Beatrice answered on the third ring.
“Katherine?”
Her voice came through the small speaker into a room that had gone completely still.
Katherine stood in the doorway of the ruined wedding suite, one hand trembling around the cracked phone.
Robert remained between her and Caleb.
Grace stood near her son, but for the first time in Caleb’s life, she did not feel the instinct to protect him from whatever came next.
She wanted the truth.
Caleb stared at the phone as if it were something dangerous.
Katherine swallowed.
“Beatrice, I need you to answer one question.
Caleb says I destroyed your career.
He says I betrayed you.
Is that what you told him?”
Silence.
Then Beatrice breathed out slowly.
“Where are you?”
“At Grace and Robert’s house.”
Another pause.
“Why is Caleb there?”
Katherine gave a small, disbelieving laugh.
“Because I married him today.”
The silence on the other end lasted so long Grace thought the call had disconnected.
Then Beatrice whispered, “Oh, God.”
Caleb moved toward the phone.
“Don’t start pretending now.”
Robert caught his shoulder.
“Stay where you are.”
Beatrice heard him.
“Caleb?”
“Tell them,” he said.
“Tell them what she did to you.”
Grace watched Katherine’s expression carefully.
Katherine did not look like someone afraid of being exposed.
She looked exhausted.
Beatrice did not answer.
Caleb’s voice sharpened.
“Tell them.”
Finally Beatrice said, “What exactly did you do tonight?”
Caleb’s mouth opened.
No words came.
Katherine closed her eyes.
“He told me he married me because I had to pay for what I did to you.
He locked the bedroom door.
He put a recorder on the dresser and demanded that I confess.”
Grace looked at the black recorder again.
Katherine continued.
“When I tried to leave, he blocked the door.
He told me no one downstairs would believe me after seeing how happy I had looked all day.
Then he started describing what he planned to do with the recording once he got the words he wanted.”
“I never touched her,” Caleb snapped.
Grace turned on him.
“That is your defense?”
His face fell.
Katherine’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“I panicked.
I screamed.
