The House With the Locked Study
Chapter 06 - The House With the Locked Study
Brooke had moved into a penthouse leased through a company associated with Chad. Their relationship looked dazzling from the outside: expensive parties, charity photographs, interviews about resilience and new beginnings. Behind closed doors, their arguments had become frequent.
Chad was furious about Ethan's hotel acquisition. “He made us look like idiots.”
“You pushed him,” Brooke snapped.
“You wanted him humiliated just as much as I did.”
Brooke looked away. She hated that he was right.
She had convinced herself that Ethan's injury would diminish their future. She feared hospitals, caregiving and uncertainty. Instead of admitting those fears and ending their engagement honestly, she had joined Chad in mocking the man she'd once loved. Now she was beginning to realize Chad's cruelty extended beyond social performances.
One evening she entered his study looking for a charger. The desk drawer was locked, but an open folder lay beside the printer. She recognized Ethan's signature on a proxy authorization he'd refused to sign. Beside it was a draft investor communication that appeared to have been prepared before the accident.
“What are you doing?” Chad asked from the doorway.
Brooke stepped away. “Nothing.”
He looked at the papers, then at her. “You don't go through my files.”
“Why is Ethan's name on that?”
“Business.”
“It looks like his signature.”
Chad took the page and shut it inside the drawer. “Forget you saw it.”
May you like
She watched his face. He wasn't embarrassed. He was frightened. That disturbed her far more than his anger.
That night Brooke found an unfamiliar number written on a scrap of paper in his jacket: 41-SERVICE. She photographed it and put the jacket back. For the first time she wondered whether Chad's campaign against Ethan had started before anyone knew Ethan would use a wheelchair.
