Chapter 20
Four weeks before the wedding, Rachel Chen called.
"I need to tell you something," she said. "About Vivienne."
Izzy put her on speaker. Alex and Sophie were in the office reviewing seating charts.
"What about her?" Izzy asked.
"She's been writing to me. From prison. Three letters so far."
Alex looked up sharply. "What does she want?"
"To apologize. To explain. To ask if there's anything she can do to make amends." Rachel's voice was cautious. "The third letter included a check for two hundred thousand dollars. Her share of the restitution before the court ordered it."
"She's trying to buy forgiveness," Sophie said.
"Maybe. Or maybe she's actually changed." Rachel paused. "She asked if I'd be willing to visit her. To talk about Lila, about what happened. Her therapist thinks it would help her recovery."
"Don't go," Alex said immediately. "She's manipulative. This is just another angle."
"I don't know. The letters sound different. Raw. Like she's finally being honest."
Izzy met Alex's eyes. He shook his head, but she asked anyway: "What do you want to do, Rachel?"
"I want to believe people can change. But I also don't want to be naive."
"Then take someone with you," Izzy said. "Don't go alone. If she's genuine, having a witness won't matter. If she's not, you'll have backup."
"Would you come with me?"
The question hung in the air.
Alex stood abruptly. "Absolutely not."
"Alex....."
"She tried to destroy us, Izzy. She systematically abused her own sister. Now she wants a prison visit? It's manipulation."
"Or it's genuine remorse. We won't know unless someone goes."
"Then Rachel can go with her therapist. Not with my fiancée."
"I'm not fragile. I can handle Vivienne."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is the point?"
Alex's jaw worked. "The point is I don't want you anywhere near her. I don't trust her, I don't believe her redemption act, and I won't risk her poisoning you the way she poisoned Lila."
The room went silent.
Finally, Sophie cleared her throat. "I'll go with Rachel. Neutral third party. If Vivienne tries anything, I'll shut it down."
Rachel exhaled. "That works. Thank you."
After she hung up, Izzy turned to Alex. "You can't protect me from everything."
"I can try."
"That's not what I need from you."
"What do you need?"
"I need you to trust me. To trust that I can make my own decisions about who I talk to and what risks I take."
Alex looked away. "I trusted Lila's judgment too. Look where that got her."
"I'm not Lila."
"I know that."
"Do you? Because right now you're treating me like I'm fragile. Like I need constant protection."
"You don't understand what Vivienne's capable of—"
"I absolutely do. I wore a wire to her bribe attempt, remember? I confronted her at the gala. I'm not some naive kid who needs rescuing."
Alex's expression shuttered. "I need air."
He left.
Sophie waited until the door closed. "He's terrified."
"Of what?"
"Of losing you the way he lost Lila. Of making the same mistakes." Sophie gathered the seating charts. "Give him time. He'll come around."
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then you two have a bigger problem than Vivienne Dane."
---
Alex didn't come home that night.
At midnight, Izzy texted: *Where are you?*
*Foundation office. Working.*
*Want company?*
*Need to think.*
She didn't push. But she didn't sleep either.
At three a.m., her phone rang. Julian.
"Is Alex with you?" he asked.
"No. He's at the office."
"He's not answering his phone. I'm worried."
"I'll go check on him."
She found Alex in his office, surrounded by old photos. Lila at fundraisers. Lila is cutting ribbons at new facilities. Lila is laughing at something off-camera.
"Hey," Izzy said softly.
He didn't look up. "I've been going through her things. Trying to remember what I missed. What signs I ignored."
"Alex—"
"She told me she was unhappy. Three times in the year before she died. And I said we'd talk about it later. When the foundation wasn't so busy, when I had more time, when the gala was over." His voice broke. "Later never came."
Izzy sat beside him. "You can't change the past."
"But I can stop repeating it. That's why I won't let you near Vivienne. I won't ignore the warning signs this time."
"I'm not a warning sign. I'm your partner."
"Lila was my partner too. And I failed her."
"Stop." Izzy's voice was firm. "You need to hear this, Alex. I am not Lila. Our relationship is not your marriage. And you cannot punish yourself forever for mistakes you've already learned from."
"How do you know I've learned?"
"Because you're here, at three a.m., looking at photos and actually feeling your grief instead of burying it in work. Because you let Julian stay when he needed help. Because you stood in front of five hundred people and admitted your failures publicly." She took his hand. "The old Alex wouldn't have done any of that."
"The old Alex wouldn't have let someone he loves walk into danger either."
"Sophie's going with Rachel, not me. I already agreed to stay out of it."
Alex finally looked at her. "You did?"
"Yes. Because you asked me to. Because I respect your fear, even if I don't share it." She squeezed his hand. "But Alex, you have to meet me halfway. You have to trust that I can take care of myself. That I won't break under pressure."
"I do trust you."
"Then show me. Stop treating me like I'm made of glass."
He pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry. You're right. About all of it."
"I usually am."
Despite everything, he laughed. "There's the ego I fell in love with."
"Confidence, not ego."
"Same thing."
They sat in silence, surrounded by photos of a woman they'd both lost in different ways.
"Tell me about her," Izzy said. "The real Lila, not the perfect memory everyone talks about."
Alex picked up a photo. Lila in jeans and a paint-stained shirt, grinning at the camera.
"She was terrible at cooking. Like, dangerously bad. Once she set off the fire alarm while making toast."
Izzy smiled. "Really?"
"She'd get distracted. Start cooking, then remember an email she needed to send or a call she had to make. We ate a lot of takeout."
"What else?"
"She sang in the shower. Off-key, loud, usually show tunes. Drove me crazy at first, then I missed it when she stopped."
"When did she stop?"
"About a year before she died. When Vivienne's manipulation really took hold." Alex's expression darkened. "I should've noticed. Should've asked why."
"You're doing it again. Blaming yourself."
"Hard habit to break."
"Then break it anyway." Izzy stood, pulling him up. "Come home. Sleep. Tomorrow we'll deal with Vivienne and Rachel and wedding planning and whatever else comes up. But tonight, just sleep."
"Bossy."
"You love it."
"I really do."
***************
Sophie and Rachel visited Vivienne the following Tuesday.
They came back with a recording—Vivienne had agreed to let them tape the conversation.
The four of them sat in Alex's apartment, listening.
Vivienne's voice came through the speaker, quieter than Izzy remembered.
*"I don't expect forgiveness. I just want you to understand what happened. Not as an excuse, but as an explanation."*
Rachel's voice: *"I'm listening."*
*"I loved Lila so much that I couldn't separate her success from my own worth. When she didn't need me anymore, when she had Alex and the foundation and her own life, I felt erased. Irrelevant. So I made myself necessary again. I manufactured crises that only I could solve. I created problems only I could fix. And when that wasn't enough, I made her think she was falling apart so she'd need me to hold her together."*
A long pause.
*"I destroyed my sister because I couldn't stand being unnecessary. And by the time I realized what I'd done, it was too late. She was already broken. Already beyond my ability to fix. So I blamed Alex. Blamed the foundation. Blamed everyone except myself."*
Sophie's voice: *"Why are you telling us this now?"*
*"Because Rachel deserves to know it wasn't her fault. When she tried to expose me, I convinced myself she was the problem. That she was jealous, vindictive, trying to tear Lila down. I had to believe that, because the alternative was admitting I was the monster."*
*"And now?"* Rachel asked.
*"Now I'm admitting it. To you, to myself, to anyone who'll listen. I am the monster. I killed my sister. Not directly, but effectively. And I have to live with that."*
The recording ended.
Julian broke the silence. "She sounds different."
"Prison therapy," Sophie said. "Her therapist specializes in personality disorders. Vivienne's been diagnosed with dependent personality disorder and narcissistic traits. She's been in intensive treatment for three months."
"Can that actually change someone?" Izzy asked.
"The therapist thinks so. With work. With accountability. With people who won't enable her patterns."
Alex stood and walked to the window. "What does she want from us?"
"Nothing," Sophie said. "She specifically said she doesn't want contact with you or the foundation. She's writing to Rachel because Rachel was her first victim. She wants to start making amends there."
"And if Rachel forgives her?"
"That's Rachel's choice."
They sat with that for a while.
Finally, Alex said, "Thank you for going. For getting the truth."
"What will you do with it?" Sophie asked.
"I don't know yet." He turned to Izzy. "What do you think?"
"I think people can change. But I also think change takes time, and Vivienne's only been working at this for three months. Talk to me in a year, after she's proven it's not just prison performance art."
Alex nodded slowly. "Fair."
His phone buzzed. Maria Morrison's name flashed across the screen.
"Please tell me she's not calling about chair covers again," Izzy groaned.
Alex answered, listened, and went pale.
"We'll be right there," he said.
"What happened?" Izzy asked.
"Your dad had a heart attack. He's at Jersey City Medical Center."