Chapter 18 - Their Marriage Had Started With Owen’s MoneyThe payment was fifteen thousand dollars.
From a shell company Owen controlled.
To Wyatt.
Three days before the charity fundraiser where Landon met Melanie.
Memo:
M. Introduction.
Wyatt was already with prosecutors when Landon confronted him.
His face went blank when shown the transfer.
“I forgot.”
Landon stared.
“You forgot being paid fifteen thousand dollars to introduce me to the woman I married?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“There it is again.”
Wyatt closed his eyes.
“Fine.”
“What was it?”
“Owen contacted me ten years ago.”
“You knew he was alive?”
“No.”
“He used another name.”
“What name?”
“Oliver Grant.”
Landon almost laughed.
O.
Always O.
“What did he want?”
“He said he worked for an investment group interested in Dad.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I was twenty-seven and stupid.”
“You were twenty-seven, not seven.”
Wyatt nodded.
“Fair.”
“He knew Melanie?”
“He knew we had broken up.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he ask you to do?”
“Bring her to the fundraiser.”
“Why?”
“He said she had connections to a donor.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
“So why did you do it?”
Wyatt looked ashamed.
“Money.”
Landon stared.
“That’s it?”
“And I wanted to see her.”
“And then?”
“You met.”
“Yes.”
Wyatt’s eyes lowered.
“Owen asked about you afterward.”
“What?”
“How interested you seemed.”
Landon felt sick.
“How long did you report to him?”
“Maybe six months.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Normal things.”
“Define normal.”
“That you liked Melanie. That Dad liked her. That you were serious.”
Landon stood.
“You helped a stranger collect information about my relationship.”
“Yes.”
“Then stopped?”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
“He started asking about Dad’s finances.”
“And you became suspicious.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell Dad?”
“No.”
“Of course.”
Wyatt flinched.
Landon sat again.
“So Owen arranged for Melanie to be at that fundraiser.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
But investigators did.
Another set of documents explained.
Melanie’s father, Robert Hale, had worked briefly for Everett Reed twenty-five years earlier.
Accounting.
He had discovered Orchard Holdings.
Not the full purpose.
Just unexplained transfers.
Owen learned.
Robert left Reed Development after a dispute.
Years later, his daughter Melanie dated Wyatt.
Owen saw opportunity.
If Melanie entered Everett’s family, perhaps information would follow.
It sounded elaborate.
It was.
But Owen had spent decades obsessed with his brother.
People built entire lives around obsession.
Landon contacted Melanie.
She went silent when he told her.
“My dad hated the Reeds.”
“You never mentioned that.”
“He hated lots of rich people.”
“Specific.”
“He worked for your father before I was born.”
“Did you know that when we met?”
“No.”
“Did Wyatt?”
“I don’t know.”
Wyatt admitted he did.
Another hidden detail.
Landon almost stopped being shocked.
Melanie whispered:
“So Wyatt brought me there because someone paid him.”
“Yes.”
“And then I married you.”
“Yes.”
“Was that Owen’s plan?”
“I don’t know.”
The investigation found no evidence Owen expected marriage.
At first.
But once Landon and Melanie became serious, he continued tracking them through Wyatt.
Then disappeared from direct contact.
Waited.
Years.
Everett’s death brought him back.
Wyatt’s resentment made him vulnerable again.
Landon sat in his temporary apartment that night.
Divorce papers on the counter.
Eli’s toy airplane beside them.
He thought about determinism.
If Owen had arranged the introduction, did that make Landon and Melanie’s marriage fake?
No.
Owen hadn’t made Landon laugh with her until two in the morning.
Hadn’t made Melanie hold his hand during Everett’s first surgery.
Hadn’t created Eli.
Manipulation could open a door.
People still chose what happened after.
That meant the good parts were real.
So were the bad.
The realization hurt but helped.
Melanie called.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“If Owen hadn’t arranged that fundraiser…”
“We probably wouldn’t have met.”
Silence.
“Do you wish we hadn’t?”
Landon thought.
“No.”
She began crying.
“Even now?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Eli exists.”
That was the easy answer.
Then he added:
“And because not every year was a lie.”
Melanie cried harder.
“I destroyed it.”
“Yes.”
“I keep wanting you to tell me I didn’t.”
“I won’t.”
“I know.”
Another pause.
“Do you hate me?”
Landon looked at the city.
“Sometimes.”
She inhaled.
“And sometimes?”
“I miss you.”
That truth hurt them both.
Melanie whispered:
“I miss you too.”
Neither said anything for a while.
Then Landon continued:
“That doesn’t mean we should stay married.”
“I know.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know if I ever will.”
“I know.”
“But I don’t want the eight good years erased because the ending is ugly.”
Melanie cried quietly.
“Neither do I.”
The conversation ended.
Landon stared at Eli’s airplane.
Nathan sent a message.
Owen wants to speak to both you and Wyatt before plea negotiations.
Landon replied:
No.
Then another message arrived.
He says he can prove Everett knew he would die.
Landon stared.
A final secret.
He hated final secrets.
They always produced another.
But Everett was dead because of Owen.
If his father knew danger was coming, Landon needed to understand why he didn’t run.
Landon changed his answer.
Tomorrow.
The next morning, he and Wyatt sat across from Owen inside a secure interview room.
Owen looked older without freedom.
He smiled.
“My boys.”
Wyatt’s face hardened.
“We aren’t yours.”
Owen looked at Landon.
“You always were harder.”
“What did Dad know?”
Owen leaned back.
“He knew I was going to kill him.”
Landon stared.
“Then why didn’t he stop you?”
Owen smiled.
“Because Everett Reed believed he could save both of you by letting me think I’d won.”
And suddenly Landon understood the last thing his father had hidden.
May you like
Everett had not been surprised by Owen’s return.
He had been building a trap.
