Chapter 8 - THE HONEYMOON TRAP
Katherine moved toward the door.
Caleb blocked her path.
“I need to leave.”
“Not until you tell me what happened.”
“You lied to me for eighteen months.”
“You lied for seven years.”
“I was legally forbidden to discuss the case.”
“That is convenient.”
Katherine reached for the lock.
Caleb caught the door before she could open it.
He did not strike her.
He did not need to.
His body between her and the exit turned the white honeymoon suite into a locked cell.
“Sit down,” he ordered.
“No.”
He swept the bouquet from the table.
Red roses struck the marble.
Katherine flinched.
Caleb saw her fear and hated himself for one second.
Then he remembered Beatrice.
“She trusted you.”
“I tried to save her.”
“You took money.”
“It was not what you think.”
“You control a trust with her name.”
“Because she asked me to protect it.”
Caleb laughed bitterly.
“She asked you?”
Katherine pressed one hand against her chest as her breathing became shallow.
The room blurred.
Her therapist had taught her how to recognize a panic attack.
She tried to count the roses on the floor.
She could not focus.
Caleb placed the admission statement in front of her.
“Sign it.”
“I didn’t kill Beatrice.”
“Then confess to abandoning her.”
“I stayed until the ambulance came.”
“You disappeared afterward.”
“Because people working for Owen found my apartment.”
Caleb froze at the name.
“Owen Harrow?”
Katherine looked at him.
“You know Owen?”
Before Caleb could answer, his phone vibrated.
MAKE HER CONFESS TONIGHT—FOR BEATRICE.
Katherine saw the message.
She also saw the sender had attached a photograph taken through the honeymoon suite window only minutes earlier.
Someone was watching them.
“Caleb, we’re not alone.”
He looked toward the curtains.
Katherine moved toward the door again.
Caleb grabbed the confession papers, and the edge of the folder struck a wineglass.
It shattered.
The noise carried into the hallway.
Grace, Robert, and Frank rushed toward the suite.
Katherine sank to the floor, unable to pull enough air into her lungs.
Caleb sat beside the bed, finally realizing how far the night had gone.
When his parents entered, he whispered:
May you like
“She had to pay.”
👉 Caleb believed he was avenging Beatrice, but the unseen person sending the messages wanted both Katherine and Caleb destroyed.
