Chapter 16 - Margot’s Last Bargain
Margot sat in the security office with two guards standing behind her.
She looked different.
No perfect hair.
No designer dress.
No confidence.
Jeans.
Gray sweater.
Barely any makeup.
For the first time, she looked twenty-six.
I stood behind the glass.
Gabriel beside me.
Rachel on speakerphone.
“Do not go in alone.”
“I won’t.”
Margot looked up.
She could see me.
She stood.
“Tessa.”
I entered with Gabriel.
“You have five minutes.”
She glanced at him.
“Can he leave?”
“No.”
Her mouth tightened.
“Fine.”
She sat.
“I didn’t know about your mother.”
I said nothing.
“I swear.”
“Four minutes.”
She stared.
“My father told me the Halloways owed us.”
“They did.”
“He said Bennett’s marriage was temporary.”
My stomach twisted.
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Before the affair?”
She nodded.
“When?”
“About six months after you married.”
Bennett had always claimed the affair began eight months ago.
This was older.
“Did you start seeing Bennett then?”
“No.”
She looked embarrassed.
“Not physically.”
I understood.
Messages.
Meetings.
Promises.
The affair had been growing for years.
“What do you want?”
Margot looked toward the camera.
“Protection.”
Gabriel laughed once.
“From whom?”
“My father’s people.”
“Your father is in custody.”
“He still has people.”
I studied her.
“What do you have?”
She reached into her sweater pocket.
A guard moved instantly.
She raised both hands.
“Phone.”
The guard took it.
Margot gave him the code.
“Messages.”
Rachel, listening remotely, told us not to open anything until authorities arrived.
Margot became impatient.
“Tessa, my father knew Bennett married you.”
“Obviously.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He knew before Bennett proposed.”
My skin went cold.
“How?”
“Victoria.”
Gabriel swore.
Margot continued.
“She told my father Bennett was dating Eleanor Mercer’s daughter.”
“Why?”
“Because she needed him to stop calling the old debt.”
I stared.
The timeline shifted again.
Halloway financial trouble had started earlier than we knew.
“Victoria used my relationship to secure financing.”
“Yes.”
“Did Bennett know?”
“Not at first.”
“At first.”
Margot looked down.
My heart thudded.
“When did he know?”
“Before the wedding.”
Everything inside me went silent.
“No.”
“He knew you had Mercer connections.”
“That isn’t the same as knowing my shares.”
“He didn’t know the exact amount.”
“Did he know enough?”
Margot looked at me.
“Yes.”
Gabriel whispered something furious.
I stayed focused.
“How do you know?”
“My father recorded a meeting.”
“Between?”
“Bennett, Victoria, and him.”
“When?”
“Six weeks before your wedding.”
I could barely hear my own voice.
“What did Bennett say?”
Margot’s eyes filled.
“He said marrying you was already happening, so if the relationship helped secure future deals, there was no reason not to use it.”
The words hurt differently than the affair.
Because they reached backward.
Into photographs.
Promises.
Vows.
Every memory became questionable.
“Where is the recording?”
“On my phone.”
I looked at the guard.
“Call the agents.”
He left.
Margot reached toward me.
Gabriel stepped forward.
She stopped.
“I’m sorry I pushed you.”
I laughed once.
She flinched.
“That is the smallest thing you did.”
“I know.”
“You entered my home.”
“I know.”
“You mocked me.”
“Yes.”
“You participated in plans to take my daughter.”
Her face changed.
“I didn’t know the legal details.”
“But you knew Bennett wanted custody.”
“Yes.”
“And you imagined raising her.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked suddenly young.
“Because I wanted the life he promised me.”
I stared at her.
“There was never a life.”
She wiped her face.
“I know that now.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You wanted my husband.”
“You wanted my house.”
“You wanted my daughter.”
“You wanted the photograph of a perfect family.”
“But you never stopped to ask what kind of man gives another woman all of those things while his wife is still standing beside him.”
Margot looked down.
I continued.
“A man who gives away one woman’s life can give away yours too.”
She closed her eyes.
Agents arrived minutes later.
They took her phone.
They took her statement.
They took her into protective custody.
That night, investigators verified the recording.
Bennett’s voice.
Clear.
Calm.
Six weeks before our wedding.
“I’m marrying Tessa because I love her.”
A pause.
“But I’m not naive.”
“If her Mercer connections create opportunities later, we’d be foolish not to recognize that.”
Then Victoria.
“She must never feel used.”
And Bennett.
“She won’t.”
I listened twice.
Then I removed my wedding ring.
I placed it on Gabriel’s kitchen table.
Not angrily.
Not dramatically.
May you like
Just carefully.
Because some things deserve to end quietly.
