Chapter 16 - Everett Reed Did Not Die NaturallyEverett’s body had been cremated.
That made proving murder difficult.
Owen knew it.
Perhaps counted on it.
But Everett had saved records.
Medication logs.
Photographs.
A private blood sample taken during a medical appointment four days before his death.
The sample still existed in hospital storage.
Police obtained it.
Then compared it with blood drawn during Everett’s emergency admission the night he died.
The difference was significant.
His prescribed blood thinner had been present at nearly four times the expected level.
Enough to make a small cerebral bleed catastrophic.
The aneurysm had been real.
But the medication had made survival far less likely.
Then investigators found security footage from Everett’s apartment building.
Owen entering twelve hours before Everett collapsed.
Using a service entrance.
Leaving forty minutes later.
He had never been dead.
He had been hiding.
Everett knew.
And somehow allowed contact.
Why?
Nathan found the answer in another recording.
Everett:
“You stay away from the boys.”
Owen:
“They’re grown men.”
“They’re still my sons.”
“Wyatt already hates Landon.”
“You helped that.”
“I encouraged what was already there.”
Everett:
“You poison people and call it honesty.”
Owen laughed.
Then:
“Give me Orchard.”
“No.”
“My son’s money went through there.”
“It was Olivia’s protection.”
“It belongs to Nathan.”
“Then let Nathan decide when he knows the truth.”
Owen:
“You have no right.”
Everett:
“Neither do you.”
Police built the case.
Owen denied tampering with medication.
Then investigators found a pharmacy purchase under an alias connected to him.
Same drug.
Same dosage.
He had planned.
Waited.
Used Everett’s known condition as camouflage.
Murder.
Not sudden fate.
Landon learned the confirmation in his office.
Wyatt sat across from him.
Neither spoke for a long time.
Finally Wyatt said:
“I blamed him.”
“For what?”
“Everything.”
Landon looked at him.
Wyatt continued.
“The will. You becoming CEO. The way he talked to me.”
“He was hard on you.”
“He was.”
“That doesn’t make what you did okay.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
Wyatt nodded.
“Right.”
Silence.
Then:
“I loved Melanie.”
Landon looked at him.
“Do you still?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt.
But less than it would have days earlier.
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Meaning?”
“She asked me not to contact her.”
Landon was surprised.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“And you’ll respect that?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Wyatt looked toward the window.
“Do you love her?”
Landon almost laughed.
“That’s none of your business.”
“You’re right.”
Another silence.
Then Landon answered anyway.
“Yes.”
Wyatt looked at him.
Landon continued.
“And I don’t know what that means anymore.”
“Are you staying married?”
“No.”
The word came easily.
Too easily.
He had spent nights resisting it.
Then realized divorce and hatred were not the same thing.
“I can love what we were and still know I can’t live inside what she made us.”
Wyatt lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
Landon let the words exist.
He did not accept them.
Did not reject them.
Wyatt had legal problems coming.
Forgery.
Unauthorized access.
Corporate misconduct.
He had agreed to cooperate.
Nathan believed prison was possible but not certain.
Melanie might face lesser charges for providing credentials.
Landon had instructed his attorneys not to interfere either way.
No revenge.
No rescue.
Consequences.
That afternoon, Melanie came to the office.
Landon almost refused to see her.
Then she said it concerned Eli.
He let her in.
She sat.
“You filed.”
“Yes.”
Divorce papers.
Her eyes filled.
“I expected it.”
“I know.”
“I’m not fighting custody.”
“Good.”
“I want equal time.”
“We’ll work through it.”
She looked surprised.
“You mean that?”
“Yes.”
“You could destroy me.”
“I know.”
“Why aren’t you?”
Landon thought of Everett’s letter.
Because Eli does not need a destroyed mother.
He did not say it that way.
“Because you’re still his mom.”
Melanie began crying.
“I don’t deserve you being kind.”
“This isn’t kindness.”
“What is it?”
“Parenting.”
That hurt both of them.
She nodded.
“I’ll tell him the truth someday.”
“When he’s old enough.”
“Yes.”
“Not details he doesn’t need.”
“Agreed.”
Landon studied her.
“Why did you stay with me?”
The question surprised her.
He continued.
“If you loved Wyatt.”
“I loved you too.”
“Different answer.”
Melanie thought.
“Because you felt safe.”
Landon almost smiled.
“And that wasn’t enough.”
“I thought safe meant boring.”
Her voice broke.
“I was stupid.”
“Yes.”
She laughed through tears.
“Fair.”
“What did Wyatt feel like?”
“Old unfinished business.”
“Exciting.”
“Yes.”
“Dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
Melanie looked at her hands.
“Now he feels like a man who lied to me so he could use my anger against you.”
Landon nodded.
“What do I feel like?”
She looked at him.
“The person I hurt because I assumed you’d always be there.”
That was the closest thing to an answer he would ever get.
His phone buzzed.
Nathan.
Owen charged. Murder included.
Landon stared.
Melanie saw his face.
“What?”
“They charged Owen for Dad.”
She covered her mouth.
Landon felt no triumph.
Only exhaustion.
Everett was still dead.
Justice could name what happened.
It could not reverse it.
Melanie stood.
“I should go.”
“Yes.”
At the door, she turned.
“Landon?”
“What?”
“Eli told me something.”
He tensed.
“What?”
“He thinks you don’t want to come home because he opened the closet.”
Landon stood immediately.
“What?”
“He thinks everything happened because he pulled the tie.”
The words hit harder than any affair detail.
Landon grabbed his coat.
“Where is he?”
“With my mom.”
He walked toward the door.
Melanie followed.
They were still divorcing.
Still broken.
Still furious.
But for the first time since everything began, they had exactly the same priority.
May you like
A six-year-old boy believed he had destroyed his family by noticing the truth.
And Landon would not allow that lie to survive another hour.
Related Stories
