Chapter 11 - My hands went cold.“What have you done?”
Ethan laughed.
“I haven’t done anything.”
“Where is Mia?”
“She’s safe.”
“And Lucas?”
“Also safe.”
“What do you want?”
He paused.
“Your father wants the trust.”
“You want the shares.”
“No.”
His voice became almost gentle.
“I want what was taken from me.”
“The company?”
“My life.”
I swallowed.
“You were raised as Ethan Sterling.”
“Yes.”
“Why punish Alexander?”
“Because he had everything.”
I looked at Alexander.
He listened silently.
Ethan continued.
“Your family took my father from me.”
I frowned.
“Your father is Lucas.”
“Yes.”
“Then why work with the people who hurt him?”
A long silence.
Then Ethan said:
“Because I needed to know who betrayed him.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“And?”
“I found them.”
“Who?”
He laughed.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Who was willing to let it happen?”
The call ended.
Alexander looked at me.
“He knows more than we do.”
Daniel nodded.
“He always has.”
We started digging through old corporate records.
For twelve hours, we worked without sleep.
Transfers.
Trust agreements.
Hospital payments.
Shell companies.
Everything led back to one account.
A private foundation.
The Bennett Family Foundation.
My father’s foundation.
I stared at the screen.
“He used my family name.”
Alexander leaned closer.
“How much money?”
“Seven hundred million.”
Silence.
I felt sick.
My father had not been poor.
He had built an empire in secret.
Daniel pointed at one payment.
“That one.”
A transfer made nineteen years ago.
Recipient: St. Vincent Medical Research.
Purpose: neonatal care.
I looked at the date.
My hands trembled.
“That was the year Ethan was born.”
Daniel nodded.
Another payment appeared.
Eight years later.
Another.
Three years later.
Then five years ago.
The final payment.
I clicked it.
The recipient was Chloe Hayes.
I stared.
“Chloe was paid.”
“By your father.”
“For what?”
Daniel searched the attached note.
Then his expression changed.
“She was paid to seduce Marcus.”
I closed my eyes.
The betrayal had been engineered.
My marriage had been destroyed on purpose.
“What did my father need?”
Daniel looked at me.
“You out of the company.”
“Why?”
“Because your father needed your shares.”
I froze.
“My shares?”
“You were the legal beneficiary of the original holding.”
Alexander looked at me.
“And Marcus knew.”
Daniel nodded.
“He married you to get access to them.”
My heart sank.
For five years, I had wondered whether Marcus had ever loved me.
Now I knew.
Maybe he had.
Maybe he hadn't.
But there had been another reason from the beginning.
I walked outside.
The night air felt cold.
Alexander followed.
“I’m sorry.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“I chose you.”
I looked at him.
“Even though you knew I was hiding things?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He smiled faintly.
“Because you are the only person in my life who has never wanted anything from me.”
I almost laughed.
“That’s not true.”
“What did you want?”
“You.”
He went still.
I touched his hand.
Then a car screeched into the driveway.
Security drew weapons.
A man stumbled out.
Covered in blood.
It was Marcus.
He fell to his knees.
“I found them.”
I ran toward him.
“Where?”
He looked at me.
“Your father.”
“What about him?”
Marcus coughed.
“He has Mia.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He took her.”
Alexander rushed forward.
“Where?”
Marcus handed me a piece of paper.
On it was an address.
I read it.
The old Bennett estate.
The house where my father had supposedly died.
I looked at Marcus.
“How did you get this?”
He whispered:
“Because Chloe is dead.”
Silence.
“Who killed her?”
May you like
Marcus stared at me.
“My father.”
Related Stories
