Chapter 9 - Melanie Finally Told the Whole TruthThe kidnapping lasted thirty-seven minutes.
Or appeared to.
Police located Melanie’s car three blocks away.
She was sitting inside.
Alone.
Crying.
No injuries.
No Owen.
Landon arrived with Wyatt.
Melanie looked at them through the windshield.
Wyatt rushed forward.
Landon grabbed his arm.
“Let police clear it.”
Wyatt turned.
“That’s Melanie.”
Landon’s expression hardened.
“I know exactly who she is.”
Officers approached.
Safe.
Melanie stepped out.
Wyatt moved toward her.
She backed away.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Landon watched.
“What happened?”
Melanie looked at him.
“I went outside.”
“Why?”
“Someone texted my phone.”
“Who?”
“Owen.”
“What did he say?”
“That if I wanted to know what Wyatt was really doing, I should walk outside.”
Landon closed his eyes.
“You followed instructions from a man we believe threatened Eli?”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“That seems to be contagious.”
She accepted it.
“What happened?”
“A car pulled up.”
“Did someone force you in?”
“No.”
“You got in voluntarily?”
“Yes.”
Wyatt swore.
Melanie snapped:
“You don’t get to judge me.”
He looked away.
Landon continued.
“Who was driving?”
“An older man.”
“Owen?”
“I’d never seen him.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me Wyatt never loved me.”
Wyatt’s face tightened.
Melanie continued.
“He showed me messages.”
“What messages?”
“Wyatt talking to Owen.”
She looked at Wyatt.
“You told him you could get me to sleep with you again.”
Wyatt went still.
Landon looked between them.
“Again?”
Melanie’s expression collapsed.
“We need to tell him.”
Wyatt shook his head.
“Not like this.”
“There is no good way.”
Landon felt exhausted.
“What now?”
Melanie faced him.
“Wyatt and I didn’t only know each other before you.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“You don’t.”
Landon waited.
Melanie whispered:
“We were engaged.”
Everything stopped.
Wyatt looked at the ground.
Landon stared.
“What?”
“Not officially with a ring. But we were planning to get married.”
“When?”
“Ten years ago.”
“How long were you together?”
“Almost two years.”
Landon took a step back.
Two years.
Not weeks.
Not casual.
Two years.
“You told me it was a few weeks.”
Wyatt said:
“I told you that.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth was worse.”
Landon laughed.
“Excellent judgment.”
Melanie continued.
“We broke up because Wyatt cheated.”
Landon looked at his brother.
Of course.
“With who?”
“Does it matter?”
“No.”
But everything mattered now.
Melanie looked at Landon.
“Three months later, Wyatt invited me to that fundraiser.”
“The night I met you.”
“Yes.”
“Why would you go?”
“I wanted to show him I was fine.”
“Then you met me.”
“Yes.”
Landon felt sick.
“So my entire marriage started as part of some unfinished game between you two?”
“No.”
Melanie stepped closer.
“No. I fell in love with you.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“While hiding the fact you had almost married my brother?”
“I was terrified you’d leave if I told you.”
“You took away my choice.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because there’s nothing else.”
Landon looked at Wyatt.
“And you introduced us because?”
Wyatt’s voice was low.
“I wanted to prove she’d come back to me.”
Melanie stared.
“You never told me that.”
Wyatt looked ashamed.
“She didn’t.”
Landon almost couldn’t believe the level of selfishness.
“You introduced the woman you wanted back to your younger brother as some kind of test?”
“Yes.”
“And when she married me?”
Wyatt’s face hardened.
“I hated you.”
Landon finally understood.
Not all of it.
Enough.
The affair fourteen months ago wasn’t born at Everett’s funeral.
It was a ten-year-old wound reopening.
Melanie continued.
“Owen knew our history.”
“How?”
“Wyatt told him.”
Wyatt shook his head.
“Not all of it.”
“Enough.”
Landon looked at his brother.
“What did you tell Owen?”
“That Melanie was the one thing I regretted losing.”
“And he told you to take her back.”
Wyatt’s silence answered.
Melanie laughed bitterly.
“He used your resentment.”
“Yes.”
“He told you Dad cheated you.”
“Yes.”
“He told you Landon stole everything.”
“Yes.”
“And he told you I still loved you.”
Wyatt looked at her.
“I didn’t need him to tell me that.”
Melanie’s eyes hardened.
“I did love you.”
Landon closed his eyes.
There it was.
She continued before he could speak.
“And I loved Landon.”
Landon looked at her.
“That isn’t better.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you loved me while describing fourteen months of lying.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I’m trying to stop lying.”
That mattered.
Barely.
But mattered.
Landon asked:
“What did Owen want you to know today?”
Melanie’s face changed.
“He said Wyatt was never supposed to become CEO.”
Wyatt frowned.
“What?”
“He said you were supposed to destroy Landon’s credibility, trigger a board fight, and then Owen would appear with proof he was alive.”
Landon understood.
“Owen wanted control.”
“Yes.”
“And Wyatt?”
Melanie looked at him.
“A temporary weapon.”
Wyatt’s jaw tightened.
Melanie continued.
“Owen said once the board removed Landon, he intended to expose Wyatt’s affair and archive theft.”
Landon almost smiled at the cruelty.
“So you were both disposable.”
Wyatt looked sick.
“What else?”
Melanie hesitated.
“He told me where Olivia Mercer is.”
Landon became still.
“Where?”
“Wisconsin.”
“Why tell you?”
“Because he wants something from the hidden basement.”
“The birth records?”
“No.”
Melanie looked at Wyatt.
“He wants to find his son.”
Wyatt stared.
“The adopted child.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Owen says the son is already inside Reed Development.”
Landon’s heartbeat changed.
“What does that mean?”
Melanie swallowed.
“He says his son has worked for you for eleven years.”
Landon thought of hundreds of employees.
Executives.
Managers.
People Everett trusted.
Then one face came to mind.
A man born in Indiana in 1992.
Thirty-three years old.
Green eyes.
Landon’s chief financial officer.
May you like
Nathan Cole.
The man with access to the executive archive.
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