Chapter 13 - THE TRAP OUR PARENTS BUILT
Joseph Vale and my mother had built the trust as bait.
Not money.
Not inheritance.
A trap.
Victor had spent twenty years searching for what he believed had been stolen from him.
The trust ensured that when it activated, every shell company connected to him would attempt to make claims.
Claims created paper trails.
Paper trails created evidence.
My mother had not only hidden Victor’s crimes.
She had designed a structure that would force him to expose himself if he ever tried to recover the assets.
Our marriage activated the final stage.
That was why Victor’s people suddenly became aggressive.
He was running out of time.
And Derek had been helping him.
The recovered trust documents linked Derek to multiple transactions.
Payments.
Shell companies.
Asset transfers.
Enough to destroy his position inside the Carter organization.
But Victor remained the real target.
For the first time, Ethan and I had leverage.
Not guns.
Evidence.
I looked at him across the kitchen table at Lily’s property.
“We can end this.”
He knew what I meant.
“Your father won’t like it.”
“I don’t care.”
“Mine wouldn’t either.”
“He’s dead.”
Ethan’s mouth twitched.
“You know what I mean.”
We contacted attorneys.
Then federal investigators.
Not through our families.
Directly.
My mother had tried to do the same thing years earlier.
This time, we would finish it.
The process was terrifyingly simple once the right documents were in front of the right people.
Accounts were frozen.
Subpoenas issued.
Properties searched.
Victor’s network began unraveling.
Derek disappeared again.
Then three weeks later, federal agents arrested him at O’Hare while he tried to board a flight under another name.
Victor lasted nine days longer.
His attorneys called everything fabricated.
Political.
Retaliatory.
But the financial records did not care.
Neither did the videos.
Neither did the signatures.
My mother had left enough proof to make denial difficult.
When Victor was finally arrested, I expected relief.
Instead, I cried.
Not for him.
For her.
Because she should have been alive to see it.
Ethan found me in the solarium that evening.
The room I had redecorated because he told Brian I could.
He sat beside me without speaking.
For several minutes, we simply watched snow fall.
Then he said:
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“The wedding.”
I looked at him.
“The lie?”
“All of it.”
“You didn’t force me.”
“No.”
“But you let me believe I meant nothing.”
His face tightened.
“I thought distance would protect you.”
“From Derek?”
“From me.”
That surprised me.
He continued.
“I thought if you hated me, you’d never become vulnerable.”
“Instead, I fell in love with you.”
His eyes lifted.
My heart started pounding.
I hadn’t meant to say it aloud.
Neither of us moved.
Then he whispered:
“I know.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course you do.”
“I noticed.”
“Wonderful.”
He smiled.
Really smiled.
Then it disappeared.
“Jane.”
“What?”
“I need to tell you one more thing.”
I groaned.
“No more secrets.”
“This one is mine.”
I waited.
May you like
He looked directly at me.
“I fell in love with you before the wedding.”
