Chapter 2: Four Words in the Dark
Marcus kept staring at that email like he was hoping the words would change.
They didn't.
"How long has Blue Lantern been active?" I asked.
He scrolled.
His jaw tightened.
"Eighteen months."
Eighteen months.
The exact same stretch of time I had been making payments.
Every dollar I scraped together.
Every late-night contract.
Every month I told my mother not to worry.
Someone had been watching every single payment.
"Marcus." My voice came out smaller than I wanted.
"Who authorized the purchase?"
He didn't answer immediately.
He opened another screen.
Then another.
"The memo is signed by the VP of acquisitions." He paused.
"But there's a second signature on the approval line."
I already knew.
But I needed to hear him say it.
"It's my brother," Marcus said quietly.
"Dominic co-signed this."
I hadn't even known Dominic was involved in that division.
He had always stayed in the background at Caldwell Properties — quiet, smiling, never unfriendly.
At our wedding he had hugged me and said welcome to the family.
That memory felt like a bruise now.
Marcus put the phone down.
"Naomi.
If they own the note — they can call it due.
All of it.
At any time."
The baby moved again.
I pressed my hand to my stomach and stared at my mother's name on that envelope.
Vivian hadn't just humiliated me tonight.
She had built a trap.
And she had been patient enough to wait until I had nowhere left to go.
My phone lit up.
A message from an unknown number.
Four words.
May you like
*We need to talk.
Tonight.*
