Chapter 3
Graham Sloane arrived at the estate before dawn.
Forty-two.
Bruised pride more than body.
Wrinkled shirt.
Exhaustion.
The moment he saw me, he lifted both hands.
“I did not come here for your wife.”
“I know.”
He stared.
Good.
One problem removed.
“Tell me.”
Six days earlier, Graham received a message through an old mutual friend.
Bianca wanted to speak privately.
Urgent.
Family matter.
He came because he still respected her.
At the west drive, Nolan met him.
Said Bianca was running late.
Then Bianca appeared.
Not voluntarily.
Hattie gripping one arm.
Another man behind her.
Bianca immediately shouted:
“Graham, leave.”
He tried.
Nolan blocked him.
Then Mother stepped onto the terrace above the drive.
Saw everything.
That was when the plan changed.
Originally, Nolan and Hattie intended to force Bianca into Graham’s car and have both disappear from the estate.
Later, witnesses would remember an old male friend arriving.
Enough.
But Adelaide saw force.
They could not erase her.
So they needed her converted.
“What happened at Bellweather?”
Graham looked sick.
They were separated at first.
Nolan told him Bianca wanted to leave me but feared doing it directly.
False.
Bianca was told Graham agreed to help stage an escape from me.
Also false.
They tried making each distrust the other.
It failed within an hour.
Because Graham shouted through a wall:
“I never sent for you.”
Bianca shouted back:
“I never invited you.”
Simple.
Two rooms.
One conversation.
Lie broken.
After that Nolan stopped pretending.
He told them the new plan.
They would remain there until Bianca agreed to leave New York with Graham for several weeks.
Not forever.
Long enough.
Photographs would appear.
Sightings.
Whispers.
No need to fabricate affection.
People would do that themselves.
Then Bianca could return if she wanted.
But by then, our marriage would be poisoned.
I asked:
“Why did she leave the cottage?”
Graham stared at me.
“She escaped yesterday.”
Good.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Then:
“But before she went, she said one thing.”
I waited.
“She said she couldn’t come to you yet.”
My jaw tightened.
“Why?”
Graham looked toward Hattie.
“Because she said the reason they wanted your marriage broken wasn’t the kidnapping.”
May you like
He paused.
“That was only how they planned to hide what she had discovered.”
