Chapter 36 The opportunity
CAITLYN'S POV
I sat in my room with the door locked listening to Collin rage downstairs. He had come home about an hour ago and immediately started yelling at someone on the phone. I couldn't hear exactly what he was saying, but I could hear the anger in his voice.
Something bad had happened. Something that made him furious and I was scared that he was going to take that anger out on me like he always did.
I heard his footsteps on the stairs and held my breath. They walked past my room and I heard his bedroom door slam, then more yelling, more phone calls. It sounded like he was organizing something, planning something.
Then everything went quiet. I waited for what felt like forever before I heard his footsteps again. This time they were going down the stairs, then I heard the front door open and close. A car engine started and drove away.
I went to my window and looked out. Collin's car was gone. The driveway was empty except for my car; he had left in such a hurry that he did not even take his usual driver.
This was my chance. Maybe the only chance I would get for months. The house was empty except for Mrs Chen and the other staff and they always stayed out of my way. I could search Collin's study and nobody would know.
My hands were shaking as I unlocked my door and stepped into the hallway. Everything was quiet. I walked slowly toward Collin's study checking over my shoulder every few steps to make sure nobody was watching me.
When I reached the study door, I tried the handle, but it was locked like always. Collin kept it locked even when he was home because he did not want anyone going through his things but I remembered once seeing where he hid a spare key.
I went to the hall closet and felt along the top shelf until my fingers touched metal, the key. I grabbed it and went back to the study door, my heart was pounding so hard I thought it might explode.
What was I doing? If Collin came back and found me in here he would kill me. Maybe literally but I needed to know the truth. I needed to understand what kind of man I had married and what I was really caught up in.
I slid the key into the lock and turned it. The door opened with a soft click. I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. The study was dark, and I did not want to turn on the lights in case someone saw them from outside. Instead, I used my phone flashlight to see.
Collin's desk was covered in papers and files. I did not know where to start. There was so much stuff and I did not know what I was looking for exactly. Just something that would help me understand what was really going on.
I opened the top drawer and found nothing interesting. Pens, notepads,, and business cards. The second drawer had more files but they all looked like boring legal documents. The third drawer was locked.
Why would one drawer be locked when the whole room was already locked? What was in there that Collin wanted to keep extra secure?
I looked around for another key but could not find one. Then I remembered something my dad taught me when I was a kid. How to pick simple locks with a paperclip. I found a paperclip on the desk and straightened it out.
My hands were shaking so bad that I almost dropped it twice. I stuck the paperclip in the lock and wiggled it around trying to feel for the mechanism inside. It took a few tries but finally I felt something give and the drawer popped open.
Inside was a folder labeled Vale Family, my family. Why did Collin have a folder on my family?
I pulled it out and opened it. Inside were documents, photos, and notes about my parents. About my father's involvement in drug trafficking. About the money he had taken from the organization. About deals he had made and people he had worked with.
My father was a drug dealer, a criminal. Everything I thought I knew about him was a lie.
But it got worse. There were documents showing that Collin had paid people to kill my parents. That he had ordered the hit to take over their position in the organization. That their deaths were not random violence but planned murder.
I felt like I could not breathe. My husband had killed my parents; he had murdered them to get more power and money, and I had been sleeping next to him every night, not knowing what he had done.
I kept reading and found more horrifying information. Notes about Jason Cross and his brother Tommy. About how Collin had helped cover up Tommy's murder. About how Jason had been trying to take revenge ever since.
So Jason was telling the truth. Collin really was involved in his brother's death. This was not just some gang rivalry, this was personal.
And then I found something that made my blood run cold. A paternity test result dated from the day after our baby was born. Except that the baby had not been born yet. This was a future-dated document.
Collin was planning to have a paternity test done as soon as the baby was born. He already suspected the baby was not his, and when he confirmed it, he was planning to kill both the child and me. It was all written out in notes, how he would make it look like an accident. How would he get away with it?
I dropped the papers and backed away from the desk. I was going to die. My baby was going to die, Collins had it all planned out and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I heard a car pull into the driveway, and panic seized me; he was back. Collin was back and I was standing in his locked study with all his secrets spread out on his desk.
I quickly shoved everything back in the drawer and locked it. Then I put the key back in my pocket and ran to the door. I opened it just a crack and looked out. The hallway was empty.
I slipped out and locked the study door behind me. Then I ran to the hall closet and put the key back where I found it. My hands were shaking so bad that I almost dropped it.
I made it back to my room and locked the door just as I heard the front door open downstairs. Collin's voice called out asking if anyone was home. Mrs Chen answered from the kitchen.
I sat on my bed trying to catch my breath. I had just learned that my husband was a murderer. He killed my parents. That he was planning to kill my baby and me, and I had no idea what to do with that information.
I could not go to the police because Collin owned half of them. I could not tell my friends because he would find out and kill me sooner. I could not run because he would track me down.
I was completely trapped but n
Now I knew the truth. And somehow I had to use that truth to survive.