Chapter 7 - The Second Home
Two days later, Jocelyn was stable enough to leave intensive care.
Gordon continued to wait outside her room.
He brought flowers.
She refused them.
He brought food.
She refused it.
He sent a handwritten note.
She did not open it.
Rita stopped coming after hospital security threatened to remove her for shouting at nurses.
Naomi’s accountant, Marcus Reed, arrived with a thick folder.
“The property is in Lake Arbor,” he said.
Jocelyn knew the area.
Private waterfront homes.
Gated roads.
Properties starting at two million dollars.
“Who lives there?”
“The deed is held by R.G. Heritage Holdings.”
“Who controls the company?”
“Gordon is listed as managing director. Rita is the beneficiary.”
Jocelyn stared at him.
“My money bought my mother-in-law a lake house?”
“Partially.”
“What does partially mean?”
“There is a mortgage. The down payment came from accounts connected to you.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
Her surgical incision throbbed.
She pressed a hand against the blanket.
“I would have noticed that.”
“The money was transferred in smaller amounts over eighteen months. Some were labeled tax reserves, insurance premiums, and investment contributions.”
Jocelyn thought of every evening when Gordon sat at the dining table with spreadsheets.
He would kiss her forehead and say, I’m handling the boring things so you can save lives.
She had considered it love.
It had been access.
Marcus turned another page.
“There’s something else.”
Jocelyn almost laughed.
“There always is.”
“The mortgage application lists household income from two people.”
“Gordon and me?”
“No.”
He slid the document toward her.
Gordon Hale.
And Cassandra Vale.
Jocelyn read the name.
“Who is Cassandra Vale?”
Marcus showed her a photograph taken from a real estate website.
A dark-haired woman stood beside Gordon in front of the Lake Arbor house.
They were holding keys.
The caption read:
A fresh beginning for a beautiful couple.
Jocelyn’s chest tightened.
The monitor beside her accelerated.
Elena moved closer.
“Breathe.”
Jocelyn focused on the image.
Gordon’s arm was around Cassandra’s waist.
The photograph was dated seven months earlier.
“Find out who she is,” Jocelyn said.
Marcus nodded.
“I already did.”
He placed another page on the bed.
Cassandra Vale was thirty-two.
A marketing consultant.
She had worked for Hale Strategic Development.
And six months earlier, she had given birth to a son.
The child’s birth certificate listed no father.
May you like
Jocelyn stared at the baby’s photograph.
The child had Gordon’s eyes.
