Chapter 11 - The Marriage ContractI couldn't feel my hands.
“What document?”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Dad.”
The older man tossed a folder onto the table.
“The marriage control agreement.”
I opened it.
My signature stared back at me.
Page after page.
Legal language.
I had never seen the final version.
But my signature was real.
“How?”
Ethan looked at me.
“I didn't sign this.”
“You don't need to.”
His father smiled.
“Claire signed it.”
I turned the page.
At the bottom:
Upon dissolution of marriage, Ethan Miller assumes temporary control of Northstar assets.
Temporary.
But another clause made my blood run cold.
Upon declaration of marital misconduct, all assets become permanently transferred.
I looked at Ethan.
“He needed me to divorce him.”
“Yes.”
“And to make me believe he cheated.”
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
The affair.
The insults.
The anniversary.
The cruelty.
It had all been designed.
But then I remembered Vanessa.
“How did they know I'd ask for a divorce?”
His father laughed.
“Because we knew you.”
He walked closer.
“You always tried to save broken things.”
My eyes burned.
“You planned everything.”
“Not everything.”
He looked toward Ethan.
“This part wasn't planned.”
I turned.
Ethan stood perfectly still.
“What part?”
His father smiled.
“The part where he fell in love with you.”
Ethan's jaw clenched.
“Enough.”
His father ignored him.
“That's why tonight became necessary.”
I looked at Ethan.
“You were supposed to make me hate you.”
“Yes.”
“You were supposed to make me divorce you.”
“Yes.”
“But you didn't.”
“I couldn't.”
“Then why say it?”
Ethan's eyes filled with tears.
“Because my father threatened to kill your mother.”
Silence.
I closed my eyes.
The old man shrugged.
“Simple decisions.”
“You're a monster.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“I'm a businessman.”
A door slammed downstairs.
A man's voice shouted.
“Federal agents!”
His father's smile vanished.
“What?”
Ethan looked at me.
“Vanessa.”
The basement door opened.
My mother appeared.
Alive.
She was older.
Thinner.
But it was her.
She looked directly at me.
“Claire.”
I ran.
We collided.
I cried into her shoulder.
“You're alive.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What did they do to you?”
“I survived.”
Behind us, Ethan's father ran.
Ethan chased him.
A gunshot echoed.
Then another.
I pulled away from my mother.
“What happened?”
She looked at me.
“Your husband just shot his father.”
My heart stopped.
“Why?”
She whispered:
“Because his father was about to reveal who ordered my abduction.”
I stared at her.
“Who?”
She looked toward Ethan.
May you like
Then said:
“Your father.”
