Gilded Craving - Olivia Jaymes Page 0,41

just tell me that he was young and he'd eventually stop. I really believed that. I truly thought that he would stop running after other girls, but eventually I got tired of waiting. I could clearly see that other couples didn't have the same problems. You never ran around on Mariah, and it was obvious you loved her. I wanted someone to love and respect me like that. So I'd decided to break up with Brad after the Hawaii trip. I didn't want to ruin everyone's vacation, and it didn't seem to matter if I waited a few weeks. I'd already waited far too long anyway."

Caroline's mother sounded like a 1950s nightmare of a parent. She'd actively encouraged her daughter to stay with a boy that disrespected her.

And Ryan hadn't ever cheated on Mariah. He'd never wanted to, and she would have dumped his ass if he had. Even back then she'd been a force to be reckoned with. She certainly hadn't put up with much shit.

"Did Brad know that you knew?"

A few tears slid down Caroline's cheeks. "Of course, he did. He liked to pretend that I was just confused or that I didn't understand. He would never admit it out loud."

"Did he know you were going to break up with him?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "I don't think so, although I gave him plenty of warning. I kept telling him that eventually I wasn't going to put up with his bad behavior anymore."

But if she never actually broke up with him, Brad might have thought that she never would. She'd put up with him forever.

"Had you...already moved on?"

Shit, he didn't know quite how to word this, especially in front of Danny.

"If you're talking about Trent, I know about all of that," Danny said with a smug smile. "We don't have any secrets from each other. Trent was a long time ago and frankly, he doesn't matter anymore."

"Not that he ever mattered," Caroline said firmly. "I was only trying to show Brad that he wasn't the only person that could cheat. I could, too."

"So Brad knew about you and Trent?" Ryan asked. "Did you tell him?"

Caroline shook her head. "No, I never did. I was going to because I wanted to hurt him and then I realized that he wasn't worth it. I'd already decided to end things."

"So you and Trent..."

"Had a fling," Caroline replied with a shrug. "It was short and forgettable, to be honest. It meant nothing. It was just petty revenge on my part and I'm not very proud of that."

"You are absolutely sure that Brad didn't know? Could Trent have told him?"

"If Trent told Brad that he and Caroline were sleeping together, we all would have known about it," Danny said. "Brad and Trent would have definitely argued or possibly even physically fought."

That was exactly what Ryan was thinking as well. Had Brad and Trent argued that night so long ago?

One thing was for sure...one of them had ended up dead.

15

Trent Garfield had done well for himself in the last decade. A quick search into his background had turned up a man who made a great deal of money and liked to spend it. Trent had a bevy of women and an active social life. When he wasn't squiring a date to a charity winetasting or a fundraising gala, he was playing golf with his friends or jetting off for a ski weekend in Aspen.

He'd joined his family's real estate business and worked out of his home which was where Ryan caught up with him later in the afternoon after visiting Caroline and Danny. Trent lived in a penthouse apartment that overlooked Lake Michigan. Decorated in chrome and white, it really wasn't Ryan's taste, but he had to admit that no one would be looking at the furniture with a view like that.

"Can I get you a drink?" Trent said, ushering Ryan into the living room. The drapes were all pulled open to reveal wall to ceiling windows. "I've got just about anything you could want. Soda, water, beer, or something harder if the mood takes you."

"Thank you, but I'm good." Ryan settled on the couch. "You know why I'm here so I guess we should just get down to it. I'm talking to everyone about the night that Brad disappeared. What they remember. That sort of thing."

Trent sat down, his body sprawled and a water bottle dangling from his fingers. Today, he was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt that made him look like