Chapter 6 - THE BRIDE WHO VANISHED
Cassandra hadn't simply left Westbridge.
She had emptied the rest of their joint account.
She took jewelry.
Designer luggage.
Two watches belonging to Michael.
And several folders from his home office.
The black Mercedes was found at the airport.
But passenger records showed no Cassandra Whitaker boarding a flight.
Detective Ruiz suspected she had planned ahead.
Michael suspected everyone except himself.
“She tricked me.”
We were standing inside Westbridge while police searched rooms.
I looked around at the expensive furniture Ellen and I had purchased for him.
“She may have.”
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew what she was.”
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“I knew you didn't know what she was.”
That was different.
Ruiz emerged from the upstairs office carrying an evidence bag.
Inside was a second phone.
“Recognize this?”
Michael shook his head.
It belonged to Cassandra.
Or rather, one of Cassandra's phones.
Digital investigators found messages linking her to a man named Adrian Cole.
Michael initially claimed not to know him.
Then he saw the photograph.
He sat down.
“That guy was at the wedding.”
“As a guest?”
Michael stared at the image.
“He said he was her cousin.”
Adrian wasn't her cousin.
He was Cassandra's former boyfriend.
More importantly, he had been investigated twice for financial fraud.
Never convicted.
But always nearby when money disappeared.
The case expanded again.
Detectives obtained warrants.
Bank records followed.
Cassandra had transferred money into several accounts during the months before the wedding.
Some belonged to shell companies.
One payment came from Whitaker Industrial.
Forty-three thousand dollars.
Approved under Michael's credentials.
Michael looked stunned when Dana showed him.
“I didn't approve this.”
“You logged into the system.”
“No.”
“Your password was used.”
He rubbed his face.
“Cassandra knew my password.”
Dana stared at him.
“You gave someone outside the company your executive credentials?”
“She was my fiancée.”
I almost laughed from disbelief.
Instead, I looked away.
The board would remove him permanently.
There was no longer any question.
Michael knew it too.
“What was the payment for?”
Dana opened the invoice.
“Event consulting.”
The company listed was owned by Adrian.
Michael stood silently.
Cassandra hadn't just used him emotionally.
She had used his corporate access.
But being manipulated did not erase responsibility.
Michael had handed her the keys.
Literally and financially.
Detective Ruiz found another message.
It had been sent the night of the wedding.
Cassandra to Adrian.
Everything changes after tomorrow.
Adrian replied.
Only if he gets the shares.
That sentence made my stomach tighten.
Michael was expected to receive additional voting shares after his promotion.
The transfer had been discussed privately.
Only family and a few attorneys knew.
Yet Cassandra knew.
And apparently Adrian did too.
Ruiz looked at me.
“How many shares are we talking about?”
“Enough to make Michael the second-largest individual shareholder.”
“And if he died?”
Michael stared at her.
“What?”
Ruiz didn't soften it.
“Who inherits from you?”
Michael went still.
At the time of the wedding, his new will named Cassandra as primary beneficiary.
He had signed it three weeks before the ceremony.
Suddenly the marriage looked different.
The rush.
The corporate interest.
The password.
The missing money.
The obsession with his promotion.
Ellen sat beside Michael.
For once, she did touch his arm.
No one mentioned forgiveness.
This was no longer about forgiveness.
It was about danger.
By evening, police located Adrian's vehicle near a private airfield two counties away.
The plane they hoped to board never departed.
Cassandra wasn't there.
Neither was Adrian.
But investigators found something inside the trunk.
A folder.
My name was written across the front.
Inside were copies of my estate documents.
Old versions.
New versions.
And handwritten notes detailing exactly what Michael would inherit if Ellen and I died.
Michael stared at the pages.
Then he whispered something that made Ellen grip my hand.
“She didn't marry me.”
May you like
He looked at us.
“She married what she thought I'd inherit.”
