Chapter 6 - The Woman Before Me
I knew Lydia Kane’s name.
Daniel had called her “a college mistake” whenever she came up.
According to him, they had dated briefly before she moved to Colorado.
Miguel gave me a number.
Lydia answered on the fourth ring.
“I wondered when someone would finally call.”
That was not the greeting I expected.
“I’m Elena Torres.”
“I know who you are.”
“You heard about last night?”
“I saw the video.”
My face burned. Someone had already posted twelve seconds of Daniel slapping me.
Lydia continued, “I’m sorry. Not surprised. Sorry.”
I asked about Mercer Construction.
She went quiet.
“I was a project accountant there for eighteen months,” she said. “Daniel and I were engaged for six weeks.”
I gripped my pen.
“He told me you just dated.”
“Of course he did.”
Lydia explained that four years earlier she found duplicate vendor files and unexplained payments routed through a company called West Ridge Procurement.
“When I asked questions, Patricia told me marrying into the family meant protecting the family.”
“What happened?”
“I refused to sign a quarterly certification.”
“And Daniel?”
“He asked me to reconsider. Then he told the board I had accessed records without authorization. I was fired before lunch.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why didn’t you report them?”
“I tried. The records disappeared. The company said I was a bitter ex-fiancée. Their lawyer threatened me with a confidentiality suit.”
Then Lydia said something that made me stop writing.
“Elena, did Patricia make you serve the men?”
“Yes.”
Lydia breathed out slowly.
“She tried that with me at an engagement dinner.”
My skin went cold.
“It’s not tradition,” she said. “It’s a test.”
May you like
“For what?”
“To see whether the woman will obey in public before they ask her to lie in private.”
