Chapter 43 A Trail Into The Dark

Chapter 43 A Trail Into The Dark
Present Day

Sloane

The air in the room felt like it had turned into ice.

I sat there, staring at Cade, but I wasn't really seeing him. My mind was stuck on the last few words that had come out of his mouth.

His father had threatened to destroy my grandmother’s business. He had threatened to wipe out the Hartford name if Cade didn’t walk away from me.

I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I didn't even move. I just sat in a heavy, ringing silence. It was the kind of shock that makes your heart feel like it’s stopped beating for a second. 

For six years, I had built a story in my head about why we ended. I told myself he was greedy. I told myself he was cold. I told myself I wasn't enough to keep him interested.

Now, that whole story was falling apart.

I leaned back against the couch, my eyes fixed on a small scratch on the coffee table. I started to re-read the past in my head, like an auditor looking over a set of fake books.

I remembered the breakup. I remembered the way he looked at me in his apartment, telling me I wasn't "suited for his ambitions." I remembered the cold, blank look in his eyes as he watched me leave.

I had spent years carrying that anger. It was like a heavy weight I wore every day. 

But now, that anger had nowhere to land. He hadn't left because he wanted a better life or a more powerful wife. He had left because staying would have meant watching my grandmother lose everything she had spent fifty years building.

He had chosen to lose me so I wouldn't lose my future.

"You should have told me," I finally said. My voice sounded hollow, like it was coming from a long way off. It wasn't an accusation. It was just a quiet, painful realization.

Cade sighed, a long, ragged sound. He looked exhausted. 

"I know that’s what people say in movies, Sloane. But look at who we're talking about. My father isn't the type of man you sit down and talk to. If I had told you, you would have fought him. Maybe you would have gone to your grandmother, and she would have fought him too."

He looked me in the eye, his gaze steady.

"He would have crushed both of you. I knew his reach. I knew he had the power to tie up your hotels in lawsuits for decades. It was the only way to make sure you stayed safe. If you hated me, you wouldn't come looking for me and get into trouble with him"

I looked at him, really looked at him, and saw the toll it had taken. 

He had been carrying this for six years. He had let me hate him. He had let the whole world think he was a social climber who dumped his college sweetheart for a better deal.

We sat there in the quiet. I didn't reach out to him, and he didn't reach for me. There was just a lot of old pain and a new, strange understanding.

I wasn't ready to forgive him for making the choice for me, but I finally understood why he did it.

But as the silence stretched on, a new thought started to crawl into my mind. It was slow and unsettling, like a cold draft under a door.

"Cade," I said, my voice shaking slightly. "Why are you telling me this now? Why today?"

Cade sat up straighter, his expression turning grim. 

"Because things changed when Lily died. When I started looking into what happened to her, I realized my father was already ahead of me. 

He knew what Lily was involved in. Just like me, he suspected that the people who killed her were using luxury hotels for trafficking. He paused before continuing, “...hotels like the ones your grandmother owned."

I felt a chill go down my spine. I realized exactly where he was going. 

"So he blamed her," I whispered. "He thought my grandmother was involved in what happened to his daughter."

"Exactly," Cade said. "And if he hated your family that much before Lily died, and he believed they were responsible for her death... it would be very easy for him to decide to take matters into his own hands."

I stood up abruptly, my chair scraping against the floor. My heart was hammering against my ribs. 

"Are you saying what I think you're saying? Are you telling me that your father might have had something to do with my grandmother's death?"

Cade stayed calm, but I saw his hand reach out toward me before he pulled it back. He looked afraid to even touch the idea. 

"I don't know, Sloane. I can’t say for sure. I don't want to believe he’s capable of that."

"Then you have to talk to him!" I snapped, pacing the room. "You have to go to him and get the answers. We can't just sit here and guess..."

"I did!" Cade raised his voice and interrupted me. Then he looked down at the floor and sighed, his voice dropping low.

"Yesterday I had my suspicions when you asked about my mom and your grandmother, so I went to him to see if I could get answers of my own.

He wasn't in his office, Sloane. He wasn’t there. They told me he’s out for a business arrangement and they don't know when he’ll be back. He isn't answering my calls either.”

I went quiet, my mind racing. The timing was too perfect. The threat six years ago, my grandmother’s sudden death, and now he was nowhere to be found.

"It’s not something I want to believe," Cade said softly, looking up at me. "I’ve spent my whole life trying to be different from him, but I can’t help but suspect it too. The pattern is too clean."

I stood by the window, looking out at the dark estate.

"That’s exactly what I said about my own family, too. I said after a long pause. My voice was small and tired.

We stood there in the quiet of the house, two people who had been lied to by everyone they were supposed to trust. We were back to having nothing but each other and a trail of secrets that led straight into the dark.