Chapter 6 - WHY HE MET ME
I remembered the night I met Dwight.
A fundraiser at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
He had spilled sparkling water near my shoes, apologized, and made me laugh about it for twenty minutes.
For years, I had called it chance.
Dwight called it something else.
"Dad knew your grandmother."
The words landed like stones.
"How?"
"He did maintenance work for one of her commercial properties years ago. He heard about the trust."
"And?"
"He remembered your name."
My hands went cold.
"Keep talking."
Dwight stared at the table.
"When his debt got bad, he started looking for a way out. He found you online. Saw where you worked. Saw the fundraiser list."
I felt Amy grip the back of my chair.
"You attended that event because of me."
Dwight nodded.
"At first, yes."
I stood so fast my chair scraped the floor.
"At first?"
"I fell in love with you."
I stared at him.
He looked desperate now.
Maybe he even believed himself.
That was worse.
"You built our first conversation from information your father collected about my inheritance."
"I didn't know you then."
"Exactly."
"Liz—"
"Did you ever plan to tell me?"
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Christopher leaned forward.
"Mr. Cole, you should have counsel before saying more."
Dwight ignored him.
"Dad kept pushing. Every time I tried to back out, he reminded me what the family owed. He said marriage would make the transfers easier."
"And Ashley?"
His eyes dropped.
"She knew about the investment."
"She knew about me?"
"She knew enough."
My phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Ashley sitting in an airport lounge.
Beside her was Jared.
Below it were six words.
THEY ARE LEAVING TONIGHT. BWI. 9:40.
Christopher stood.
"Who sent that?"
Another message came.
THIS IS RYAN. DON'T CALL ME.
I looked at Dwight.
"Your father is leaving with Ashley."
His head snapped up.
"What?"
Christopher was already calling the state's attorney.
Dwight rose.
"He wouldn't."
"Apparently your father has plans you don't know about too."
For the first time since I met him, Dwight looked less like my betrayer and more like another person Jared had used.
It did not make me forgive him.
But it made the next question unavoidable.
Why was Jared running with Ashley instead of his own son?
We got the answer forty minutes later.
Ashley wasn't just Dwight's affair partner.
She was Jared's business partner.
---
(To be continued)
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