Chapter 3 - THE MISTRESS WHO HAD A SECOND NAMELila Summers had practiced lying for most of her adult life.
She knew how to make her eyes fill with tears at exactly the right moment. She knew how to turn a confrontation into an apology from the person confronting her. And she knew that powerful men often confused admiration with affection.
But when she saw Victor Kane standing beside her on Andrew's laptop screen, every carefully rehearsed expression vanished.
"Where did you get that?" she whispered.
Andrew didn't answer.
He pressed the space bar.
The video continued.
Victor Kane's image moved across the office.
"Emma Harper knows something," he said. "And if she gives those documents to the federal investigators, the acquisition is finished."
Lila folded her arms in the recording.
"Then Andrew needs to stop listening to his wife."
"Can you manage that?"
She smiled.
"He's already sleeping in my apartment three nights a week. Trust me. I can make him believe anything."
Andrew paused the video.
The silence that followed was almost unbearable.
Lila slowly backed toward the door.
"Andrew, I can explain."
"Sit down."
"You're frightening me."
"Sit. Down."
She lowered herself into the leather chair opposite his desk.
Daniel remained standing beside the window.
Andrew opened another file.
A photograph appeared of Lila leaving a luxury apartment building on Park Avenue.
Beside her walked Victor Kane.
The timestamp showed 2:14 a.m.
Andrew stared at her.
"How long have you been working for him?"
Lila swallowed.
"I'm not working for anyone."
He opened a bank statement.
"Seventy-five thousand dollars transferred to your account in March. Another ninety thousand in April. And a hundred and twenty thousand last month."
"Those are investments."
"From a holding company controlled by Victor Kane?"
She looked away.
Andrew leaned over the desk.
"Who are you?"
For the first time since he had met her, Lila's smile disappeared completely.
"My name is Lila Summers."
Andrew turned the laptop toward her.
On the screen was an old newspaper article.
It featured a photograph of a teenage girl with red hair and a man outside a courthouse.
The headline read:
FINANCIAL ADVISER MARTIN VALE SENTENCED IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD CASE.
Below it was the caption.
Martin Vale pictured with daughter, Lilian Vale.
Andrew felt a cold pressure beneath his ribs.
"Lilian Vale," he said slowly. "That's your real name."
Lila stared at the photograph.
Then she began to laugh.
It wasn't a happy sound.
"Congratulations, Andrew. You've finally learned how to read a background report."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Security is outside, sir."
Andrew raised a hand.
"Not yet."
He looked at Lila.
"Tell me what Victor wants."
She tilted her head.
"Your company."
"Why?"
"Because you're sitting on something worth far more than your company's current market value."
Andrew frowned.
"Crestmont?"
Lila smiled again.
"Did you really think Victor wanted those aging government contracts?"
Andrew said nothing.
"There's a cybersecurity architecture buried inside Crestmont's research division. Their engineers call it Aegis. The patents are valuable, but the underlying technology could become the foundation for a national infrastructure security platform."
Andrew knew the name.
Crestmont's chief technology officer had mentioned Aegis during preliminary discussions.
But Victor Kane had offered to buy Crestmont years earlier and had been rejected.
Now Andrew understood why.
"You wanted me to acquire it for him."
"I wanted you to believe the acquisition was your idea."
"And then?"
"You'd become overleveraged. The financing would fail. Victor would purchase your debt and force an asset sale."
Andrew looked toward Daniel.
His CFO had gone pale.
The plan was elegant.
Cruel.
And frighteningly plausible.
But one detail still bothered Andrew.
"Why involve Emma?"
Lila's expression changed.
"Because Victor underestimated her."
Andrew stared at her.
"What does that mean?"
She looked toward the door.
"Your wife's father ruined my father's life."
"Your father stole retirement savings."
"He went to prison because Richard Harper made sure prosecutors got every document."
"Then perhaps your father shouldn't have stolen the money."
Lila shot to her feet.
"You don't understand anything!"
Her voice cracked.
"My father lost everything. Our house. Our savings. His reputation. My mother died believing the Harpers had destroyed us."
Andrew stepped back.
"So you decided to destroy Emma?"
Lila's eyes glistened.
"I wanted Richard Harper to feel what losing a family meant."
Andrew felt nauseated.
He remembered the champagne glasses, the whispered conversations, and the photographs from the gala.
He remembered Emma's face.
He remembered how he had told her not to make a scene.
And suddenly he understood.
The kiss hadn't been merely an affair becoming public.
It had been the final move in a carefully planned humiliation.
"You planned tonight."
Lila shrugged.
"Victor wanted photographs showing your marriage was collapsing. He thought that would destabilize Emma's position. I didn't know she'd leave immediately."
Andrew stared at her in disbelief.
"She's six months pregnant."
"Yes, Andrew. I noticed."
"And Sophie?"
"Your daughter was never supposed to be part of tonight."
He pointed toward the laptop.
"Then explain what Victor meant about the babies."
Lila looked frightened again.
"That was a figure of speech."
"Don't."
"I swear I never intended to hurt your children."
Andrew picked up his phone.
"I'm calling the police."
Lila lunged toward the desk.
"Andrew, wait!"
He stepped away.
"Daniel, contact security and preserve every recording on this drive. Then call our attorneys."
Lila's face twisted.
"You think Emma is innocent?"
Andrew stopped.
"What?"
She laughed bitterly.
"Ask your precious wife where she was on November seventeenth."
Andrew frowned.
"Last year?"
"Ask her why she visited a warehouse in Newark at two in the morning."
Daniel moved closer.
"What warehouse?"
Lila's eyes glittered.
"The one where Victor's accounting director disappeared."
Andrew felt the floor shift beneath him.
"Disappeared?"
Lila leaned forward.
"Your wife has secrets, Andrew. You don't know who you married."
Security entered moments later.
Lila allowed herself to be escorted out without another word.
But just before reaching the door, she turned.
"One more thing."
Andrew looked up.
"The moment you tell Richard Harper what happened, he'll destroy you."
Then she was gone.
For several minutes, Andrew remained motionless.
Daniel finally spoke.
"Sir, we need to secure the company."
Andrew looked at the divorce papers.
"First, I need to find my wife."
"She doesn't want to be found."
"I don't care."
Daniel hesitated.
"Sir, perhaps you should."
Andrew looked up sharply.
Daniel continued.
"She went to extraordinary lengths to protect her identity. If you chase her with private investigators or company resources, it will make everything worse. We should communicate through counsel."
Andrew opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
For the first time in his life, someone had told him that his wishes did not matter.
And the most disturbing part was that Daniel was right.
Three hundred miles away, Emma Harper sat inside a private jet while Sophie slept peacefully in a small bedroom near the rear of the cabin.
A flight attendant had brought ginger tea, crackers, and an extra pillow.
Emma stared at the city lights below.
Her phone remained silent.
Not because Andrew had stopped calling.
Because she'd finally blocked his number.
Thomas Bennett, her father's longtime chief of staff, sat across from her.
"He's discovered the ownership records," Thomas said.
Emma nodded.
"I assumed he would."
"He may come looking for you."
"He can speak to my attorney."
Thomas studied her.
"You sound like your father."
Emma smiled sadly.
"I spent years trying not to."
Thomas glanced toward the bedroom.
"How's Sophie?"
"She's sleeping."
"And the little one?"
Emma rested a hand over her belly.
"Kicking like he wants to argue with somebody."
Thomas chuckled.
"Definitely a Harper."
The joke faded.
He reached into his briefcase.
"Your father asked me to give you this."
It was a small velvet box.
Inside lay a silver necklace with a delicate falcon pendant.
Emma recognized it immediately.
Her mother had worn it almost every day.
She touched the pendant.
"I thought Dad kept this locked away."
"He did."
Emma closed her eyes.
Her mother, Catherine Harper, had died when Emma was nineteen.
Afterward, Emma had watched friends, classmates, and romantic interests change whenever they learned her surname.
Some wanted money.
Others wanted access.
A few wanted power.
Andrew had been the first man in years who seemed to love her without knowing any of it.
That was why she had fallen so deeply.
That was why his betrayal hurt so much.
Thomas leaned forward.
"Your father knows about the recording."
Emma opened her eyes.
"Which recording?"
"The one from Andrew's office."
She sat straighter.
"Did he contact the investigators?"
"Not yet. He wanted your permission to release the material we've collected."
Emma looked down at the pendant.
Six weeks earlier, a former employee of Victor Kane had approached Harper Global's compliance team with alarming information.
Emma had quietly hired independent investigators.
The evidence suggested that Victor was using a network of shell companies to manipulate acquisitions and hide suspicious transfers.
But the more they investigated, the more often Lila's name appeared.
Emma had first believed Andrew was being used.
Then she discovered the affair.
She had continued protecting the evidence anyway.
Not for her husband.
For the hundreds of employees who could lose their jobs if Victor succeeded.
And for her children.
"Tell Dad he can proceed," Emma said.
Thomas nodded.
"There's something else."
His tone made her look up.
"What?"
"Victor Kane's people have been asking questions about your medical appointments."
Emma's hand tightened around the necklace.
"What kind of questions?"
"The location of your obstetrician's office. Your expected delivery date. The names of your household staff."
A chill moved through her.
"How long?"
"At least two weeks."
Emma stared toward the bedroom where Sophie was sleeping.
The affair suddenly felt like only one part of a much larger nightmare.
"Does Dad know?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"He doubled your security."
Emma looked out the window.
The clouds were silver beneath the moon.
Somewhere below, Andrew was probably furious that she had left him.
But anger was no longer the emotion that frightened her.
It was the realization that Victor Kane had been watching her children.
Thomas's phone vibrated.
He read the message, and his expression hardened.
"Emma."
"What happened?"
"The Newark warehouse."
Her heart began pounding.
"What about it?"
"Someone broke in tonight."
Emma sat perfectly still.
Thomas continued.
"The secure evidence cabinet was forced open."
"Was anything taken?"
"One storage drive."
Emma closed her eyes.
She knew exactly which drive he meant.
It contained the original recordings of Victor Kane ordering the destruction of financial records.
And a file that could expose a conspiracy extending far beyond Weston Meridian.
"Who had access?" she whispered.
Thomas hesitated.
Then he answered.
"According to the access logs, the last authorized person inside was your husband."
Emma stared at him.
"Andrew?"
Thomas nodded grimly.
"The system shows his executive credentials."
Emma's heart seemed to stop.
May you like
Because Andrew had never been told the warehouse existed.
And someone had just used his identity to steal the most dangerous evidence in the entire investigation.
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