Chapter 5 - The Hotel
Aaron had stood beside me at my wedding.
Not behind me.
Beside me.
Best man.
He had held the rings.
He had given a speech about how lucky I was to find Vanessa.
He had been Kayla’s godfather.
And now I was staring at a photograph of him walking into a hotel with my wife after midnight.
I called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Alicia watched my face.
“Who is that?”
I showed her the picture.
Her mouth opened.
“Oh my God.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
I studied her.
She looked genuinely shocked.
That meant something.
Or maybe I was becoming easy to fool.
I got out of the truck.
Alicia followed.
“Malcolm, don’t do anything crazy.”
I laughed.
“Everybody keeps saying that to the person who apparently knew the least.”
I drove downtown.
Aaron owned a small architecture firm near Pratt Street.
I walked through his lobby without calling ahead.
His receptionist stood.
“Mr. Carter—”
“Where is he?”
“He’s in a meeting.”
I kept walking.
She hurried after me.
“Sir.”
I pushed open the conference room door.
Aaron sat with two clients.
His face went white.
“Malcolm.”
“Outside.”
One client looked confused.
Aaron stood.
“Give me five minutes.”
“No.”
I held up my phone.
“You get five seconds.”
He saw the photo.
His shoulders dropped.
The clients quietly gathered their things.
Aaron led me into his office and closed the door.
“What do you want to know?”
That sentence hurt.
Not “That isn’t what it looks like.”
Not “You’re wrong.”
Just surrender.
“Did you sleep with my wife?”
“No.”
I watched him.
“Did you want to?”
He hesitated.
My hands curled.
“Aaron.”
“No.”
“Then why were you at a hotel with her?”
He walked behind his desk.
“Because she needed help.”
I laughed.
“You too?”
“What?”
“Apparently my wife runs an emergency service for men.”
His face hardened.
“That’s not fair.”
“Fair?”
I stepped closer.
“You walked into a hotel with my wife at one in the morning.”
“She wasn’t there for me.”
“Then who?”
Aaron looked down.
I knew.
I had learned the pattern.
Every person in my life now had that same expression right before another secret arrived.
“Who?”
He finally said, “Your father.”
I stared at him.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then try again.”
Aaron opened a desk drawer.
He removed a thin folder.
He pushed it toward me.
I didn’t touch it.
“What is that?”
“Documents Vanessa found.”
“Where?”
“Terrence’s house.”
My heart pounded.
I opened the folder.
Bank statements.
Property deeds.
Copies of letters.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Charles Carter.
My father.
I looked up.
“What does Dad have to do with Terrence?”
Aaron sat.
“More than you think.”
“Speak.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“Terrence’s mother worked for your father.”
I frowned.
“My father owned a hardware store.”
“He owned other things too.”
“What things?”
“Properties.”
I looked down at the deeds.
Several addresses.
Including twenty-eight Layton Street.
My pulse jumped.
“That house belonged to Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Then how does Devin control it?”
“He inherited the holding company.”
I froze.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“My father’s will divided everything equally.”
“The will you saw did.”
I stared at him.
Aaron continued.
“Apparently there was another trust.”
My mouth went dry.
“For Devin?”
“For someone else.”
“Who?”
He pointed to the papers.
I looked again.
Beneficiary: T. Cole.
Terrence.
I sat down.
My dead father had left property to my wife’s ex-fiancé.
Nothing made sense anymore.
“Why?”
Aaron leaned forward.
“Vanessa has been trying to figure that out.”
I looked at him.
“So Thursday?”
“She called me after leaving Terrence’s.”
“Why you?”
“Because I handled some of your dad’s estate paperwork.”
Aaron was an architect, but his brother was an estate attorney. Years earlier, they had helped our family sort through property issues after my father died.
“She found a reference to a storage unit registered under your father’s old company.”
I frowned.
“The hotel?”
“The storage company converted the building. Records were kept in the basement.”
“You went there at one in the morning?”
“They have twenty-four-hour access.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
Aaron gave me a sad look.
“You need to ask her.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“She lies.”
He looked away.
That told me there was still more.
“What happened at the hotel?”
“We found a box.”
“What box?”
Aaron pointed toward the folder.
“That came from it.”
I flipped through the papers.
At the bottom was an envelope.
My name was written across the front.
Malcolm.
My father’s handwriting.
My throat closed.
I hadn’t seen that handwriting in six years.
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Son,
If you are reading this, then the past has finally caught up with us.
I stopped.
Aaron said quietly, “Keep reading.”
My hands shook.
There are things I should have told you while I was alive.
Things about Terrence Cole.
Things about his mother.
And things about Vanessa.
My stomach dropped.
I looked at Aaron.
“He knew Vanessa?”
Aaron nodded.
“Before you did.”
I kept reading.
Terrence is not your enemy.
If anything, I owe that boy more than I can ever repay.
And before you judge Vanessa for protecting him, you need to know what I did to his mother.
I couldn’t breathe.
May you like
The next sentence was worse.
Because Terrence Cole is your brother.
