Chapter 9 - THE MARRIAGE ASSIGNMENT
Ryan came to the farmhouse alone.
Emily made him stand outside.
“You have five minutes.”
He told her everything.
At twenty-one, Ryan had worked for Grant Blake.
Ambitious.
Broke.
Desperate to enter real estate.
Grant learned Ryan had grown up near Ashford and asked him to research the Calloway property.
Ryan met Emily’s grandmother.
She immediately understood what Grant wanted.
“She told me to stay away from you.”
“And?”
“I did.”
Emily stared.
“For how long?”
“Three years.”
“Then we met.”
“Yes.”
“Accidentally?”
Ryan looked down.
“No.”
Emily felt sick.
“Grant sent you again.”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you to marry me?”
“No.”
“What did he tell you?”
“Get close.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“And you exceeded expectations.”
Ryan’s eyes filled.
“I fell in love with you.”
“After approaching me under false pretenses.”
“Yes.”
“Then you cheated with his daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand how insane it sounds when you say you loved me?”
“Yes.”
At least he did not ask forgiveness.
Emily asked, “Why Madison?”
“Grant introduced us professionally.”
“And?”
“She knew everything about the land. Everything I had hidden from you.”
“So she could blackmail you.”
“At first.”
“And then?”
Ryan looked ashamed.
“I wanted her.”
Emily nodded.
That answer hurt.
But it was clean.
No excuse.
“Did you forge my signature?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
“Why?”
“Madison said the bank paperwork was temporary. She said you’d eventually sign once the project increased the land value.”
“And the mental-health plan?”
Ryan’s face hardened.
“That was Madison.”
“You participated.”
“I didn’t stop it.”
“Same difference to me.”
Emily started closing the door.
Ryan said, “Grant is afraid of the recorder.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandmother recorded him too.”
Emily stopped.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“She had one recorder.”
“No.”
Ryan looked at the house.
“She had two.”
Emily stared.
“How do you know?”
“Grant spent fourteen years looking for the second one.”
A car approached.
Arthur’s sedan.
But Arthur was not driving.
Madison stepped out.
She held a small object wrapped in Emily’s grandmother’s white cloth.
May you like
Ryan whispered:
“She found it.”
