Chapter 2 - THE ENVELOPE IN THE SUITCASE
Ashlynn did not hit Gregory again.
That mattered later.
She kept the bat away from him, unlocked the cabin door herself, and stepped into the corridor.
A couple two cabins down had heard the impact and were already looking outside.
Ashlynn asked them to call ship security.
Gregory immediately changed.
His breathing slowed.
His posture softened.
“Ash, come on.”
She stared.
“Don’t call me that.”
“You know I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
“You swung a bat at my ribs.”
“I was angry.”
“You locked the door first.”
His eyes flicked toward the cabin.
Toward the phone.
Ashlynn noticed.
Security separated them.
The bat remained in the cabin.
So did Gregory’s phone.
Ashlynn was taken to another room while staff documented what she reported and arranged for the couple to stay apart.
Gregory claimed the confrontation had become physical after an argument.
He said Ashlynn had “gone into combat mode.”
That phrase lodged in her mind.
Later, accompanied while retrieving essential belongings, Ashlynn returned to the cabin.
Her suitcase was still open.
Gregory’s was not.
Security allowed her to take only her own property.
As Ashlynn pulled out her toiletry bag, she noticed a cream envelope beneath one of her dresses.
Not Gregory’s luggage.
Hers.
She had never seen it.
Her name was printed on the front.
Inside was a financial packet from Atlantic Meridian Bank.
PERSONAL GUARANTY.
RIDGEWAY MARINE SYSTEMS, INC.
Guarantor:
ASHLYNN COLE GRANT.
She read the first page twice.
Ridgeway was Gregory’s father’s company.
Leonard Grant had built it thirty years earlier repairing commercial marine equipment around Jacksonville.
Gregory was vice president.
According to every conversation Ashlynn had heard during their engagement, Ridgeway was successful.
Growing.
Preparing for “the biggest year in company history.”
So why was a bank asking Ashlynn to guarantee anything?
She turned another page.
Refinancing amount:
$1.85 million.
Collateral support included references to Ashlynn’s brokerage assets and the Jacksonville condominium she had owned before marrying Gregory.
Her separate property.
Her stomach tightened.
She had discussed neither asset with Atlantic Meridian.
Then she found a sticky note in Gregory’s handwriting.
SIGN AFTER DINNER. DAD NEEDS MONDAY.
Ashlynn sat slowly on the edge of the bed.
The honeymoon attack had not come out of nowhere.
There had been another plan for the cabin.
May you like
One involving her signature.
And Gregory had apparently expected the violence to happen before he asked for it.
