Chapter 3 - The Woman My Family Called Too Fat to Be Wanted Became the Only Person Who Could Save Their Entire FortuneThe next morning, Elena made a decision.
She was going back to Brooks Industrial.
Adrien thought it was reckless.
She agreed.
But she also knew something he did not.
The company was not simply her father's.
It had been her mother's.
After her mother died, Richard took control.
But her mother had left documents that Elena had never seen.
Documents stored inside the old corporate archives.
“I need to find them.”
Adrien looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because my mother never trusted my father.”
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“You remember?”
Elena nodded.
“When I was nineteen.”
Her mother had taken her aside.
“If your father ever asks you to sign something because the family needs it, don't.”
At the time, Elena had thought it was marital bitterness.
Now she understood.
They entered Brooks Industrial under heavy security.
The employees stared.
Whispers followed Elena through the halls.
Some thought she had escaped.
Some thought she had run away with a rival businessman.
Some thought she had married Victor already.
Elena ignored them.
She went straight to the archives.
The old filing room was dusty.
Inside, she found boxes.
Her mother's handwriting.
M. Brooks — Personal.
Elena opened them.
Letters.
Bank records.
Property deeds.
And one sealed envelope.
Inside was a recording.
Her mother's voice.
“Elena.”
She nearly dropped it.
“If you're hearing this, then I was right to worry.”
Her mother explained that Richard had been losing money for years.
She had tried to stop him.
Then Victor entered their lives.
Victor offered credit.
But the loans were designed to trap the family.
The final condition was simple.
If the debt wasn't repaid, Richard would surrender control of Brooks Industrial.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
“Your father is not the real borrower.”
Elena frowned.
“Who is?”
The recording named a private entity.
Northstar.
The same network Adrien had found.
Her mother continued.
“Victor is only collecting.”
“The real owner is someone you already know.”
The recording stopped.
Elena stared at Adrien.
“Someone I know?”
He nodded.
“Then we investigate everyone.”
But before they could leave, security alarms triggered.
Someone had entered the building.
Adrien's guards moved.
Elena and Adrien remained inside the archive room.
A door slammed downstairs.
Then another.
Footsteps.
Elena's heart raced.
Adrien whispered:
“Stay behind me.”
A man entered the corridor.
He was wearing a Brooks Industrial security uniform.
He carried a gun.
Adrien moved quickly.
The fight was short.
The man was disarmed.
Before security could restrain him, he said one thing.
“You don't understand who you're protecting.”
Adrien stared.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled.
“Ask her father.”
Elena froze.
She suddenly realized.
Her father knew.
He knew everything.
That night, Elena confronted Richard.
He was staying at a private residence outside the city.
When she entered, he looked at her with shock.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You escaped?”
“Yes.”
“With Moretti?”
“Yes.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Elena, you have no idea what you've done.”
“I know exactly what you did.”
He looked at her.
“You're pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“His child?”
“Yes.”
Richard's face collapsed.
“Then you need to understand.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You need to understand.”
She placed the recording on the table.
Her mother's voice played.
Richard listened.
By the end, tears were running down his face.
“I didn't know.”
“You knew enough.”
“I was trying to save the company.”
“You were trying to save yourself.”
He didn't deny it.
Then he gave her the truth.
Victor had threatened him.
But not with money.
With Sabrina.
Elena's younger sister had been involved.
She had been caught stealing from company accounts.
Victor discovered it.
He used her as leverage.
Richard surrendered.
Elena sat down.
“What was my sister doing?”
Richard hesitated.
“She was helping them.”
“Helping who?”
“Northstar.”
Elena's heart sank.
The sister who had humiliated her had been involved in the scheme.
But Richard wasn't finished.
“There is someone above Victor.”
“Who?”
He handed Elena a photograph.
A man with silver hair.
“Elena.”
She stared.
“I know him.”
It was the chairman of the bank that held Brooks Industrial's emergency debt.
A man who had attended her mother's funeral.
A man she had trusted.
“His name is Malcolm Crane.”
Adrien stepped forward.
“That's impossible.”
Richard looked at him.
“You know him?”
Adrien's expression hardened.
“He was one of my father's closest partners.”
Silence.
The conspiracy had become much larger.
And now Elena knew why everyone had wanted her married.
The person controlling the debt did not merely want her shares.
He wanted access to both the Brooks and Moretti financial networks.
Elena looked at Adrien.
“We need to stop him.”
Adrien nodded.
Then he looked at her stomach.
“We will.”
May you like
This time, Elena didn't hear business.
She heard a promise.
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