Chapter 7 - The Mistress's Bargain

Kendra Vale arrived at Brooke's townhouse wearing sunglasses despite the rain.

Brooke almost refused to see her.

Then she remembered Garrett's message.

Walter found Beacon.

So Brooke opened the door.

Kendra looked exhausted.

She was thirty-five, elegant even without makeup, but fear had stripped away the confidence Brooke remembered from charity dinners.

A newborn car seat sat beside her.

Brooke stared.

Kendra noticed.

"I didn't know where else to go."

"You brought his son here?"

"I couldn't leave him."

Brooke almost laughed at the absurdity.

Grace and June slept upstairs.

Garrett's newborn son slept in the foyer.

And the two women he had betrayed stood twelve feet apart.

"What do you want?"

Kendra removed her sunglasses.

"Protection."

"From Garrett?"

"Yes."

"Why would I give you anything?"

"You shouldn't."

That answer unsettled Brooke.

Kendra continued.

"But you need what I know."

Brooke let her inside.

Walter was not present.

By Brooke's choice.

Evelyn joined remotely by video.

Kendra sat at the dining table.

The baby remained asleep.

Brooke asked, "Start with Project Crown."

Kendra folded her hands.

"Garrett approached me two years ago."

"Were you already sleeping together?"

"No."

Brooke did not know whether that made things better or worse.

"I owned Beacon. Small firm. Reputation management, political communications, crisis consulting."

"You hid your ownership when Pacific Harbor hired it."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Garrett said Walter wouldn't approve a vendor connected to someone working directly with sales."

"So you lied."

"Yes."

No excuses.

That was almost more disturbing than excuses.

Kendra continued.

"The original project was competitive intelligence. Meridian's weaknesses. Public positioning. Nothing illegal."

"When did it change?"

"After Meridian approached Walter."

Brooke leaned forward.

"Garrett knew?"

"He learned enough."

"How?"

Kendra hesitated.

"Your marriage."

Brooke went still.

"What does that mean?"

"He read Walter's texts on your phone."

Brooke stared.

"When?"

"Whenever you left it unattended."

A memory surfaced.

Garrett picking up her phone at breakfast.

Your dad texted.

Garrett carrying it downstairs while she showered.

Garrett knowing details Brooke could not remember telling him.

"He used me."

"Yes."

Kendra's voice was quiet.

Brooke wanted to hate her cleanly.

But Kendra looked sick saying it.

"What did Meridian promise?"

"Garrett claimed twelve million in management equity if the acquisition closed."

"Claimed?"

"I never saw the agreement."

"Did Meridian know about Project Crown?"

"I don't know."

Evelyn interrupted.

"Important distinction. Did anyone at Meridian instruct you to manufacture allegations?"

"No."

"Pay journalists?"

"No."

"Create false documents?"

Kendra lowered her eyes.

"That was Garrett."

Brooke's skin prickled.

"How?"

"He wanted believable evidence supporting the rumors."

"So he forged emails."

"He hired someone."

"Who?"

"I never knew a real name."

"Through Beacon?"

Kendra nodded.

"Garrett told me to classify the payments as research."

Brooke looked toward the baby.

"And the $155,000?"

"That funded the first package."

"What package?"

Kendra's eyes filled with shame.

"The fake port-payment emails."

Silence.

Brooke stood and walked to the window.

Her reflection looked like someone else.

A woman with postpartum swelling.

Unwashed hair.

A robe over nursing pajamas.

She had never felt less glamorous.

She had never felt clearer.

"Why did you sign?"

"Because by then Garrett had convinced me Walter was corrupt."

Brooke turned.

"You believed him?"

"I wanted to."

There it was.

The most truthful sentence Kendra had said.

"You loved him."

Kendra looked at the baby.

"Yes."

"And you thought he would leave me."

"Yes."

"Did he tell you I was unstable?"

"Yes."

"Drank too much?"

"Yes."

"Controlled by my father?"

"Yes."

Brooke smiled without humor.

"He told me you were manipulative."

Kendra gave a broken laugh.

"Of course he did."

For the first time, the two women understood the mechanism.

Garrett had not merely cheated.

He had constructed separate realities.

To Brooke, Kendra was an ambitious predator using sex for access.

To Kendra, Brooke was a wealthy unstable wife trapping Garrett in a dead marriage.

To Walter, Garrett portrayed Brooke as emotionally dependent on him.

To the board, Walter was a vindictive father.

Garrett had not controlled people by making them trust him.

He controlled them by making them distrust one another.

Kendra reached into her bag.

"I brought something."

A flash drive.

Brooke did not touch it.

"What?"

"Garrett kept voice notes."

"Of himself?"

"Meetings. Calls. Ideas."

"Why?"

"He said powerful people should preserve leverage."

Evelyn said, "Do not plug that into any device."

Kendra almost smiled.

"Lawyer?"

"General counsel."

"I guessed."

Kendra slid it across the table.

"I copied the directory before he locked me out."

"What's on it?"

"One recording you need."

"Which?"

Kendra's face changed.

"The night he decided to divorce you."

Brooke's mouth went dry.

"When?"

"Ten months ago."

"What happened?"

Kendra looked toward the stairs where Grace and June slept.

"He found out you might inherit your mother's remaining voting shares."

Brooke frowned.

"That trust doesn't distribute until I'm thirty-five."

"Garrett knew."

Brooke was thirty-two.

Three years away.

Kendra continued.

"He realized that if Walter died or became incapacitated before then, your voting bloc could become decisive."

Brooke stared.

"So?"

"So Garrett didn't just need you divorced."

"What did he need?"

Kendra's voice dropped.

"He needed you discredited before you ever got those shares."

Brooke felt cold.

"Why?"

"Because Project Crown had a second version."

Evelyn leaned toward the screen.

"What second version?"

Kendra whispered, "The one where Meridian never bought Pacific Harbor."

Brooke frowned.

"Then who did?"

Kendra looked directly at her.

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"Garrett."

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