The Marriage I Never Wanted

Chapter 11- Delayed

The private investigator's name was Rourke, and he agreed to meet in person only after Jason wired a deposit large enough to make even him wince.

"I don't usually deal with clients this... high profile," Rourke said, settling into the booth of a diner so unremarkable it had clearly been chosen specifically for that reason. He was younger than Jason expected, sharp-eyed, careful with his words. "Which tells me this is either very real, or someone very dangerous wants you to think it is."

"Which is it?" Jason asked, no patience left for pleasantries.

"I believe it's real." Rourke slid a thin folder across the table, keeping his hand on top of it. "A woman matching your sister's description, going by a different name, resurfaced in the system eight months ago. Medical records, a work history, nothing that screams 'hiding'—which is itself unusual, given what I understand about the original circumstances."

Laura's hand tightened around Jason's under the table. "Where is she now?"

"That's the part I haven't been able to confirm." Rourke's expression flickered, just slightly. "Someone's been covering the trail behind me. Every lead I follow goes cold within days, like someone's watching my searches and closing doors before I get to them."

"Who would even know you're looking?" Jason's voice had gone hard, controlled fury just beneath the surface.

"That's what concerns me most." Rourke finally slid the folder fully across the table. "Whoever's interfering has resources. Real-time access to search databases most people don't know exist. That's not amateur money. That's institutional money."

Laura felt something cold settle in her stomach. "Forbes Media has resources like that."

Jason's jaw tightened to something like stone. "Margaret."

"I don't have proof it's her specifically," Rourke said carefully. "But someone with significant reach wants this investigation to move slowly. Or not at all."

"Why would Margaret care about my sister?" Jason's voice was quiet now, dangerous in a way Laura had only heard once before, at the Forbes Media gala. "This isn't about the marriage anymore. This is something else."

Rourke hesitated, the first genuine uncertainty he'd shown all evening. "I don't know the why yet. I only know the who is well-funded, and the what is very deliberate."

After Rourke left, Jason sat in silence for a long moment, staring at the unopened folder like it might detonate.

"You don't have to open it tonight," Laura said softly.

"I've waited sixteen years." His hand finally moved, fingers curling around the folder's edge. "One more night won't kill me."

He didn't open it. He held it instead, all night, like letting it out of his sight might make the truth disappear all over again — while across the city, in an office with the lights still burning long past midnight, Margaret Forbes reviewed a real-time alert on her screen, confirming exactly which leads Rourke had chased that day, and precisely which ones needed to disappear before morning.