The Daughter In-law They Underestimated

Katherina’s POV The first thing Morticia Valmont said when I entered the dining room was, “You are late.” I stopped beside the doorway and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was seven minutes past seven. Dinner was scheduled for seven. “I’m sorry,” I said. Morticia put down her fork. She was seated at the head of the table, dressed in a cream-colored gown that probably cost more than most people earned in a year. Her dark hair was perfectly styled, and the diamond bracelet around her wrist caught the light whenever she moved. “You are always sorry,” she said. “It is the only thing you seem to know how to say.” Trinity laughed from across the table. I did not answer. Six people were at the table that evening. Morticia, Tyler, Trinity, Logan, Jareth, and me. Jareth sat beside me, quietly reading something on his phone. He did not look up, that was normal. For three years, I had learned that there were different kinds of silence in the Valmont family. Morticia’s silence meant she was waiting for an opportunity to insult someone. Tyler’s meant he was thinking about business. Trinity’s meant she was looking for something to mock. Logan’s usually meant he was calculating what he could gain. And Jareth’s silence was different. He simply did not like getting involved. At least, that was what I had believed when I first married him. Now I wasn’t so sure. “Sit down,” Morticia said. I pulled out the chair beside Jareth. Before I could sit, Trinity spoke. “Actually, Katherina, can you bring me some water?” I looked at her, There was a full bottle of water sitting directly in front of her. “You have water there.” Trinity looked at the bottle, then back at me. “I know.” She smiled and said “I want cold water.” The bottle was already cold. I knew she was doing it on purpose. She had done things like this since I moved into the Valmont penthouse. Sometimes she asked me to bring her a coat while she was sitting beside the closet. Other times she would call me from another room just to ask where something was when it was sitting directly in front of her. It was never about the task, but was about making sure I remembered my place. “Fine.” I walked to the kitchen. The moment I disappeared from the dining room, I heard Trinity laugh “She actually did it.” Morticia chuckled. “She knows better than to argue.” I stopped for half a second. My hand rested on the kitchen counter. Three years ago, words like those would have hurt me. Now they simply gave me information. I opened the refrigerator, took out another bottle of water, and returned to the dining room. I placed it beside Trinity. “Thank you,” she said sweetly. I sat down. Jareth finally looked up from his phone. His eyes moved from Trinity to me. He said nothing and looked away There was no point waiting for him to defend me. He never did. The first year of our marriage, I had expected him to. The second year, I stopped expecting it. By the third year, I had stopped needing it. At least, that was what I told myself. “Since everyone is here,” Tyler said, “we need to discuss the London acquisition.” Jareth put his phone down. Logan leaned forward. I quietly reached for my glass. The conversation continued around me as if I wasn’t there. Tyler talked about the company Valmont Holdings was trying to acquire in London. Logan discussed the price. Jareth raised concerns about the debt attached to the company. I listened. I always listened. That was one of the things they had never understood about me. They thought silence meant ignorance, It didn’t. Silence allowed people to speak freely around you. And people revealed much more when they believed you were too unimportant to understand them. “The seller is asking for four hundred million,” Logan said. “That is too much,” Jareth replied. “Not if the shipping contracts are as valuable as we believe.” “They aren’t,” Jareth said. Everyone looked at him. Jareth picked up a folder beside his plate. “I had the numbers checked again. Two of the contracts are already under review. If we buy the company at that price and those contracts disappear, we will be overpaying by at least seventy million.” Tyler frowned. “Who checked the numbers?” “Our financial team.” “Then tell them to check again.” Jareth’s expression remained calm. “They already did.” The room became quiet. I looked down at my plate. Jareth was good at business. Very good. That was one of the reasons the Valmont board had already begun preparing him to take over from Tyler. But there was something about him that most people didn’t notice. He questioned things. He never accepted information simply because his father gave it to him. Sometimes, when he thought nobody was watching, I caught him going through old company records late at night. That was another reason I had never completely given up on him. He was not cruel like his mother. He was not careless like Trinity. He was simply trapped in a family that had taught him to protect the Valmont name before everything else. Even before his wife. “Enough business,” Morticia said. She picked up her wineglass. “We have the charity gala tomorrow night.” Trinity immediately brightened. “I already chose my dress.” “I know,” Morticia said. “You showed me yesterday.” Trinity smiled. Then she turned toward me. “What are you wearing?” “I haven’t decided yet.” “You should probably wear something simple.” I looked at her. “Why?” “Because it is a Valmont event.” She took a sip of wine. “We don’t want people thinking you are trying to compete with the family.” Logan laughed quietly. Morticia didn’t correct her. I continued eating. Tomorrow night’s gala was one of the biggest events on the New York social calendar. Executives, investors, politicians, celebrities, and members of old money families would be there. The Valmonts had spent weeks preparing for it. They wanted to use the event to strengthen their public image after several difficult months for Valmont Holdings. I already knew that. I also knew something else. The London acquisition was not the only problem inside Valmont Holdings. There were three unexplained transfers hidden inside the company’s financial records. Two shell companies had received money from a subsidiary in the last eighteen months. The transactions had been approved by Eric Harlan, the family’s lawyer. The amounts were not large enough to immediately attract attention. But they were too carefully arranged to be random. I had spent four months following them. And I was getting close. “Are you listening?” Morticia asked. I looked up. “Yes.” “I said you are responsible for making sure the guests are taken care of tomorrow.” I frowned slightly. “I thought the event planners were handling that.” “They are handling the important guests.” Trinity smiled. “You can handle everyone else.” I understood. They wanted me to work at the gala. Again. “Fine,” I said. Jareth looked at his mother. “Why is Katherina handling the guests?” Morticia turned toward him. “Because she has nothing else to do.” Jareth’s jaw tightened slightly. “She is your wife,” Morticia continued. “Not a member of the executive team.” “I didn’t say she was.” “Then don’t make an issue out of it.” Jareth said nothing. I looked at him. For one second, our eyes met. There was something in his expression I couldn’t understand. Then he looked away. Dinner ended twenty minutes later. I returned to our bedroom alone. The penthouse was quiet at that hour. New York stretched beyond the enormous windows, filled with lights and traffic. From the thirty-eighth floor, the city looked beautiful. I walked toward the closet and removed my earrings. Three years. Three years of sleeping in the same room as a man who barely spoke to me. Three years of being treated like an outsider. Three years of pretending that I didn’t care. I sat at the dressing table. My phone vibrated. Once. Then again. I picked it up. A message from Katniss. The documents are ready. I immediately typed back. Did Alejandro find anything? Three dots appeared. Then disappeared. Then appeared again. He found something. I sat up straight. What? This time her response came quickly. Not over the phone. You need to see this yourself. Before I could reply, another notification appeared. It was from a number I did not recognize. “Stop looking into Valmont Holdings” For three years, I had hidden my identity because my grandmother had taught me that powerful people were dangerous when they felt threatened. I had followed every rule. I had never used the Roswell name publicly. I had never appeared beside the Roswell executives. I had never allowed anyone outside my trusted circle to know who I really was. Even my husband did not know. To Jareth, I was simply Katherina Roswell, a quiet woman who had married into the Valmont family. But that was not who I was. My name was Katherina Roswell. And I was the rightful heir to the Roswell Empire. My grandmother, Irina Roswell, had made sure nobody knew that. Not after she disappeared. Not after the threats started. Not after people began fighting over control of the companies she had spent decades building. I had been prepared for years to take my place. The only thing I had not expected was for someone to discover what I was investigating before I was ready. My phone vibrated again. Another message from the unknown number. This time, there was an attachment. I opened it. My heart stopped. It was a picture of me. Not from today. Not from the gala. It was from five years ago. I was standing outside a private Roswell property in Connecticut. I was younger. My hair was shorter. And beside me stood my grandmother. Irina Roswell. The woman everyone believed had disappeared forever. I zoomed in on the picture. Someone had circled my grandmother in red. Underneath the picture was a message. Your grandmother did not disappear. I stared at the words. Another message appeared. She was taken. My phone nearly slipped from my hand. I immediately called Katniss. She answered on the first ring. “Katherina?” “Where are you?” “At the office.” “Get Alejandro.” “What happened?” “I just received a picture.” “What picture?” I looked at the screen again. “Of my grandmother.” There was silence on the other end. Then Katniss spoke quietly. “Send it to me.” I forwarded it. She opened it. I heard her breathing change. “Katherina.” “What?” “This picture wasn’t taken five years ago.” I froze. “What do you mean?” “Look at the timestamp.” I checked the file information. My hands went cold. The picture had been taken three days ago. Three days. That was impossible. My grandmother had supposedly disappeared from public life almost ten years ago. I stared at the picture again. Then I noticed something I had missed. Behind my grandmother was a black car. Its license plate was partly visible. I zoomed in. I knew that car. I had seen it before. Not in an old family picture. Not in a Roswell file. I had seen it parked outside the Valmont penthouse. My phone suddenly rang. The unknown number was calling. I looked at the screen. Katniss was still speaking, but I could barely hear her. “Katherina, don’t answer it.” The phone continued ringing. I hesitated. Then I accepted the call. For several seconds, there was nothing. Then a man’s voice spoke. “You have been looking in the wrong place.” I stood completely still. “Who are you?” The man ignored my question. “If you want to know what happened to Irina Roswell, stop investigating Valmont Holdings.” “Why?” “Because the person you are looking for is much closer to you than you think.” At that exact moment, the bedroom door opened, and Jareth just stood there. He was holding a file in his hand. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at the phone in my hand. Then he looked at the picture of my grandmother on the screen. His face changed “Where did you get that?” he asked. I had never heard fear in Jareth’s voice before. Until that moment.