Vivian watched us with contempt.
“Look at you,” she said to Marcus.
“Still begging him to love you.
Even after he hid the truth.”
Marcus turned toward me.
She had found the wound that remained open.
“Did you know Adrian suspected her?” he asked.
“No.”
“Did Daniel try to meet you?”
I could have lied.
For thirty years, men had lied for me, lied to me, and died because the truth arrived too late.
“Yes,” I said.
“He asked for a meeting.
I postponed it.”
Elena looked at me.
I did not look away.
“Why?” Marcus asked.
“Because it was your birthday.
Because I thought business could wait.
Because I believed nothing dangerous could happen without my permission.”
“And after Daniel died?”
“I accepted the police report.
I should not have.”
Vivian laughed.
“There is the great Vincent Carter.
He fails everyone and calls it restraint.”
“I failed to see what was in front of me,” I said.
“That includes you.”
Her expression hardened.
Sirens rose beyond the bedroom windows.
They were distant at first, then multiplied.
Blue light flickered against the curtains.
Tony cursed under his breath.
Vivian walked toward the nightstand, where Marcus had placed his phone.
Elena moved to stop her, but Vivian snatched the device and pressed something on the screen.
A warning sounded from downstairs.
“Gas leak detected,” the home system announced.
“Evacuate immediately.”
Tony smiled.
It was not a gas leak.
The alert unlocked every exterior door and disabled the fire barriers.
It was the escape plan Vivian had prepared if the police arrived early.
Tony rushed toward the hall again.
This time one of the hired men tackled him before he reached the staircase.
“I’m not dying for you,” the man shouted.
They crashed against a console table.
Tony reached inside his jacket, but Marcus planted a foot on his wrist.
Vivian backed toward the balcony doors.
I stepped into her path.
“Move,” she said.
“Nineteen years,” I replied.
“Was any of it real?”
For the first time that night, her face softened.
It was almost convincing.
“Some of it,” she said.
