Chapter 128
Rowan's POV
The call came just after nine in the evening.
I was in the living room, pretending to read financial reports while actually watching Lena through the open study door. She'd been working for three hours straight, her posture rigid, her focus absolute. The way she buried herself in legal documents—it was both impressive and heartbreaking.
My phone buzzed. Colin's name on the screen.
I stepped into the hallway before answering. "Tell me."
"We found him." Colin's voice was tight. "Dr. Raymond Williams. He died five years ago, but his attorney contacted us. Williams left a sealed letter with instructions to release it if anyone ever investigated Old Bowen's death."
My pulse quickened. "And?"
"It's a confession. Williams admits Marcus paid him two hundred thousand dollars to falsify the death certificate. The real cause wasn't a heart attack—it was drug-induced cardiac arrest. Someone poisoned him."
I closed my eyes, gripping the phone harder.
Colin continued. "The timeline matches perfectly. Marcus wired the money through a shell company three days before Mr. Bowen died. The funeral home director also came forward—said Marcus paid extra for immediate cremation. No autopsy, no questions."
"Send me everything," I said quietly.
"Already done. Rowan—this is murder. Premeditated, meticulously planned murder."
I knew. I'd known since I read those emails on the U-drive. But having it confirmed, having witnesses and bank records and a dead man's confession—it made it real.
It made it devastating.
"What about Vivian?" I asked. "Does she know?"
"No indication she was involved. All the payments came from Marcus's personal accounts. She was grieving her father when Marcus started consolidating control of Nexus. He used her vulnerability against her."
Of course he did.
"Keep this contained," I said. "No leaks. And Colin—find out if there areColin other bodies buried in Marcus's past."
"Already on it."
I hung up and stood in the dark hallway, staring at nothing.
Marcus hadn't just abused Lena. He'd murdered her grandfather—the one person who might have protected her, who might have changed everything.
And Lena had no idea.
---
I should wait. Let her stabilize more. Dr. Taylor had warned me about overwhelming her with too much trauma at once.
But this wasn't about trauma. This was about evidence. About building a legal case strong enough to destroy Marcus completely.
And Lena was a lawyer. She needed to know what we were working with.
More than that—she deserved to know.
I thought about all the times I'd hidden things from her during our marriage. Important decisions, business complications, even my own feelings. Always under the guise of "protecting" her, when really I was just protecting myself from difficult conversations.
Dr. Taylor's voice echoed in my mind: Don't make decisions for her. Don't control the information she receives. That's just another form of the abuse she's already endured.
Lena had the right to know her grandfather was murdered.
She had the right to know Marcus had been systematically destroying her family for twenty years.
And she had the right to decide what to do with that knowledge.
I gathered thColinles Colin had sent, organized them into a clear narrative. Medical records, bank transfers, witness statements, the confession letter. I wanted to present it as cleanly as possible—lawyer to lawyer, professional and thorough.
Then I walked to the study door and knocked softly.
She looked up, eyes tired but alert. "Yes?"
"Can we talk? I found something."
Her shoulders tensed immediately. She'd learned to brace for bad news.
"Come in."
---
I sat across from her, the folder between us on the desk.
"I looked at the files on the U-drive," I said carefully. "Not to invade your privacy—I needed to understand what we're dealing with so I could help."
Her expression didn't change. "And?"
"I found something about your grandfather. Vivian's father."
Now she went very still.
I opened the folder, showing her the original emails first. "Marcus contacted a law firm in Zurich twenty years ago. They helped him arrange your grandfather's death."
I walked her through it piece by piece. The payment to Dr. Williams. The falsified death certificate. The rushed cremation to destroy evidence. The timeline that showed Marcus moving to take control of Nexus within days of the funeral.
"Your grandfather wasn't sick," I said quietly. "Marcus poisoned him. Made it look like a heart attack. And Vivian never knew."
Lena stared at the documents, her face completely blank.
I waited, giving her space to process.
Finally, she spoke. "Does my mother know now?"
"No. All the evidence suggests she was kept in the dark. Marcus used her grief to gain control of the company."
She nodded slowly, still looking at the papers. Her fingers traced the edge of the confession letter, but she didn't pick it up.
"Why?" Her voice was barely audible. "Why did he do it?"
"The emails suggest your grandfather suspected Marcus was embezzling from Nexus. He was planning to remove him from the company and change his will. Marcus killed him first."