Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO FIRED FIRST
The bullet hit Nathan high in the shoulder.
The second shattered a lamp.
Police dragged us behind the kitchen island while officers flooded the hallway. Whoever fired from the building across the street was gone before they reached the roof.
Nathan survived.
At the hospital, he refused surgery until a detective promised protective custody.
I stood outside his room feeling nothing I expected to feel. No love. No satisfaction. Just a sick understanding that somebody had tried to silence him before he could tell me the rest.
A detective named Priya Shah interviewed us separately.
“Who knew he was meeting you?”
“Celeste could have guessed. Charles knew about the injunction.”
“Anyone else?”
I thought of my mother’s former business circle, trust officers, board members, family friends.
Too many people had keys to my life.
At 2:00 a.m., Nathan finally asked to see me.
His skin looked gray under the hospital lights.
“I deserve what you think of me,” he said.
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“I married you because Charles promised me control of the flagship division.”
I stared at him.
“But I fell in love with you after.”
“Don’t insult me.”
“I’m telling you because you need to know what changed. He started threatening me when I tried to back out.”
“Who is he working for?”
Nathan shook his head. “I never met the person above him.”
“There’s always someone above Charles?”
“He called them the Founder.”
I almost laughed. “My grandfather founded the company. He’s dead.”
Nathan’s eyes filled with fear.
“Not that founder.”
He reached for the bedside drawer and pulled out a hotel key card.
“Room 611. Harbor Crown Hotel. Celeste keeps a second phone there.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because whoever shot me knew I was about to talk.”
I took the card.
Nathan caught my wrist weakly.
“Emma, if you find a woman named Evelyn March, don’t tell her who you are.”
“Who is she?”
May you like
He closed his eyes.
“The woman who attended your father’s funeral under a false name.”
