Page 88 of Laced With Secrets
“The notes and graffiti. That was you.” I said. It wasn’t a question. “The text messages that Blake said he didn’t send?—”
It had been Adelaide all along.
Raw terror poured through my connection with my alpha, unfiltered and overwhelming. His felt his awareness sparked to life—acute and instantaneous. He knew something was wrong. He would come searching for me.
“Why?” The question came out loud in the silence surrounding us.
“Because he was going to destroy everything I’d worked for.” She stopped circling, facing me directly. “My engagement to Vivienne Cabot, my entrance into Boston society, my escapefrom my father’s shadow. The scandal of my engaged brother impregnating his immigrant paramour would have ruined it all.”
“So you killed him.” My voice shook with horror and rage. “You killed him and his baby?—”
“I eliminated a problem that threatened my future.” Adelaide’s expression was chillingly matter-of-fact. “Thomas gave Richard an ultimatum—two weeks to expose my father’s money laundering operation or he’d do it himself. That exposure would have revealed everything. Richard’s relationship with Thomas, the pregnancy, all of it. The scandal would have destroyed both of our engagements. Radcliffe would have rescinded my acceptance once they learned I came from a family embroiled in financial crime and sexual scandal. Everything I’d worked for—it would have all disappeared.”
“You hid it all those years...” I shook my head, trying to comprehend the enormity of it. “And then you just went on with your life…” Like nothing had happened.
How could you live with that kind of secret?
“And then your alpha and his cousin and all those vultures came swooping in, clawing at the District brick by brick.” Adelaide’s laugh cut through the air. “The pendulum seemed to swing back my way when Dominic and his cousin seized control. Then, Vertex just had to have the last laugh by tearing down the pharmacy.”
“You tricked Thomas too, didn’t you?” Adelaide moved closer and I backed away, my heel catching on an uneven tile. “To get him to come to the pharmacy that night.”
“I sent him a note—forged Richard’s handwriting.” Adelaide’s voice took on an almost nostalgic quality. “Said Richard haddecided to choose him, to run away together, to leave all the mess behind. Said to meet at the pharmacy construction site at midnight.”
She shrugged. “I overheard him give my brother the ultimatum—they had a habit of having their little trysts in the greenhouse. That’s how I knew about the affair too.”
I felt sick. “You used his love for Richard against him.”
“I used whatever tools were necessary. He arrived at midnight, expecting Richard to be there. Instead, he found me with one of Father’s hunting knives. He was confused at first, then frightened. He tried to run, but I caught him near the construction area.”
“He was twenty-four years old,” I said, rage and horror warring in my chest. “Pregnant. Unarmed.”
“It was quick,” Adelaide confirmed clinically. “He died within minutes. Then I wrapped the body in construction tarp and hid it in one of the foundation holes they’d dug for the pharmacy. I bricked up the hole myself. Spent hours making it look like part of the original foundation work. Then I paid the head foreman five thousand dollars in cash to not ask questions. Another three thousand after the concrete was poured.”
“And the others?” I asked, thinking of all the other players.
“Knew nothing,” Adelaide said dismissively with a shrug of one shoulder. “Vicente focused on his money laundering. The Judge was too drunk and preoccupied with chasing his latest conquest to notice anything. Robert Winslow did legitimate work—he had no idea what was buried beneath his pharmacy. The only person who had even an inkling was the foreman, and he died in 1985 with his mouth shut and his pockets full of my money.”
She’d done everything herself. Planned it, executed it, covered it up. All to protect her social standing.
“I went home, burned my clothing in the estate fireplace, and mailed the letter to Richard the next morning. I’d practiced weeks to make sure the writing matched. Then I buried Father’s hunting knife in the woods behind the estate.”
“And everyone believed Thomas just left,” I said. “You let Richard believe Thomas left him.”
“Richard married Caroline as expected of him, raised a family, ran Father’s business. If I’d let Thomas expose the operation, Richard would have been arrested alongside Father and branded a criminal and a deviant. I saved him from that.”
“You murdered the man he loved and his unborn child,” I said, my voice shaking.
She stepped forward again. My body instinctively backed away.
Through our connection, I sensed Dominic’s frustration. My panic was rushing to him in waves. He was looking for me. I knew he was looking for me. Would he find me in time?
“Acceptable losses for the greater good.” Adelaide’s voice turned cold. “Now, Leo, I need you to understand something very important about your current situation. Don’t move.”
I froze. Belatedly, I realized she had herded me like a chess piece across the greenhouse floor. “What?—”
“You’re standing on a pressure-sensitive trigger.” Adelaide’s smile was sharp. “The tile beneath your foot is rigged to the roof structure. Step off that plate, and the greenhouse collapses. You die. Your baby dies.”
I looked down. The decorative tile beneath my foot looked identical to all the others. But Adelaide’s warning froze me in place, terror flooding my system.