Chapter 5 - THE SECRET VALERIE WAS HIDING
Nancy returned to the table.
“I don’t know what was real.”
“You don’t have to know tonight.”
“Yes, I do.”
She had already written her resignation.
She would give it to Edward in the morning.
At Townsend Estate, Edward was still awake after midnight.
He found himself standing in the kitchen.
One mug beside the coffee machine.
Nancy usually left two.
It should not have mattered.
It did.
He went upstairs.
Valerie’s office door was locked.
Edward knew the administrative security system better than anyone.
Within ten minutes, he had accessed the hallway camera archive.
He searched the previous week.
At 2:17 Wednesday afternoon, Valerie entered the breakfast room carrying a folder.
At 2:29, Nancy left.
Edward froze the image.
Nancy’s face.
He recognized the expression.
Betrayal.
Edward watched the footage again.
Then once more.
At 12:43 a.m., he called Valerie.
She answered groggily.
“Edward?”
“Did you show Nancy the audit file?”
Silence.
“Valerie.”
“I felt she deserved transparency.”
His hand tightened around the phone.
“I asked you three times whether something happened.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You lied.”
“She was getting too close.”
Edward went still.
Valerie realized too late what she had admitted.
“What does that mean?”
“Edward, don’t—”
“Come to the house tomorrow morning at seven.”
“Can we discuss—”
“Seven.”
He ended the call.
Valerie had worked for him for six years.
She knew every schedule.
Every password.
Every professional relationship.
She had been beside him when employees stole.
When business partners lied.
When a woman Edward once planned to marry sold private information about him to a tabloid site.
Valerie had always been there afterward.
Telling him she had warned him.
Telling him people could not be trusted.
At seven the next morning, Edward placed Nancy’s audit folder on his desk.
Valerie entered.
Edward pointed to the chair.
“You told Nancy.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“I already explained.”
“No. You gave me a phrase. Transparency. I want the truth.”
Valerie’s jaw tightened.
“She was changing you.”
Edward almost laughed.
“That’s your defense?”
“You stopped listening to me.”
“I started listening to someone else.”
“You don’t know her.”
“I know enough.”
“You knew the last ones too.”
“And that justified humiliating Nancy?”
“I didn’t humiliate her. I showed her a file you created.”
The accusation landed.
Because it was true.
Edward looked at the folder.
“I created the test.”
“Yes.”
“I kept it open.”
“Yes.”
“And that was my mistake.”
Valerie looked surprised.
“But you used my mistake to hurt her.”
“I protected you.”
“No.”
Edward stood.
“You protected your position.”
Her face changed.
“For six years, you have managed every person who came close to me. Every employee is suspicious. Every friend wants something. Every woman has an agenda.”
“Because I’ve been right.”
“Sometimes.”
“That should matter.”
“It did. Too much.”
Valerie shook her head.
“You are making a mistake.”
Edward looked at her.
“Loyalty that requires everybody else to fail isn’t loyalty.”
She stared at him.
“It’s control.”
“Edward—”
“You’re terminated.”
Valerie turned pale.
“You cannot be serious.”
“Effective immediately.”
“After six years?”
“Leave your keys with security.”
She stood slowly.
“You’ll regret this.”
Edward looked at Nancy’s file.
“I already regret enough.”
Valerie left.
At nine fifteen, Nancy entered the estate carrying a white envelope.
Edward saw it immediately.
“No.”
Nancy blinked.
“You don’t even know what it is.”
“Yes, I do.”
She crossed the office and set it on his desk.
“My resignation.”
“I’m not accepting it.”
“That isn’t how resignations work.”
He almost smiled.
She did not.
Edward became serious.
“I know about the file.”
Nancy folded her arms.
“Obviously.”
“I know Valerie showed it to you.”
“That doesn’t change what’s inside.”
“No.”
“You wrote those notes.”
“Yes.”
“You monitored every purchase.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about my grandmother’s medical bills and continued watching me to see whether I would take your money.”
Edward stood behind the desk.
“I need you to hear me.”
“I’ve heard enough.”
“The test ended.”
Nancy laughed bitterly.
“The folder was still open.”
“The test ended for me.”
“That sentence doesn’t mean anything.”
“It ended the day I learned about the surgery bill.”
Nancy stopped.
Edward continued.
“You were carrying almost five thousand dollars in medical costs. You were supporting your grandmother. You had access to a card with no limit and no approval requirement.”
Nancy’s eyes hardened.
“And?”
“And you never touched a dollar that wasn’t yours.”
“Congratulations. You discovered I’m not a thief.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“It’s exactly what you’re saying.”
Edward came around the desk.
“I realized you weren’t behaving honestly because you knew you were being watched.”
“You didn’t know that.”
“I know.”
“You can’t know what’s inside someone.”
“I know.”
His voice broke slightly.
That made Nancy stop.
“I spent my life assuming that if I watched people closely enough, I could protect myself.”
He looked at the folder.
“I kept this open because closing it meant trusting someone.”
Nancy said nothing.
“And trusting someone scares me more than losing money ever has.”
For a moment, the office was completely silent.
Then Nancy shook her head.
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You should have destroyed the file.”
“Yes.”
“You should have trusted me after I earned it.”
“Yes.”
Edward met her eyes.
“And I didn’t.”
Nancy’s anger weakened, but it did not disappear.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked away.
“Not because I was cautious,” he continued. “I’ve had reasons to be cautious. But because caution became an excuse to treat you like evidence instead of a person.”
Nancy swallowed.
“That was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not asking you to forget it.”
“Good.”
“I’m asking whether you might someday forgive it.”
Nancy picked up the resignation letter.
Edward watched.
Then she placed it back down.
“I need time.”
“I understand.”
She walked toward the door.
“Nancy.”
She looked back.
“I fired Valerie.”
Her eyes widened.
“That isn’t why I told you.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want someone losing her livelihood because I got hurt.”
“She didn’t lose her job because you got hurt.”
Edward’s voice was calm.
“She lost it because she lied repeatedly and manipulated both of us.”
Nancy nodded slowly.
Then she left.
That should have been the end.
Instead, that afternoon, Valerie Hale knocked on Janine Carter’s front door.
Nancy opened it.
Her expression turned cold.
“What are you doing here?”
“I owe you an apology.”
“You already did enough.”
“I know.”
Valerie looked different without her tailored office clothing.
Smaller.
Tired.
“I showed you the file because I was afraid.”
Nancy said nothing.
“You were the first person in six years who made Edward trust someone besides me.”
“So you tried to destroy it.”
“Yes.”
The direct answer surprised Nancy.
“I told myself I was protecting him. I wasn’t.”
Valerie looked toward the street.
“I liked being necessary.”
Nancy crossed her arms.
“At least that’s honest.”
“I should have been honest sooner.”
Valerie turned to leave.
Then stopped.
“There’s something else.”
Nancy waited.
“Your grandmother’s surgery approval wasn’t random.”
The air seemed to leave the porch.
“What?”
“Edward called his foundation director personally.”
Nancy stared.
“He arranged the approval. Full payment. No copay. No publicity.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is.”
“Why would he pretend he didn’t?”
“Because he ordered everyone involved never to tell you.”
Nancy could not speak.
Valerie gave a sad smile.
“I thought you deserved to know what he hid for selfish reasons.”
May you like
She looked toward Janine’s house.
“And what he hid for no selfish reason at all.”
