Chapter 15: Nothing for Free

Lydia sat in the lobby of Dunhill Tower with her suitcase between her knees and her laptop on her lap.

It was midnight.

The night guard stood three feet from her like a man guarding a bomb.

Jack and I came out of the elevator with our clothes straightened and our faces not quite arranged.

Lydia looked from his open collar to my hair.

"Oh," she said. "Congratulations."

"Why are you here?" I said.

"Margaret changed the locks on me at nine. She told the housekeeper to put my things on the porch."

"The housekeeper works for us now."

"The new one doesn't."

She almost laughed.

Then she opened the laptop on the lobby bench and turned it toward me.

"I have Carter's phone backups," she said. "Three years of them. He thinks I'm too stupid to know the password because it's his mother's birthday."

I sat down across from her.

Jack stayed standing, which I was learning was how he said he was ready.

"Show me," I said.

She clicked.

There were texts between Carter and Margaret, dated the week of my first date with him.

"Does she like the lilac?" one said.

"She likes anyone who shows up on time," Margaret had answered. "Be on time for a year."

There was a voice memo of Carter reading Date 14 to himself in a car, practicing the three-second pause.

There was a spreadsheet called "Bannon Timeline" with a column labeled "Eleanor's health."

Jack's jaw moved once.

I scrolled until my hand got cold.

The last file was a photograph of a safe deposit box key and a note in Margaret's handwriting.

"Original drive. Newport. Do not copy."

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Groom Chose His Mistress, Not Knowing I Was the CEO from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.