“Why do you think Victor was involved?”
“I don’t just think it.Iknowit.”
His eyes burned with so much power and determination.And heartache.The heartache was nearly unbearable.
“According to her brother, she’d been seeing someone she met during her travels.A man named Victor.She had a popular travel vlog and traveled all over the world.In the months prior to her death, she stayed at dozens of properties Victor owned.”
“I’m not doubting you,” I began.“I’m more than aware that Victor hasn’t been faithful.But there must have been something more than her seeing a man named Victor.”
“A few days after her death, there was a payment from your husband to a charity linked to the District Attorney in LA, where she died.Then, mere days later, the autopsy report was released and the cause of death was determined to be suicide.If you ask me, it all seems a bit too convenient.”
“If you’re so certain of his involvement, why not go to the police?”
He shot me a sardonic look.“Didyouever go to the police?”
The answer lodged like a stone in my throat.Of course, I hadn’t.Because men like Victor were untouchable.
Henry leaned closer, his voice low and unshakable as he stated, “I’ve been around men like Victor my entire life.He’s too well-connected, as you know.Nothing would happen to him.He paid off the DA to have the autopsy report falsified.He could just as easily pay off the DA to drop the charges.I knew if I wanted justice, I had to get it myself.So yes, I planned to hurt him.To make him believe he’d lost what mattered most.”
My stomach turned, bile searing my throat as my vision blurred, my head throbbing once more.“So what?You were going to…kill me?”
“Absolutely not,” he answered without a moment’s hesitation.“I planned totakeyou.That’s all.I wanted him to wake up every morning, see your empty side of the bed, and feel what I feel every day I wake up.
“I spent months watching you.Galas.Fundraisers.I knew I’d have one chance to do this.And I needed to do it right.But that night at the museum…” He trailed off, staring past me, as if watching the memory unfold before him.
“I didn’t plan to approach you that night.Or follow you into that exhibit.But there was just something about you.And when our eyes met…” He licked his lips, as if struggling to find the words.“I felt…alive.And I hated myself for it.You were supposed to be the enemy.I was supposed to hate everything you stood for, but something about you got under my skin.”
A spark of something lit up inside me.
Because I’d felt the same thing, too.
For those few moments we were alone in the pastoral exhibit, I felt alive.Just like he did.I felt like I could be myself again.I could be Ariana Summers.
Not Victor Kane’s wife.
Henry was the first person in years who I felt actually saw me.
Or was he just saying this because he knew it was what I wanted to hear?
“The next day, I took my boat out to clear my head.But instead of heading to open water, I found myself steering toward Star Island.That’s when I saw a boat pull up to your dock and a man dressed all in black get out.A few minutes later, he emerged with your unconscious body.I followed his boat to a warehouse up the Intracoastal.Took him out.Grabbed you and his duffel, and brought you up to Maine while I figured out who he was and what he wanted.”
“Took him out,” I repeated slowly.“What do you mean by that?”
“I killed him,” Henry responded bluntly.No excuses.No hesitation.
I should have been scared.If anyone else had told me they’d killed a man, I would have been horrified.Fearful for my own welfare.
But Henry wasn’t like everyone else.
He never had been.
And that only confused me even more.
“I guess you should be grateful this guy did your dirty work for you,” I snipped out, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
Pain shot through my ribs, but I pushed it down, not wanting to show any weakness.Over the years, I’d become a master at masking pain.I knew if I’d shown any indication of the trauma Victor forced me to endure, it would only be worse the next time.
“That’s not it at all.”Henry dragged a hand down his face.“I admit that Ididplan on abducting you, but after seeing someone else take you… I don’t know.I was so fucking confused.You put me off balance, Ariana.You made me feel things I didn’t think possible.Youmakeme feel things I didn’t think I ever would.That’s why I intervened.I could tell the guy who tried to take you was dangerous.Until I could figure out who the hell it was, I needed to keep you safe.”
