Chapter 9 - The Filing Cabinet|

The following morning, Evelyn didn't answer any of Ryan’s angry phone calls.

By mid-afternoon, unable to control his frustration, Ryan got into his SUV and drove over to her house himself.

At exactly 1:14 p.m., my phone rang. It was Evelyn.

"Claire," her voice sounded unnervingly steady. "Are you able to leave work and come over?"

"What happened? Did Ryan do something?"

"Your husband just forced open my locked filing cabinet in the den."

I stood up from my desk so fast my office chair rolled back and slammed into the drywall.

"He did what?"

"And he found something he was never supposed to see," she added softly.

I grabbed my coat and purse.

"What did he find, Evelyn?"

She paused, taking a ragged breath.

"Proof that the absolute biggest corporate bonus Ryan ever claimed he earned..."

She exhaled slowly into the receiver.

"...was actually a thirty-thousand-dollar private loan he begged us for."

My vision blurred, and the room seemed to tilt on its axis.

"Thirty thousand dollars?" I whispered.

"Yes."

I remembered that thirty-thousand-dollar sum instantly. I remembered the exact year. I remembered the exact room we were standing in when he announced it.

Suddenly, the small brass key hidden in my closet was no longer the primary secret threatening to tear my marriage apart.

My husband’s entire life was built on a foundation of lies.

When I arrived at Evelyn’s house twenty minutes later, a sleek gray sedan was parked in the driveway.

An impeccably dressed man in his early sixties stepped out of the car carrying a leather briefcase. He had silver hair, broad shoulders, and an air of quiet authority.

"Claire, this is Samuel Bennett," Evelyn introduced him as we stood in her living room. "He has been my legal counsel and friend for over twenty years."

Ryan was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Ryan?" I asked, looking around the quiet house.

"He fled the moment I picked up the phone to call Samuel," Evelyn said coldly.

Samuel set his briefcase on the cherrywood coffee table and popped the brass latches open.

"I believe it is time we take a trip to the bank together, Mrs. Mercer," Samuel said, looking at me.

I almost refused. I wanted to turn around, drive home, and hide under the covers.

May you like

My housekeeper apologized for eating my leftovers, but when she told me...

What I learned about why June Carter was starving inside my Lake Forest mansion didn’t just shame me—it exposed a theft buried ins...

DRAMATIC! Savannah Guthrie surprised fans by hinting she and her husband...

TRAGEDY! SAVANNAH GUTHRIE SHOCKS AUDIENCES WITH A SUBTLE REVELATION ABOUT HER MARRIAGE: “AS MUCH AS I DON’T WANT TO, I NEED TO SHA...

Today's Sheinelle makes vicious dig about Jenna and Dylan under breath o...

TV DRAMA: SHEINELLE JONES CAUGHT ON HOT MIC DISSING CO-HOSTS’ OUTFITS AMID RUMORED NBC 'TODAY' FEUDA muttered on-air remark has ex...

Then I remembered the bottle of expensive champagne Ryan had brought home in 2019.

"Let's go," I said.