I looked at her.
“And Carter thought I had it.”
“Yes.”
Carter suddenly shouted.
“You don’t understand!”
Agents moved closer.
He looked at me desperately.
“My father told me Arthur hid copies.
We thought your trust controlled them.”
“So you dated me?”
“It wasn’t supposed to become—”
“What?”
His voice cracked.
“This.”
I laughed.
The sound felt insane.
“You spent ten years with me because you were looking for evidence my father had against your family?”
“At first.”
Those two words hurt more than the affair.
More than Chloe.
More than the forged signature.
At first.
As though genuine love had somehow grown afterward.
He stepped toward me.
“I did love you.”
“Don’t.”
“I did.”
“You tried to steal my trust.”
“To save the company.”
“You slept with my sister.”
His eyes closed.
“I made mistakes.”
“Mistakes?”
My voice finally rose.
“You built our life on surveillance.
You turned my sister against me.
You forged my signature.
You planned to have me declared incompetent.”
“I panicked.”
“You targeted me because of my father.”
His face twisted.
“I fell in love with you anyway!”
That silenced everyone.
He looked wrecked.
For one dangerous moment, I saw the man I had once loved.
Then I remembered something.
“The dance.”
He stared.
“You said it was for the woman you’d loved for ten years.”
Chloe looked at him.
So did I.
He had only been sleeping with Chloe for twenty-two months.
The realization moved through the room like electricity.
I whispered:
“You weren’t talking about Chloe.”
Carter said nothing.
I understood.
My stomach turned.
“You were talking about me.”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Chloe stepped backward as if struck.
Carter looked at me.
“I knew this was ending.”
“Then why humiliate me?”
“Because I needed you angry enough to hate me.”
I stared at him.
That didn’t make sense.
Until he said:
“My father was going to kill you.”
Everything stopped.
Martin Vale shouted from across the room.
“Shut your mouth!”
Carter laughed wildly.
“There he is.”
Agents grabbed Martin as he lunged forward.
My pulse vanished.
Carter looked at me.
“The trust was never the real goal anymore.”
“Then what was?”
“The audit.”
He pointed toward his father.
“He knew your father gave someone a copy.
When the old investigation resurfaced six months ago, he became convinced you had found it.”
“I hadn’t.”
“I know that now.”
Carter swallowed.
“He told me if you went to regulators, he’d handle you the way he handled Arthur.”
My mother screamed again.
Agents pulled Martin’s arms behind his back.
I stared at Carter.
“You knew your father killed mine?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I suspected.”
“For how long?”
His silence answered.
Years.
My entire body went cold.
“And you said nothing.”
“I had no proof.”
“You had enough to protect me.”
“I tried.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You tried to protect me by stealing seventy-four million dollars?”
“The debt created leverage.
I thought if I controlled the trust, I could control what my father believed you had access to.”
It was twisted.
Insane.
And perhaps partly true.
Chloe stared at him.
“You told me Evelyn was the danger.”
“I lied.”
“You told me she destroyed people.”
“I needed you against her.”
I looked between them.
Suddenly the affair appeared differently.
