Page 102 of Desolation

“You said… there wasn’t a—”

Landon grabs my hand. “We didn’t want you to worry. We were both armed and we would both be there all night.”

“Why would someone want to break in?” Jackson asks David.

He takes a deep breath and rubs his hands over his face. “Mariela came to me three weeks ago about a file she found in her husband’s office.”

“Senator Waters being her husband,” Charlie states like this is being recorded.

“Yes, Senator Michael Waters. Six months ago, she had large sums of money deposited into the accounts of her foundation. She had her CFO freeze the money because she had no idea where it came from. A handful of investment firms that did not exist on paper. She was researching them for months, trying to find out what was going on. Then stumbled upon that file in her husband’s office. A file with the names of those companies on bank statements.”

Charlie picks up the file off the table and flips through it. “Some of these are the names of the companies under Duthmoor. Or should I say were. The names tend to change.”

“She was worried her husband was laundering money into her foundation. So she came to me. I didn’t tell anyone because I honestly didn’t think it had anything to do with the case we were working on.”

“Until this morning?” Jackson asks him.

He nods. “I knew when I first started decoding her file, it wasn’t good. Known terrorist names popping up but I wasn’t sure if it was a decoy or not.”

I look at Dax but he avoids my eyes. “Why did you want me to come in here? What did you find?”

Jackson notices the avoidance and answers for him. “I told him to bring you in. There has been an interesting development in your files and two cases we’ve been working on.” He looks at Landon before grabbing a file off the table. “Tell me everything you know about Duthmoor Holdings.”

“About what?” I ask confused.

“Duthmoor,” he states firmly.

I shake my head as I look around the room. Why the hell is everyone looking at me like I have the answers about some company I have never heard of. “I’ve never heard of that in my life.”

Jackson opens the file folder and places it in front of me. No one says anything as I scan the document in front of me. I gasp when I get to the bottom and see my former name and signature on it. Landon squeezes my hand. “I’ve never seen this before.” I look at it closer, noticing the date on the bottom. “I—I changed my name over two years before this date. I didn’t want to be associated with my family anymore. This can’t be legal, can it?”

Charlie walks across the room from where she was standing by the door. “It’s legal. I checked into that.”

“I swear I have never seen this before.” I look over to Dax but he still avoids me. “Dax?”

When his eyes finally meet mine, they are filled with pain and disgust. “I was with you when you changed your name Mariela. But I was also there when you told me how your ex-boyfriend made money. I was also there when you asked about forged documents and how to legalize them.”

I stare at him in shock. “Wait, you think I actually did this?” I look around the room and everyone’s eyes are on me, all of them waiting for me to crack and say I did all this. When I look at Landon, his are filled with sorrow. Like he feels guilty for falling for me when I am nothing but a liar. “I have no idea what Duthmoor Holdings is. I asked about forged documents back then so I could find a way to clear my mother’s name. Ask my cousin Janelle. She was the one that helped me.”

Charlie grunts before she starts whispering to her husband. Jackson nods at Landon who let’s go of my hand and starts talking to Dax and Jackson. I cannot believe these people think I am linked to some shell company that is working with terrorists. I would never put my girls in that sort of danger. What if Michael did this? What if Michael is trying to frame me for all this so he can get his presidential bid? The poor senator who was coerced into a marriage with a terrorist. I can see the headlines now.

Am I going to prison? For a crime I don’t even know about.

Tears start to fall from my eyes as I think about Makayla and Olivia. What will happen to them? Michael is a good father. He just never makes time for his kids. It’s part of the reason I am always upset with him. Will he abandon them? Or send them off to his parents? Why would he do this to me?

I wipe my eyes trying hard not to break down in front of all these people. I stare down at the paper practically condemning me for the rest of my life when I read the date again.

December eighteenth two thousand six. I remember that day. Michael took me to New York to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center the night before. We had a fancy steak dinner and went ice skating in Bryant Park. It was the night I fell in love with him. We stayed at his parent’s penthouse in the city. It was the nicest place I had ever stayed in and wondered if maybe that is what life would be like if I were to marry Michael. It was the first time I ever thought about a long future with him. And I remember how happy it made me.

We woke up in each other’s arms and he told me he loved me. We drank champagne and ate breakfast in bed. He joked he was going to be in so much trouble for opening a fifteen hundred dollar bottle of champagne but he said he didn’t care. We would have hundreds of them at our wedding. We were so happy.

Until his dad came storming into the apartment. He went on and on about how I was trash and I shouldn’t be allowed in the place unless I was the help. Michael stood up for me. Said he would never marry some rich socialite bitch. He wanted to marry me. His dad has resented me since that day. Even at our wedding his dad barely made an appearance, said he had to work.

I’m jolted with mixed emotions. Michael and I were so in love. Why would he turn on me like he did? He turned colder and more withdrawn as he worked for his father. Was it his father who pushed him away from me?

Landon sits next to me and squeezes my knee before placing his fingers under my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “We’ll figure this out.”

I nod. And press my eyes closed to hold the tears in. Michael said the same thing to me back then about his father. I am falling for Landon but am I just letting another man take Michael’s place? Just like Michael took the place of my father. I should be facing this on my own, not relying on a man to hold my hand and help me through things.

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