Chapter 4 - The Marriage Contract I Never Saw
Ryan filed for divorce from jail.
The petition arrived while I was expressing milk for Grace.
That told me everything about the man he was.
Not grief.
Not apology.
Not even fear.
Strategy.
He requested half the marital assets.
Temporary access to the house.
And a court order preventing me from transferring or selling any Carter Meridian shares until the divorce was resolved.
Rebecca read the petition twice.
Then smiled.
I had seen that smile only three times.
Each time, someone regretted causing it.
“What?”
I asked.
“Ryan made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“He showed us what he wants.”
The Carter family trust controlled thirty-eight percent of Carter Meridian Holdings.
My father controlled another eighteen percent personally.
I owned twelve percent.
Those twelve percent had been given to me before marriage.
Separate property.
Ryan had no legal claim to them.
Unless—
“He wants me declared incompetent.”
Rebecca nodded.
“If he could persuade a court that you were unable to manage your affairs, he might seek authority as your spouse.”
“But the forged deed already proves fraud.”
“Yes.”
“So why keep trying?”
“Because desperate people repeat plans after the plan is dead.”
Dad was less optimistic.
“There could be another mechanism.”
“What?”
“The family trust.”
I frowned.
“My shares aren’t in it.”
“Grace’s future shares are.”
I stared at him.
Mom had created the granddaughter trust before I was even pregnant.
Her will directed ten percent of her Carter Meridian holdings into a generation-skipping trust for any children I eventually had.
The trust became irrevocable upon the birth of my first child.
Grace had been alive for four days.
Which meant—
“How much?”
I whispered.
Dad answered.
“Current value? About forty-six million dollars.”
My mouth went dry.
“And who controls it?”
“You.”
“Only me?”
“You and an independent trustee.”
“Who?”
Dad looked away.
I knew immediately.
“Who?”
“Victor.”
The room erupted.
Rebecca actually swore.
I had never heard Rebecca Sloan swear.
Dad paced.
“Your mother named him eighteen years ago.”
“Change it.”
“We can’t simply change an irrevocable trust after activation.”
“So Victor controls my daughter’s money?”
“He shares fiduciary authority.”
“With me.”
“Yes.”
“If I’m declared incompetent?”
Rebecca’s expression darkened.
“Then Victor could petition for temporary sole control.”
There it was.
The reason Ryan needed me unstable.
The reason he needed my medical records.
The reason he needed sedatives.
The reason he needed the house.
The affair had been real.
But it had also been useful.
Jessica could move in.
Ryan could provoke me.
Friends could witness arguments.
Doctors could be told I was emotionally unstable.
Then, if something happened—
I stopped.
“If I had died?”
Nobody spoke.
“If Jessica had hurt me badly enough that night…”
Dad’s face went white.
Rebecca said carefully, “We don’t know that was the intention.”
“But if I died, who controlled Grace’s trust?”
Dad closed his eyes.
“Ryan would become Grace’s surviving parent.”
“And Victor would be trustee.”
“Yes.”
Forty-six million dollars.
A two-million-dollar house.
My shares.
My daughter.
I suddenly felt nauseated.
Ryan had smiled while Jessica hurt our baby because he wasn’t watching the woman he loved attack his wife.
He was watching a plan move forward.
That afternoon, Detective Bennett returned.
Jessica wanted to talk.
Her attorney had approached prosecutors about cooperation.
“Why?”
I asked.
“Because she discovered Ryan lied to her too.”
I laughed without humor.
“Imagine that.”
Jessica agreed to an interview.
I was not allowed in the room.
But I watched through one-way glass with Rebecca and Dad.
Jessica looked different without the red heels.
Smaller.
Her blonde hair was tied back.
There was no makeup on her face.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
The prosecutor sat opposite her.
“Tell us how long you have known Ryan Bennett.”
Jessica looked toward her attorney.
“Eight years.”
My stomach tightened.
“Were you romantically involved during that entire period?”
“No.”
“When?”
“Before Megan.”
I pressed my palm against the glass.
Jessica continued.
“We worked together.”
“At North Harbor?”
“Yes.”
“What did Ryan do?”
“He processed vendor approvals.”
“What did you do?”
“Documentation.”
“Did you know the vendors were fraudulent?”
Jessica hesitated.
Her attorney whispered something.
“Yes.”
Dad swore under his breath.
“Who organized the scheme?”
“I never met everyone.”
“Who did you meet?”
“Ryan.”
“Anyone else?”
A long pause.
“Victor Lang.”
Dad stepped away from the glass.
The prosecutor asked, “What was Victor’s role?”
“He created the vendors.”
“How much money was stolen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why was Ryan later introduced to Megan Carter?”
Jessica started crying.
I felt nothing.
“I didn’t know at first.”
“When did you learn?”
“Before their engagement.”
“What did Ryan tell you?”
Jessica wiped her face.
“He said Victor needed someone close to her.”
“Why?”
“To control her.”
The room behind the glass went silent.
Jessica’s attorney objected to the wording.
The prosecutor continued.
“What did Ryan understand his assignment to be?”
Jessica whispered, “Marry Megan.”
My knees weakened.
Dad caught my elbow.
On the other side of the glass, the prosecutor asked the next question.
“What was he promised?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Two million dollars.”
I stared at Ryan’s former mistress.
She had once stood over me smiling.
Now tears ran down her face as she destroyed him sentence by sentence.
“Why did you resume your relationship with Ryan?”
Jessica’s answer came immediately.
“Because he told me the marriage was almost finished.”
“In what way?”
Jessica looked toward the glass.
She knew I was behind it.
“He said Megan was going to be removed.”
My father’s hand tightened around my arm.
The prosecutor leaned forward.
“Removed from what?”
Jessica began trembling.
“Her company.”
“Her marriage?”
“No.”
“Her home?”
“No.”
“Then what did he mean?”
Jessica covered her face.
“I thought he meant legally.”
The prosecutor’s voice sharpened.
“What do you think he meant now?”
Jessica lowered her hands.
“He wanted her gone.”
My breath stopped.
Then came the question that mattered most.
“Did Ryan ever discuss Evelyn Carter?”
Jessica’s eyes closed.
“Yes.”
Dad moved closer to the glass.
“What did he say?”
“He said she almost ruined everything.”
“When?”
“Three days before she died.”
My father made a sound I had never heard from him.
The prosecutor stopped.
“What exactly did Ryan say?”
Jessica whispered the words.
“Victor said the mother has to be handled first.”
Dad staggered backward.
I stared through the glass.
The man I had married had lied about his name.
His job.
His past.
His relationship with Jessica.
The reason he met me.
And now there was a possibility he had known my mother was going to die before she did.
But Jessica wasn’t finished.
She looked directly toward the mirror.
Toward me.
“There’s something Megan doesn’t know.”
The prosecutor waited.
Jessica swallowed.
“Ryan wasn’t supposed to marry her.”
May you like
My heart stopped again.
“He was supposed to marry someone else.”
