Chapter 18 - THE LAST THING JULIETTE ASKED FOR
I saw Juliette two weeks later through thick glass at the county detention center.
She looked smaller without the wedding dress, the makeup, the Mercer name working like armor around her.
She picked up the phone.
“So,” she said, “you’re officially alive.”
“Yes.”
A weak smile touched her mouth. “That sounds stupid when I say it.”
“Most of this does.”
Silence settled between us.
Her lawyer had negotiated bail conditions, but prosecutors were opposing release because of the financial evidence.
“I signed a cooperation agreement,” she said. “I’m giving them everything on Victor and Peter.”
“That may help your sentence.”
“I know.”
She studied my face.
“Do you hate me?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
I did not soften the answer.
“But I also remember braiding your hair when Mom was sick. I remember you sleeping in my bed during thunderstorms. I remember teaching you to drive. I hate you, and I remember loving you. Both are true.”
She pressed her lips together.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
“I want to ask one thing.”
I almost laughed. “You’re brave.”
“Mara Ellis’s family. Please don’t let Dad’s lawyers turn her into a footnote.”
That surprised me.
“I won’t.”
Juliette nodded.
Then she leaned closer to the glass.
“Caroline, the executed trust amendment gives you controlling interest in Mercer Urban. Dad knows.”
“I know.”
“He thinks you’re going to take it.”
“Maybe I am.”
She swallowed.
“Then do what I didn’t.”
“What’s that?”
“Choose something because it’s right, not because you’re scared of losing everything.”
The guard touched her shoulder. Time.
Juliette stood.
Before she turned away, she said, “For what it’s worth, when you walked into that ballroom, I wasn’t angry because you ruined my wedding.”
I waited.
May you like
“I was angry because you proved I had spent three years becoming someone I could no longer defend.”
Then the line went dead.
