Chapter 12 - Why She Left
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The room felt as though all the air had been suddenly sucked out of it.
I stared at Paul, my brain struggling to assemble the pieces of a puzzle I hadn't even known existed.
“What are you talking about?” I whispered. “Ethan met me by chance. I dropped my groceries in front of his apartment building... he helped me pick up my oranges...”
Vincent walked over to the side of my bed, taking the velvet box from my hand and setting it gently on the tray table.
“There are no coincidences in our world, Lena,” Vincent said grimly. “Three months ago, when I realized you were living in Manhattan under your mother’s maiden name of Marino, I ordered a quiet background check on your husband.”
“And what did you find?” my voice shook.
Paul opened his leather briefcase, pulling out a thick manila folder labeled Digital Forensics Report - Hayes, Ethan.
“Ten years ago, before your mother passed away, your father set up an irrevocable offshore trust titled Aurelia Holdings,” Paul explained, laying the financial flowcharts over my blanket. “It was designed to funnel legitimate earnings from your father’s real estate port development projects directly into an untouchable account.”
“Why?” I asked, looking at the complex corporate diagrams.
“Because thirty years ago, when your mother was pregnant with you, my organization was locked in a brutal war with a rival crime syndicate,” Vincent explained, his eyes darkening with old memories. “Someone inside my inner circle was selling information. They threatened to kidnap your mother to force me to give up my docks.”
I gasped, looking at my father. “That’s why Mom fled?”
“She told me she would rather raise you in poverty than raise you in a gold cage surrounded by wolves,” Vincent said, his voice cracking with old regret. “I let her go because I loved her enough to keep her alive. But I made sure that when you turned thirty, or when you had your first child... the entirety of Aurelia Holdings would legally transfer to you.”
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Paul leaned forward, tapping a finger on a highlighted line of text in the report.
“And five years ago, Ethan Hayes’s corporate accounting firm was hired to perform a routine audit on one of Aurelia Holdings’ subsidiary shell companies,” Paul said coldly. “Ethan stumbled upon your mother’s maiden name linked to a multi-million dollar inheritance. He didn't fall in love with you, Lena. He hunted you.”
