"All I know is something must be pretty damned bad," India said, dropping her phone back in her bag. "Ben is hard to rattle, but I couldn't get him to tell me over the phone. He just said to get into the city asap, and you too." She dug out her keys. "I guess we'll find out when we get there." Five minutes later, with Moki safely tucked into her puppy-proof playpen, we were heading for the highway.

I held my phone in my hand, my stomach tilting and squeezing with nerves. I'd already tried to call Jack, but it had only gone to voicemail. I was afraid, truly afraid for him. I'd seen the look on his face when he'd left. The haunted look in his eyes… I'd wondered if there was more to that look than only his concern for the company.

"So… what did the hospital say?" India looked at me sideways as she drove. She'd taken Ben's call outside as I'd been taking to the administrator.

"The doctor who signed the death certificate passed away last year," I said, rubbing a hand over my stomach. "It's a charity hospital, with a lot of turnover… But there might still be a nurse who was employed when Dorothy was there." Her name still sounded foreign on my tongue.

"It's such a long shot," I sighed. "Even if she had been working there when my mother died… it doesn't mean they ever met. Or even that the nurse would remember." I chewed my lip absently.

"So do you have her name? A number, at least? Any chance is better than none."

"They couldn't give it out," I replied. "But they said they would give her my number." I thumped the phone against my thigh. "There's nothing I can do now but wait… and hope to hell she calls me back."

* * *

The tension in the room made it instantly clear. Something was wrong. Really and terribly wrong.

India went to her mother. I went straight to Jack's side. The entire family was present, but no one spoke, no one even noticed when we entered the room. All eyes were on one man. At the wedding, he'd been charming enough… impeccably dressed. I almost didn't recognize him now.

"Spencer," Jack drew the word out, his voice smooth, almost seductive. "You wouldn't have done this on your own. I know you… I've trusted you for years." He was kneeling at the man's feet, speaking to him as if he were a child. "We all know it wasn't you," Jack continued. "You've been loyal to Mason… everyone in this room knows that.

Tell us whose idea it was, buying up stock in both Mason and Warner… trying to take control of them both. You may have helped them do it, Spence, but this wasn't you. I know it… and I'm trusting you to come clean with me now."

As he was speaking, India had discreetly shifted the rest of us toward the back of the office. Jack and Spencer were alone by the windows. I could tell Jack was holding his breath.

"She said she loved me," Spencer began in a whisper, tears rolling down his face. "I knew it was wrong from the start… I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't… I couldn't… Not when I'd betrayed you…"

Jack put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder. "Love can make us all see the world differently." He glanced at me with a hint of a smile. "It can make us do things we never imagined before…" He looked back at Spence. "Just tell me. I promise I can help you make this right…"

"It started three years ago." The tears were rolling fast now, his voice tight. "She said she loved me, that we could have the life we both deserved… as long as I did what she told me to do. As long as I kept my mouth shut.

But she lied to me… she lied to all of us." He was angry now, his voice louder. "She didn't want me… she didn't want anything but money and control… control over everything… all of us. She made a fucking fool out of me, Jack. But I went along with her…

She was just using me the whole fucking time."

"Who, Spencer? Tell me who…"

The door opened behind us with a soft click and every head turned in unison. Standing there was a tall, slender blonde. We'd never met. I'd never even seen a photograph. But I instantly knew her. She was everything I'd imagined. I felt India take my hand.

The woman was elegant, perfectly poised, serene. Everything I was not. And she would have been the loveliest thing I'd ever seen, if not for the look on her face.

"Elaine," Spencer spat out, as he stood and squared his shoulders.

"It was that bitch, Elaine."