Chapter 5 - Unraveling the Trap
The alleyway seemed to tilt on its axis. The roar of the downtown traffic faded into a muffled hum as Colin’s confession settled into my consciousness.
""She told you... what?"" My voice came out as a strangled squeak. ""Colin, I had never seen that man before in my entire life! He was a stranger on the dance floor! He stepped in front of me when the song started!""
""Does it even matter, Delaney?"" Colin’s voice was dangerously flat. ""You wanted to wound me, and you picked the exact weapon designed to do it. Whether you knew him for three weeks or three seconds, the message was identical: my loyalty was a joke to you.""
""Colin, listen to me!"" I pleaded, tears finally spilling over my freezing cheeks. ""Victoria set the whole thing up! The man—the guy at the club—he was planted there! He didn't just stumble into me! He looked right past me toward you before he said anything! He told me, 'Your husband looks like he wants to be anywhere else.' He was feeding me lines to bait my pride!""
The silence on the line was deafening. I could hear Colin's steady, rhythmic breathing, the wheels turning behind his sharp analytical mind. He was an engineer and a corporate strategist; he lived in data, patterns, and anomalies.
""Who was he, Delaney?"" Colin asked slowly.
""I don't know!"" I cried, wiping my face with the sleeve of my coat. ""Keira was hyping him up—wait.""
The memory clicked like a key sliding into a rusty lock.
The club entrance. Keira had disappeared to the VIP coat check for ten minutes before we ordered our first round. When she returned, she had whispered to me that she had run into an 'old acquaintance' who had comped our table service. And later, when that stranger approached me, he had bypassed four other women on the perimeter to walk straight into my personal space. Keira had not looked surprised. Her camera had already been unlocked in her hand before the man even put his arm around my waist.
""Keira,"" I breathed, horror settling in my gut. ""Keira didn't just record it. She brought him.""
""Where are you right now?"" Colin demanded, his voice suddenly sharp, the corporate commander overriding the wounded husband.
""I'm on Michigan Avenue, outside the cultural center,"" I said, shivering violently. ""Colin, the divorce papers Victoria gave me—she had all of my father's bank routing numbers from the Cayman accounts attached as an exhibit. She’s had those records for weeks. How did she get access to your private legal files?""
""She didn't get them from me,"" Colin said coldly. ""Those files were locked in the safe at our brownstone. Only two people have the biometric combination to that vault, Delaney. Me... and you.""
My blood ran completely cold. I hadn't opened that wall safe in over eight months. But three weeks ago, while I had been hosting a brunch for our college alumni group, Keira had spent nearly twenty minutes upstairs using the master bathroom to 'touch up her makeup.'
""She stole them from our house,"" I whispered. ""Keira took the files for Victoria.""
""Get into a cab,"" Colin commanded. ""Do not go back to Lincoln Park. Do not contact Keira. Go straight to Marcus Vance’s office on Wacker Drive.""
""Marcus Vance?"" I repeated, bewildered. ""Victoria’s father? Colin, you told me he died three years ago!""
""That's what Victoria told the press when she left the company to avoid subpoena delivery,"" Colin said grimly. ""Marcus Vance is very much alive, Delaney. And he has been looking for his daughter ever since she drained his retirement trust to finance her revenge. If we are going to survive what she has planned for noon today, you need to hear the truth from the man who created her.""
The call clicked dead.
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I didn't hesitate. I sprinted toward the curb, waving down a yellow cab with reckless abandon. The internet was tearing my character into shreds, millions of people were watching my marriage disintegrate on five-inch screens, but for the first time in twenty-four hours, the fog of vanity had cleared.
I wasn't just fighting for my reputation anymore; I was fighting to stop a psychopath from destroying the man who had silently spent his life trying to save me from myself.
