Chapter 10 - No Bruises
“No bruises.”
Those two words destroyed whatever tiny part of me still wanted to believe Ryan had been surprised.
He anticipated violence.
Maybe not the exact weapon.
Maybe not the exact number of strikes.
But enough to warn his mother not to leave marks.
Enough to try disabling the camera.
Enough to stand there when she attacked.
Rebecca watched my face as I read the messages.
“You don’t have to keep looking.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I stopped looking, Ryan got to keep being the man I thought he was.”
I read the thread again.
No bruises.
I remembered our wedding.
Ryan crying when I walked down the aisle.
His father smiling in the first row.
Diane correcting the florist ten minutes before the ceremony.
I remembered Ryan’s vows.
I will protect you.
People imagine betrayal arrives looking ugly.
It doesn’t.
Sometimes it wears the same face that once cried during your vows.
Ryan requested a meeting.
His lawyer contacted Rebecca.
“He wants to talk about a settlement,” she said.
“Divorce?”
“And cooperation.”
“With police?”
“Yes.”
“What does he want?”
“Immunity he probably isn’t going to get.”
We met in a conference room.
Ryan looked ten years older.
No expensive watch.
No pressed shirt.
No confidence.
He stood when I entered.
“Claire.”
“Sit down.”
He did.
His attorney began.
“My client wants to provide complete information regarding Diane Mercer’s financial activities and the circumstances around Thomas Mercer’s death.”
I looked at Ryan.
“In exchange for what?”
His attorney answered.
“Consideration.”
“I asked him.”
Ryan swallowed.
“I don’t want to go to prison.”
I almost laughed.
“Neither did your father, probably.”
Pain crossed his face.
“I didn’t kill Dad.”
“You gave him a drugged drink.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You followed him.”
“Mom told me he was drunk.”
“You watched him crash.”
“I panicked.”
“You didn’t call 911.”
“I was twenty-nine.”
“You were a grown man.”
“My mother controlled everything.”
“And yesterday?”
He flinched.
“She controlled you at thirty-three too?”
“I know how it sounds.”
“No, Ryan. You know how it is.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I loved you.”
I felt nothing when he said it.
That frightened me more than anger would have.
“You loved me so much you let your mother beat me into signing away my house.”
“I never wanted her to hit you.”
“No. You only wanted her to scare me.”
He looked down.
That was a confession.
His lawyer shifted.
“Ryan.”
Ryan ignored him.
“I thought she would yell. Threaten to expose the affair. Threaten divorce. I didn’t know she’d grab the broom handle.”
My pulse jumped.
“Threaten to expose Emily?”
“Yes.”
“So Diane planned to use your affair against me?”
“She thought if you believed I would leave you, you might sign to keep the marriage together.”
I stared at him.
The cruelty was breathtaking.
“You were going to use my marriage to blackmail me into securing your debt.”
He covered his face.
“I was desperate.”
“And when that didn’t work?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
He looked at me.
“When she hit me, why didn’t you stop her?”
Tears rolled down his face.
For once, he didn’t have a polished answer.
“Because part of me thought maybe then you’d finally sign.”
The room went silent.
Even his lawyer closed his eyes.
There it was.
The truth.
Not that Ryan was frozen.
Not that he was confused.
Not that he was afraid of Diane.
He let it happen because my pain might solve his problem.
I stood.
“Meeting over.”
“Claire, wait.”
“No.”
“There’s more.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will.”
I stopped at the door.
Ryan’s voice trembled.
“Dad knew about the forged signatures.”
I turned.
“What?”
“Before he died.”
My hand tightened on the doorknob.
“He found out Mom had been using employee names to guarantee company credit lines.”
Rebecca stood.
“How many?”
“A lot.”
Ryan stared at me.
“Dad was going to report her.”
“And you?”
“He found out I helped.”
The room went quiet.
Ryan continued.
“That’s why he changed the trust.”
“To punish you?”
“To stop me.”
“From what?”
“Selling the company and covering everything up.”
He rubbed his face.
“The night Dad died, he told Mom he had already sent copies of the evidence to someone.”
“Who?”
“We never found out.”
“Why does that matter now?”
Ryan looked at his attorney.
Then at me.
“Because three days ago, someone mailed Mom an envelope.”
“What was inside?”
“A note.”
“What did it say?”
Ryan swallowed.
“Thomas kept a second copy.”
I stared at him.
“Where?”
“That’s what Mom is trying to find.”
May you like
Then he said the words that brought every old memory rushing back.
“Dad said he hid it in the one place she would never think to look.”
