelope.
“Let the detective handle it.”
Ruiz photographed it, then unfolded the pages.
I watched her expression.
“What does it say?”
She looked at Leah.
“It’s a letter claiming you took the money voluntarily. That you deceived your husband.”
“And?”
Ruiz hesitated.
I sat straighter despite the pain.
“And what?”
“It says you’re leaving and don’t want anyone looking for you.”
My father moved away from the window.
“Leaving where?”
“No destination.”
The room seemed to shrink.
For weeks, Adrian had talked about sending me somewhere quiet.
A wellness retreat.
A private place where I could get my head straight.
I had thought it was another insult disguised as concern.
Now I remembered the suitcase outside his office.
The passport he said he was keeping safe.
“What date?” I asked.
Ruiz turned the page.
“Tomorrow.”
My hands went cold.
Leah noticed and reached for the nurse’s call button.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t have to be,” she said.
My father stood perfectly still.
That frightened me more than shouting would have.
“Did he have travel plans?” Ruiz asked.
“Not with me.”
“Did he discuss medical treatment?”
I told her about the retreat.
She wrote something down.
No one said what we were all thinking. A forged farewell letter didn’t tell us exactly what Adrian intended.
It told us enough to stop pretending this had been one terrible evening.
After Ruiz left, Dad sat beside me.
“I should have come sooner.”
“You tried.”
“I should have tried harder.”
I looked at his hands. He was rubbing his wedding ring, something he had done since my mother died.
“Don’t make me take care of you right now.”
His face changed.
“You’re right.”
He set both hands flat on his knees.
“I’m sorry.”
That apology cost him nothing and gave me something I hadn’t known I needed.
Space.
Later, Leah returned with an update.
Adrian had hired Martin Shaw, the attorney whose face appeared whenever a wealthy man needed to explain why appearances were misleading.
Vanessa had separate counsel.
Both were calling the incident a dispute that had escalated.
“Two hundred times?” I asked.
“Words are cheaper than evidence,” Leah said.
My phone lit up again.
A news alert.
ADRIAN VALE’S WIFE LINKED TO MISSING INVESTOR FUNDS.
Below the headline was our wedding photograph.
I was smiling.
Leah reached for the phone, but I held it.
The article quoted an unnamed source close to the family.
May you like
My husband was in custody.
And somehow, he was already telling the world I was the criminal.
