Chapter 4 - The Woman Carter Married Wasn't His Lover After All—She Was the Keeper of a Secret That Could Put Richard Preston in PrisonLexi arrived at the hospital the next morning.
I had never hated someone so quietly.
She stood outside my father's room.
Her face was pale.
“I need to tell you the truth.”
I crossed my arms.
“Make it quick.”
She nodded.
“Carter didn't marry me because he loved me.”
“I know.”
“He married me because my father left something behind.”
“The evidence.”
She looked at me.
“You know.”
“Some of it.”
Lexi swallowed.
“My father documented everything.”
Richard had been laundering family assets through international foundations.
He had manipulated trusts.
He had bribed officials.
He had destroyed careers.
And twelve years earlier, he had arranged an attack against Daniel Evans.
But the worst part was still hidden.
Richard had planned to take control of the Preston estate through Carter.
He had arranged for Carter to inherit debts.
He had manipulated the board.
He had intended to force Carter into bankruptcy.
Then he would have stepped in.
Lexi's father had discovered it.
He had hidden evidence.
Then he died.
Lexi inherited the files.
She came to Carter because she believed he was the only person who could protect her.
Carter married her to keep the evidence safe.
But there was something Lexi had never known.
The marriage had created an even bigger problem.
Because under New York law, the marriage gave Richard a reason to challenge the trust.
And that was where I came in.
Edward had anticipated it.
He had made me the trustee.
If Carter and Lexi's marriage became part of a legal dispute, I had authority to freeze specific family assets.
Richard needed me gone.
Carter had tried to make me hate him enough to leave.
It had worked.
But he had not expected me to return.
That was his mistake.
And possibly mine.
We built a plan.
Graham gathered records.
My father dictated statements.
Lexi turned over the evidence.
Carter confronted the board.
I requested an emergency trust review.
Richard responded within hours.
He filed a lawsuit claiming I had acted improperly.
The newspapers exploded.
Then someone leaked the story that I had returned because I wanted money.
I laughed when I saw it.
“Of course.”
Carter looked at me.
“What?”
“They still think I'm the woman who wants to be Mrs. Preston.”
“You aren't.”
“No.”
I looked at the documents.
“I want the truth.”
He smiled faintly.
“That's worse.”
The legal battle became public.
Carter's family split.
His aunt supported me.
His cousins opposed me.
Richard called me manipulative.
Carter refused to defend himself publicly.
Instead, he gave the board documents proving Richard's financial misconduct.
That put him at risk.
I asked him why.
He said:
“Because I finally understand that protecting my family doesn't mean protecting the people who hurt it.”
That was the first moment I saw the man I thought I had loved.
Not the man from the wedding.
The man before fear had taken over.
My father improved enough to testify.
His statement was devastating.
Richard's network was exposed.
Federal investigators became involved.
Then the final document surfaced.
A recorded conversation.
Richard speaking to Carter.
“If Morgan leaves, the trust opens.”
Carter's voice responded.
“She won't.”
Richard laughed.
“She will if you marry Lexi.”
My blood ran cold.
Carter had been manipulated too.
But then Richard said:
“You don't have to love Lexi. You only need Morgan to believe you don't love her.”
The room went silent.
Carter stared at the recording.
“I never knew he knew about us.”
I looked at him.
“Us?”
His face went pale.
“You knew?”
I nodded.
“I knew before the wedding.”
He closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
Richard had known Carter loved me.
He had built the entire plan around it.
The affair.
The marriage.
The humiliation.
The disappearance.
Every piece had been designed to separate me from Carter.
And it almost worked.
Richard wasn't trying to steal the Preston fortune.
He was trying to destroy the one relationship capable of preventing him from taking it.
May you like
My relationship with Carter.
That was the one thing he couldn't control.
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