“Estate research.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“You mean finding families to exploit?”
“No.”
“Then explain why you were at my hospital.”
Rebecca’s voice cracked.
“Victor asked me to confirm whether Laura had obtained the laboratory records.”
I felt sick.
“You watched my wife.”
“Yes.”
“You followed my daughter.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“And then five years later you somehow fell in love with me?”
Her silence became the answer.
No.
Not somehow.
She had been sent toward me.
Laura continued:
“Rebecca was not the person I feared most.”
Victor’s eyes shot toward the screen.
Rebecca turned sharply.
Even she had not expected that.
Laura said:
“Rebecca was young. Frightened. And trapped financially.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Laura continued.
“Victor controlled her through what happened to Thomas Carrow.”
The dead widower.
Anna’s father.
I looked at Rebecca.
“What happened?”
She whispered:
“I found him unconscious.”
“Before his wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
Victor said:
“Don’t answer.”
Rebecca snapped:
“You don’t control me anymore.”
Then she looked at me.
“Thomas discovered the same capacity scheme.”
My chest tightened.
“He was going to expose Victor.”
“And died twelve days before marrying you.”
Rebecca began shaking.
“He had a heart condition, but Victor had Dr. Avery alter his medication.”
Victor’s face changed.
Daniel quietly moved toward the door.
Hotel security had already called police.
Rebecca continued.
“Thomas collapsed.”
“And you?”
“I called Victor first.”
Just like every frightened person inside a controlled system.
The wrong person.
The one who owned the secret.
“I was terrified.”
She looked at me.
“Victor told me if I spoke, I would be charged as an accomplice.”
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Then came after me.”
Her eyes filled.
“At first.”
Emily stared.
“At first?”
Rebecca looked toward her.
“Victor wanted access to Richard before you turned thirty.”
“Why?”
“Because the trust converts when Emily turns thirty.”
I looked at my daughter.
“When?”
She answered quietly.
“Two months.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The rushed wedding.
The forged certificate.
The capacity review.
The doctors.
Phase two.
If Rebecca became my legal wife, she became successor trustee if I was incapacitated.
If Emily was then declared incapable, Victor could position himself between both of us and the trust.
A fortune controlled through paperwork.
Not guns.
Not kidnappings.
Signatures.
Doctors.
Marriage.
I stared at Rebecca.
“And you agreed?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“But you filed the marriage certificate.”
“I didn’t.”
Everyone stopped.
Victor’s face changed.
Rebecca pointed at him.
“He did.”
Victor laughed once.
“You signed the original documents.”
“I signed drafts.”
“Enough.”
She turned to me.
“I was going to stop the wedding.”
