Chapter 5 - I Found the Ledger Beneath My Old Company—and Discovered My Husband Had Planned My Betrayal Long Before Bethany Existed
The old Mercer factory stood abandoned on the edge of the industrial district.
Once, it had been the company's first warehouse.
Alina remembered coming there as a newlywed.
Gregory had held her hand.
They had laughed.
They had dreamed about building something together.
Now the windows were broken.
The sign had faded.
The building smelled of rust and rain.
Dominic entered first.
His men secured the rooms.
Alina followed.
“Furnace room?”
“Downstairs,” Dominic said.
They descended.
The old furnace had been removed.
Behind it was a steel panel.
Matteo opened it.
Inside sat a metal safe.
Alina stared.
“That's it.”
“How do you know?”
“Gregory hated waste.”
She pointed.
“He always hid important documents in spaces that were too inconvenient to check.”
The safe opened.
Inside was a black ledger.
Dominic picked it up.
Alina stopped him.
“Wait.”
“What?”
She pointed to the bottom.
A second envelope.
Her name.
ALINA MERCER.
Dominic handed it to her.
Her fingers trembled.
She opened it.
The first page was dated 11 years ago.
One year before her wedding.
She read.
Gregory had written notes about her.
Her background.
Her finances.
Her family.
Her fertility.
Her career.
Her weaknesses.
Her strengths.
At the bottom was one sentence:
She is ideal.
Alina's stomach turned.
“What is it?”
“My husband researched me before he married me.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
She turned the page.
Another note.
She has no significant family assets. She is ambitious, intelligent, loyal, and emotionally dependent on the relationship.
Dominic read it.
“Dominic.”
“I see it.”
Another page.
After marriage, transfer company authority gradually. Ensure she believes decisions are joint.
Another.
If fertility becomes an issue, use it as emotional leverage.
Alina's hand shook.
The final page made her sick.
If she discovers financial irregularities, isolate her socially before removing access.
Date:
Three years ago.
She looked at Dominic.
“He planned this.”
“Yes.”
“Before Bethany.”
“Yes.”
“So the affair wasn't the reason.”
“No.”
“The affair was the replacement.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“He never saw you as a wife.”
Alina closed her eyes.
“He saw me as infrastructure.”
Dominic said nothing.
She cried.
Only once.
Then she wiped her face.
“We take everything.”
Dominic nodded.
The ledger contained names.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Bankers.
Business owners.
Judges.
And one name that stopped Alina's breathing.
Her own.
“What?”
Dominic looked at the page.
“That's not your signature.”
“No.”
“It may be forged.”
The ledger showed payments made under Alina's authorization.
Amounts totaling millions.
She had never approved them.
But Gregory had carefully built the evidence.
He had planned to blame everything on her.
“He was going to frame me.”
“Yes.”
“For all of it.”
“Yes.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Then we don't simply destroy Gregory.”
“What do we do?”
“We expose him.”
The next morning, federal agents arrived at multiple Mercer properties.
News broke.
Mercer Holdings was under investigation.
Gregory was questioned.
Vescari disappeared.
Bethany vanished.
Alina watched television coverage from Dominic's living room.
Then a reporter said something that made her heart stop.
A woman named Bethany Harper had been reported missing.
Alina stood.
“That's her.”
Dominic looked at the screen.
“She's gone.”
“Maybe Gregory took her.”
“Maybe.”
“Or Vescari.”
Dominic reached for his phone.
“Find her.”
Hours later, they found the apartment.
Empty.
A nursery had already been prepared.
On the wall was one sentence written in red:
EVERY QUEEN NEEDS AN HEIR.
Alina felt sick.
“She's pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“She didn't choose any of this.”
Dominic looked at the message.
“No.”
“Then we have to find her.”
“We will.”
They did.
The trail led to a private clinic outside the city.
Bethany was there.
Terrified.
Alina entered first.
Bethany backed away.
“Don't hurt me.”
“I won't.”
“You're Alina.”
“Yes.”
“You hate me.”
Alina shook her head.
“I hated what happened.”
Bethany started crying.
“He told me you would hurt me.”
“Gregory?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Bethany held her stomach.
“He lied to me too.”
“How?”
“He said he loved me.”
She laughed through tears.
“He said once the divorce was final, we'd have everything.”
“What did you discover?”
“He doesn't love anyone.”
Alina stepped closer.
“Who is the father?”
Bethany looked at her.
“Gregory.”
Then she whispered:
“But the baby is not his.”
Alina froze.
May you like
Dominic looked at her.
The entire case had just changed.
Related Stories
