Chapter 8 - THE AFFAIR THAT WAS NEVER AN ACCIDENT
Ryan looked physically sick.
“You knew Victor before me?”
Sabrina stared at the table.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Events.”
“What events?”
She swallowed.
“Corporate events.”
Ryan stood.
“You told me we met randomly at the Chicago conference.”
“I was at the conference because Victor sent me.”
Silence.
Ryan’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Charlotte watched him carefully.
His affair had destroyed their marriage.
But now he was learning something humiliating.
Even his betrayal had been manipulated.
“You targeted me?”
Ryan asked.
Sabrina’s eyes filled with tears.
“At first.”
“At first?”
“He wanted information.”
“What information?”
“Your schedule.”
“Your passwords.”
“Things you heard Charlotte say.”
Ryan turned slowly toward his wife.
Charlotte’s expression hardened.
Sabrina continued.
“Victor believed Ryan was the easiest way to get close to the Bennett Family Trust.”
Jonathan leaned forward.
“How?”
Sabrina looked toward Charlotte.
“Victor thought Ryan knew more about his wife than he actually did.”
That sentence hurt more than Charlotte expected.
Ryan lowered his head.
He had shared a bed with her for seven years.
And apparently Victor had discovered what Charlotte already knew.
Ryan had never really asked who she was.
Sabrina continued.
“When Victor realized Ryan didn’t know anything useful about the trust, he changed the plan.”
“To what?”
“Corporate approvals.”
Ryan whispered.
“You used me.”
Sabrina looked at him.
“We used each other.”
His face twisted.
“I loved you.”
Sabrina laughed once.
“No.”
“You loved how you felt standing beside me.”
Ryan went silent.
Charlotte turned away.
She did not want to watch their breakup.
She had already survived her own.
Marcus interrupted.
“I found something.”
He projected a document onto the screen.
Three hotel properties.
Miami.
San Francisco.
Chicago.
Each property had been placed under preliminary restructuring agreements.
Charlotte stared.
“What is this?”
Jonathan stood.
“These are transfer preparations.”
“Transfer to whom?”
Marcus zoomed in.
A holding company.
HAVEN CREST CAPITAL.
Charlotte looked at Victor.
“Yours?”
He smiled.
“Prove it.”
Marcus typed rapidly.
Then stopped.
“Haven Crest Capital’s ownership is buried behind two trusts.”
Victor’s smile widened.
Charlotte walked toward him.
“You planned to steal three hotels.”
Victor shook his head.
“I planned to save them from you.”
“By transferring them into secret companies?”
“You would eventually understand.”
“No.”
Charlotte’s voice became quieter.
“I think I understand perfectly.”
Victor buttoned his jacket.
“You understand nothing yet.”
He walked toward the door.
Security blocked him.
Jonathan spoke.
“You may leave the hotel.”
“But company devices remain here.”
Victor removed his phone.
Then his laptop.
He placed both on the table.
Before leaving, he looked at Charlotte.
“You should ask yourself one question.”
“What?”
“How did someone obtain the chairman’s digital authorization?”
Charlotte stared at him.
Victor smiled.
“Because Ryan never had it.”
Then he walked out.
Charlotte remained motionless.
The forged signature had not come from Ryan.
May you like
Someone else had access to something much closer to her.
Something private.
