CHAPTER 6 â He Married Me for a Secret
No one spoke.
The photograph rested on the coffee table like a loaded weapon.
Our wedding day.
White roses.
Forced smiles.
A promise that had never been real.
On the back, in Nathan's unmistakable handwriting:
She will never know the truth until it's too late.
My father picked up the photograph and studied it for several seconds.
Then he looked at Nathan.
"What truth?"
Nathan lowered his eyes.
"I... don't know what you're talking about."
My father didn't react.
He simply handed the photograph to the forensic examiner.
"Authenticate the handwriting."
The examiner scanned the image with a portable device.
Less than a minute later, he looked up.
"Ninety-nine point eight percent match."
He placed another sheet beside it.
"We also found the draft version in his laptop's deleted files."
Nathan's shoulders sank.
There was nowhere left to hide.
My father took one slow step forward.
"Nathan."
"I'm going to ask you one more time."
"Why did you marry my daughter?"
Nathan swallowed.
"I loved her."
The answer came too quickly.
Too rehearsed.
My father shook his head.
"No."
"You loved what you believed she could give you."
Nathan remained silent.
The attorney opened another folder recovered from the hidden compartment.
"There are emails."
Nathan's face turned white.
"No..."
The attorney ignored him.
"The earliest message is dated five months before the wedding."
He began reading.
Subject: Target Confirmed
Victoria Sterling has accepted the proposal.
Continue as planned.
Marriage gives us access.
The room fell silent.
I stared at Nathan.
"Access..."
"To what?"
Nathan closed his eyes.
He didn't answer.
Another email appeared.
Her father never appears in public.
No verified photographs.
His wealth is probably exaggerated.
Once the marriage is complete, we'll identify the family's hidden assets.
I felt something inside me break.
Not because he had cheated.
Not because he had lied.
But because...
from the very beginning...
I had never been the woman he loved.
I had been an investigation.
A target.
An investment.
"Nathan."
My voice was calm.
"So every dinner."
"Every anniversary."
"Every promise."
"Were they all fake?"
He finally looked at me.
"No."
"Not at first."
I laughed quietly.
"Not at first?"
He nodded.
"I started with a plan."
"But somewhere along the way..."
"I thought I actually loved you."
Celeste burst into laughter.
Nathan glared at her.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"You still don't get it."
She walked toward the center of the room.
"Tell her the whole story."
Nathan remained silent.
She smiled.
"I will."
Celeste folded her arms.
"When Nathan first met you..."
"He wasn't rich."
"You remember that tiny apartment?"
I nodded.
"We struggled together."
She smiled.
"He wasn't struggling."
"He was pretending."
Nathan shouted,
"Enough!"
She ignored him.
"The apartment belonged to one of our shell companies."
"The old car?"
"Rented."
"The unpaid bills?"
"Fake."
"The entire romance..."
She looked directly at me.
"...was designed to make you fall in love with a man who appeared humble."
I stood perfectly still.
Every memory replayed in my mind.
The rainy afternoon when we first met.
The cheap coffee shop.
The long walks because he claimed he couldn't afford a taxi.
The nights we shared instant noodles while dreaming about the future.
Every moment I believed had been genuine...
had been staged.
Nathan suddenly grabbed Celeste's arm.
"Stop talking!"
She shoved him away.
"You've already lost."
"What are you protecting now?"
She laughed bitterly.
"You used me too."
Nathan stared.
"What?"
"You promised we'd run the company together."
"You promised we'd disappear once Victoria signed the final transfer."
The room became silent again.
I frowned.
"What transfer?"
Celeste realized too late what she had revealed.
My father narrowed his eyes.
"What transfer?"
Nathan closed his eyes.
"Celeste..."
"Be quiet."
But she was furious now.
"No."
"You deserve this."
She turned toward me.
"Three weeks from now..."
"He planned to ask you to sign new estate documents."
"He told you they were tax forms."
My heartbeat quickened.
"They weren't?"
She shook her head.
"They transferred control of Sterling Heritage Trust."
Everything stopped.
The attorney immediately opened another recovered folder.
His expression darkened.
"They're here."
He placed several unsigned documents on the table.
At the top of the first page:
Transfer of Beneficial Ownership
Beneficiary:
Nathan Ashford.
My father looked at the papers.
Then at Nathan.
"You forged the trust documents."
Nathan whispered,
"They weren't signed."
"But they were ready."
I suddenly remembered something.
Three weeks earlier...
Nathan had insisted I accompany him to a private dinner.
Halfway through the evening, he casually slid several papers across the table.
"Just routine paperwork."
I had been distracted by a phone call from my father.
I never signed them.
Nathan had smiled and said,
"We'll do it another day."
That "another day" had never come.
The attorney looked toward my father.
"Had she signed these..."
He paused.
"The legal battle would have taken years."
My father nodded.
"Which is exactly what he wanted."
Nathan slowly sat down.
Every secret was surfacing.
Every lie was unraveling.
Every carefully built illusion was collapsing before his eyes.
Just then, another officer entered carrying a sealed evidence bag.
"Sir."
"The digital forensic team finished examining Mr. Ashford's encrypted laptop."
"And?"
"We recovered deleted correspondence."
The officer handed the tablet to my father.
My father's expression hardened as he read the first message.
"What is it?" I asked.
He looked at me with visible concern.
"You deserve to hear this."
He turned the screen toward the room.
At the top of the message was a single line written by Nathan almost four years earlier.
If her father really is who I think he is... marrying Victoria will be the biggest deal of my life.
But it was the next sentence...
the one Nathan had desperately tried to erase...
that drained every trace of color from my face.
If she refuses to cooperate after the wedding... accidents can always be arranged.
Nathan buried his face in his hands.
The room fell into absolute silence.
Because everyone now understood one horrifying truth.
Nathan hadn't just married me for money.
He had prepared for the possibility...
May you like
that if I ever stood in his way...
I might not survive long enough to expose him.
