Chapter 7 - MELANIE'S PERFECT FUTURE
Melanie invited Wyatt to lunch the following day.
He showed Sadie the message.
Melanie: We need to talk privately. About Sadie. Please don't tell her.
Sadie laughed.
"Go."
Wyatt frowned.
"You want me to meet your sister secretly."
"I want to know what she thinks she's offering."
Two hours later, Wyatt sat across from Melanie at a rooftop restaurant downtown.
Sadie listened through one wireless earbud connected to Wyatt's phone.
Melanie arrived twelve minutes late.
"Sorry."
"You wanted to talk."
She smiled.
"I did."
Melanie had always been beautiful in the way magazines rewarded.
Perfect blonde hair.
Expensive clothes.
Zero visible anxiety.
She ordered champagne.
Wyatt ordered water.
Melanie leaned forward.
"My parents told me about the money."
"What money?"
"The trust."
Wyatt kept his face neutral.
"Which trust?"
"The one Sadie gets if you marry her."
Sadie's stomach tightened.
Melanie knew more than expected.
Melanie continued.
"You should understand that Sadie isn't ready for that kind of responsibility."
"Why?"
"She's emotional."
Wyatt almost smiled.
"Your father hit her?"
"He's never hit her."
Sadie's mouth fell open.
Wyatt said, "Interesting."
Melanie rolled her eyes.
"Dad yells. Sadie exaggerates."
"And the balcony?"
Melanie froze.
Sadie held her breath.
Wyatt leaned back.
"What's the balcony, Melanie?"
Melanie recovered.
"No idea."
Too late.
Wyatt saw it.
"So you do know."
"I said I don't."
"Then why did you look terrified?"
Melanie reached for her champagne.
Her fingers trembled.
"You're making a huge mistake."
"Marrying Sadie?"
"Yes."
"Because?"
"Because after the wedding, everything changes."
"That's usually the idea."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
Melanie stared at him.
Then lowered her voice.
"If you cancel the wedding, my father will pay you ten million."
Sadie nearly laughed.
The price had doubled.
Wyatt asked, "And then?"
"Then you leave town for a while."
"With you?"
Melanie smiled.
"If you want."
"No."
Her face hardened.
"You don't even know me."
"I know enough."
Melanie leaned forward.
"Sadie is not who you think she is."
"Who is she?"
"Someone who ruins people."
"Like who?"
"Our grandfather."
Sadie stopped breathing.
Wyatt said carefully, "Charles?"
Melanie whispered, "He was trying to destroy the family. Sadie helped him."
"When?"
"When she was a kid."
Wyatt stared.
Melanie continued.
"My parents said she was always sneaking around with him. Sharing things. Telling him private conversations."
"She was nine."
"Exactly. What kind of child does that?"
"A child talking to her grandfather."
Melanie's face twisted.
"You don't understand. She was born wrong."
Sadie removed the earbud.
She could not listen anymore.
Twenty minutes later, Wyatt returned to the car.
Sadie sat behind the wheel.
"She believes it."
Wyatt got in.
"Most of it."
"My parents taught her to hate me."
"Yes."
Sadie looked through the windshield.
Then her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Charles sitting in his locked room.
Richard stood behind him.
A gun was pressed to Charles's shoulder.
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BRING THE GREENHOUSE FILES HOME BY 6 PM OR HE DIES.
