Chapter 4 - The Billionaire Nobody Knew AboutThree weeks passed.
Emily stopped crying.
Not because the pain disappeared.
Because she had become too busy to feel it.
Thomas assembled a legal team.
Margaret reopened every financial transaction connected to Carson Meridian.
And Emily began studying the company she'd helped build from the shadows.
She learned things Blake had deliberately kept from her.
Carson Meridian had acquired twelve hotels using debt.
Seven properties were deeply overleveraged.
Three were losing money.
And one had been sold secretly to a company controlled by Sienna's family.
Emily stared at the report.
“How much did they pay?”
Thomas answered.
“Nothing.”
“What?”
“They assumed the debt.”
Emily frowned.
“That's impossible.”
“They transferred liabilities from Carson Meridian to the shell company. Then they used the shell company to buy the underlying property.”
Emily stared at him.
“They were moving assets.”
“Exactly.”
“Why?”
Thomas looked at her.
“To prepare for bankruptcy.”
Emily's stomach turned.
“Blake planned to crash the company.”
“Not exactly.”
Thomas placed a photograph on the table.
Sienna.
Her father.
And a third man.
Emily recognized him.
Charles Carson.
Blake's father.
She pointed.
“That's impossible.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Charles Carson didn't disappear.”
Emily stared.
“He's alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“London. Under another name.”
Emily's blood ran cold.
“And Sienna is his daughter?”
Thomas nodded.
“She changed her name when she was eighteen.”
Emily stood.
“So Blake married her?”
“Engaged.”
“And his father approved?”
“We don't know.”
Emily's mind raced.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Emily Carson?”
“Yes.”
“I think you deserve to know what Blake plans to do with Carson Meridian.”
“Who are you?”
“A board member.”
“Your name?”
“Daniel Moore.”
Emily's eyes narrowed.
“What do you know?”
“I know a meeting is scheduled for tomorrow night.”
“Where?”
“At the Hamptons house.”
“What kind of meeting?”
“Your ex-husband. Sienna. Three investors. And Charles Carson.”
Emily froze.
“He's coming to New York?”
“Yes.”
The call ended.
Emily looked at Thomas.
“Tomorrow.”
He nodded.
“We need that meeting.”
“No.”
Thomas frowned.
“You said we needed evidence.”
“I said we need control.”
She walked to the window.
“For seven years, Blake knew exactly what I was doing.”
She turned.
“Tomorrow, he doesn't get to know anything.”
That evening, Emily arrived alone at the Hamptons property.
The house was dark.
She entered through the side door.
The meeting had not started.
She moved silently toward the study.
Voices came from inside.
Blake.
Sienna.
Another man.
And then a fourth voice.
Older.
Cold.
“Emily will never understand the voting structure.”
Emily froze.
Charles.
Blake answered.
“She doesn't know the trust exists.”
Sienna spoke.
“She does now.”
A pause.
“Then remove her.”
Emily's blood went cold.
Blake said:
“She isn't dangerous.”
Charles laughed.
“That is why you underestimated her.”
Emily slowly took out her phone.
She began recording.
Inside, Sienna whispered:
“What about the children?”
Silence.
Blake's voice sharpened.
“There are no children.”
Sienna corrected him.
“Not Emily's.”
Emily's heart pounded.
“What children?” Charles asked.
Sienna hesitated.
“The three.”
Emily pressed a hand over her mouth.
Three children?
Where?
Whose?
Charles slammed a hand onto the table.
“Those children were never supposed to exist.”
Emily almost dropped the phone.
Then the study door opened.
She stepped backward.
A floorboard creaked.
Blake turned.
“Who's there?”
Emily ran.
She fled through the hallway, out the side door, and across the lawn.
A car engine roared behind her.
She reached her vehicle and drove.
Her phone was still recording.
Her hands shook as she replayed the final thirty seconds.
What about the children?
There are no children.
Not Emily's.
The three.
Emily stared at the road.
Three children.
Why had Sienna mentioned them?
Why had Charles said they were never supposed to exist?
And why did every instinct in Emily's body tell her those children were somehow connected to her?
She drove into Manhattan just before midnight.
A black SUV followed her.
She noticed it in the mirror.
Turn left.
It followed.
Turn right.
Still there.
Emily called Thomas.
“Someone's following me.”
“Where are you?”
She told him.
“Go to the police.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“I need to know who they are.”
She accelerated.
The SUV followed.
Then suddenly another car cut between them.
A silver Bentley.
It braked hard.
The SUV swerved.
Emily pulled over.
The Bentley's rear door opened.
A man stepped out.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Impeccably dressed.
He looked directly at Emily.
“Ms. Carson?”
Emily stared.
“Who are you?”
He smiled faintly.
“My name is Adrian Sterling.”
She knew the name.
Everyone in New York knew it.
Billionaire.
Hotel magnate.
Private investor.
Owner of Sterling International.
A man who rarely appeared publicly.
Emily swallowed.
“What do you want?”
He held up the phone that had been recording the confrontation.
“I think we want the same thing.”
“What?”
Adrian looked toward the SUV disappearing into traffic.
“The truth.”
Then he reached into his coat.
Emily tensed.
He pulled out a photograph.
Three children.
A little girl.
And two boys.
They looked six or seven years old.
Emily stared at them.
The little girl had the exact same gray eyes as Emily.
Emily's lips parted.
“Who are they?”
Adrian's expression softened.
“That's why I came.”
He handed her the photograph.
“Because three years ago, those children saved my life.”
Emily looked at the girl again.
Then she noticed the silver bracelet around her wrist.
A bracelet her grandmother had given Emily when she was five.
Emily whispered:
“That can't be…”
Adrian looked at her.
“You're right.”
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“Why?”
“Because those children are yours.”
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