Part 3: The Family Business
Every eye in Room 237 turned toward me.
I slowly put the call on speaker.
“Miles?” Victoria whispered.
Her husband’s voice filled the room.
“Yes.”
She frowned.
“Where are you?”
“At the ballroom.”
My stomach tightened.
Three hundred guests.
Still waiting.
Still believing a wedding was about to happen.
“Miles,” Victoria said, “what are you talking about?”
There was a long silence.
Then he sighed.
“I hoped none of you would find out this way.”
I looked at Maverick.
His face had gone completely white.
“Dad,” he said sharply, “hang up.”
“No.”
It was the first time I had ever heard Miles Bennett sound disappointed in his son.
“You've lied long enough.”
I stepped closer to the phone.
“What was he planning?”
Miles answered immediately.
“The marriage wasn't only about love.”
I laughed once.
“I figured that part out.”
“Amy…”
His voice softened.
“There are things you don't know.”
I looked at the forged documents in my hand.
“Then tell me.”
Another silence.
Then he spoke.
“Three months ago, your father announced his retirement.”
My heart skipped.
“Yes.”
“He also announced that whoever became CEO would receive controlling shares in Carter Technologies.”
My father looked up sharply.
“You knew about that?”
Miles ignored him.
“Maverick knew those shares were worth more than eighty million dollars.”
The room became still.
My father frowned.
“That information wasn't public.”
“No,” Miles admitted.
“It wasn't.”
I slowly turned toward Maverick.
“How did you know?”
He didn't answer.
Victoria looked at her son in disbelief.
“Maverick?”
He stared at the floor.
“I asked.”
“You asked who?”
Nothing.
Penelope suddenly started crying harder.
“He asked me.”
Everyone looked at her.
My eyebrows drew together.
“What?”
She covered her face.
“I work for your father's accounting firm.”
My stomach dropped.
Of course.
Two years earlier, I'd helped Penelope get the position.
She'd thanked me a hundred times.
Now I understood why she had wanted that job so badly.
“You leaked confidential information?”
She nodded through tears.
“Yes.”
My father looked physically ill.
“You accessed protected financial records?”
“I only looked once.”
“Once was enough.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
The room felt smaller.
Every memory I had with Penelope suddenly became poisoned.
Every lunch.
Every girls' trip.
Every late-night conversation.
How much of it had been real?
“How long?” I asked quietly.
Penelope couldn't meet my eyes.
“Eighteen months.”
The words hit harder than the affair.
Not one night.
Not one mistake.
A year and a half.
A year and a half of smiling in my face while lying behind my back.
“So every time you helped me plan this wedding…”
She cried harder.
“You already knew.”
“Yes.”
I nodded slowly.
“Thank you.”
She looked confused.
“What?”
“Thank you for finally telling the truth.”
Maverick suddenly stepped forward.
“This isn't all on her.”
I looked at him.
“She didn't force me.”
“No.”
“She tried to end it.”
Penelope's head snapped toward him.
“Maverick—”
“You did.”
He looked at me.
“She wanted to tell you.”
That surprised everyone.
Including Penelope.
She stared at him.
“Why are you saying that?”
“Because it's true.”
Victoria frowned.
“What?”
Maverick rubbed his face.
“Two weeks ago, Penelope told me we should confess.”
The room became silent.
“She said we couldn't destroy Amy like this.”
Penelope closed her eyes.
“I begged him.”
I looked between them.
Something wasn't fitting.
“If you wanted to confess…”
I looked at Penelope.
“Why are you here?”
Her shoulders collapsed.
“He threatened me.”
My father stepped forward.
“With what?”
She swallowed.
“My job.”
I frowned.
“My career.”
Maverick interrupted.
“And her brother.”
I looked at him sharply.
“What?”
Penelope whispered,
“My younger brother works for your father's company.”
Another piece.
Another chain.
Another manipulation.
“If I told you…”
She cried.
“Maverick said he'd make sure both of us lost everything.”
Victoria stared at her son as though she had never met him.
“You threatened her?”
Maverick didn't deny it.
“I panicked.”
“No,” Aunt Rose said quietly.
“You calculated.”
Everyone looked at her.
She pointed her cane toward Maverick.
“Panicked people run.”
“You stayed.”
“You lied.”
“You manipulated.”
“That isn't panic.”
She took one slow step forward.
“That is character.”
No one argued with her.
My phone buzzed again.
Another text.
From Miles.
Check the blue envelope.
I looked around.
“The blue envelope?”
Miles spoke through the phone.
“In the folder.”
My hands found a sealed blue envelope tucked beneath the insurance papers.
It had my name written across the front.
I opened it.
Inside was another document.
A prenuptial agreement.
Except…
It wasn't the version I remembered.
I quickly flipped through the pages.
Every major protection for me…
Had been removed.
The clauses protecting my family's business…
Gone.
The inheritance protections…
Gone.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
I stared.
I had never signed this.
“Maverick.”
My voice was barely above a whisper.
“You forged my signature.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The room erupted.
Victoria gasped.
My father took one angry step forward before Aunt Rose stopped him with a hand.
“Not yet.”
She looked at me.
“This is your moment.”
I looked at the man I had loved for four years.
“Why?”
He finally looked me in the eyes.
And for the first time…
He was honest.
“I was drowning.”
I waited.
“My business failed.”
“I owed money.”
“How much?”
He answered quietly.
“Three million dollars.”
The room fell silent.
“I thought…”
He laughed bitterly.
“I thought I could fix everything.”
“With my money?”
“With our money.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“My family's money.”
He lowered his head.
“Yes.”
The truth finally stood naked between us.
This wasn't a love story destroyed by temptation.
It was a financial scam wearing an engagement ring.
Just then, someone knocked on the hotel room door.
Three firm knocks.
Everyone turned.
A hotel security officer stood outside.
“Excuse me.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“Miss Carter?”
“Yes?”
“There are several television news crews arriving at the wedding venue.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
The guard hesitated.
“They say they've received anonymous documents about financial fraud involving today's groom.”
The room went completely still.
Maverick looked horrified.
“What?”
The guard continued,
“They're broadcasting live.”
My heart skipped.
Anonymous documents?
I slowly looked at Miles's name still glowing on my phone screen.
He hadn't just exposed his son to us.
He had exposed him to the entire city.
Then Miles spoke one final sentence through the speaker.
“Amy…”
I swallowed.
“Yes?”
“I wasn't the one who sent those documents.”
A chill ran through me.
“If you didn't…”
May you like
His answer made everyone freeze.
“Then someone else has been watching Maverick for a very long time.”
