Chapter 7 - The Chairman Finally Revealed Himself—and I Realized Michael Carter Had Never Been the Man in ChargeWe discovered the Chairman's identity two days later.
It was not Vincent.
Not Michael.
Not anyone from the Moretti family.
It was my father's oldest friend.
Samuel Blake.
The man who had attended my childhood birthday parties.
The man who had held the umbrella at my father's funeral.
The man who had told me Michael was a good husband.
I stared at the photograph.
“No.”
Dominic nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Money.”
“That's not enough.”
“No.”
He showed me the financial history.
Samuel had been siphoning money from my father's companies for twenty years.
He manipulated Michael.
He manipulated the Moretti family.
He arranged my father's poisoning attempt.
He ordered my mother's death when she accidentally discovered a ledger.
My entire childhood had been built around a man I trusted.
I felt physically sick.
“We have to expose him.”
“We will.”
“How?”
Dominic smiled.
“Make him think he won.”
The plan was risky.
I would return to Michael.
Pretend I had survived the accident but was willing to negotiate.
Dominic would remain hidden.
Ashley would leak evidence to the authorities.
My father would disappear.
The insurance company would believe I was alive.
Everything had to happen at the same time.
I met Michael in an abandoned hotel.
He walked in looking older.
Tired.
But still arrogant.
He stared at me.
“Emily.”
I said nothing.
He smiled.
“I knew you survived.”
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you bury me?”
“Because I needed everyone else to believe you were dead.”
“You sound proud.”
“I was.”
I stared at him.
“Fifty million.”
He nodded.
“Fifty million.”
“And my shares.”
“Yes.”
“You killed my father.”
His face changed.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
He hesitated.
“Samuel.”
I already knew.
Michael looked at me.
“He made me.”
“You chose.”
“Yes.”
He stepped closer.
“I loved you once.”
I laughed.
“Once?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you push me?”
He looked away.
“Because I was afraid.”
“That isn't love.”
“No.”
He finally admitted it.
“It wasn't.”
Then he gave me something.
A USB drive.
“Everything.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Samuel is going to kill me.”
He wasn't lying.
The fear in his face was genuine.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
The honesty surprised me.
“But you should listen.”
I took the drive.
Before I could leave, the lights went out.
Gunfire.
Michael shoved me down.
The same man who had once pushed me from a mountain was now shielding me from bullets.
When the lights returned, he was wounded.
Samuel's men had arrived.
Michael looked at me.
“Go.”
I ran.
Dominic found me outside.
He was furious.
“You went alone.”
“I wasn't alone.”
“I said you were.”
“I know.”
He looked at Michael's blood on my dress.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He saved me.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
For a second, jealousy and anger passed across his face.
Then he asked:
“Where is the drive?”
I held it up.
His expression changed.
We took it to a secure computer.
The files contained everything.
Payments.
Names.
Recordings.
Instructions.
And one audio file.
Samuel's voice.
He was talking to Michael.
“Once Emily dies, the baby dies with her.”
Michael asked:
“And the Moretti?”
Samuel laughed.
“The Moretti boy will die exactly like his father.”
Dominic froze.
He looked at me.
“This is it.”
I nodded.
The evidence was enough to destroy Samuel.
But there was one more file.
A birth certificate.
It belonged to my unborn daughter.
Under father:
Dominic Moretti.
I stared.
“What?”
Dominic looked at the document.
“I didn't know.”
Neither did I.
Then I realized what Samuel had been trying to do.
He had manipulated the records so that my daughter was legally tied to Dominic's family trust.
She wasn't just an heir.
She was the key to controlling the entire Moretti fortune.
The war was no longer about fifty million.
May you like
It was about billions.
And our daughter.
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