Chapter 10 - The Contract Beneath My Marriage
Isabella handed me a sealed agreement.
Andrew Hale would court and marry Mariana Escalante.
In exchange, he would receive Escalante-backed financing and future control rights.
Andrew’s signature appeared beside my mother’s.
Samuel had signed as witness.
I looked at him.
“You knew.”
“I knew Isabella recruited him.”
“And you let me marry him.”
“Your father had already selected other candidates.”
The sentence made me laugh once.
A hollow sound.
“My father selected husbands for me?”
“He believed marriage would stabilize succession.”
“Meaning control me.”
Samuel looked down.
“Yes.”
Andrew stepped closer.
“I loved you.”
“After you were paid?”
“Yes.”
“Before or after Brenda?”
He had no answer.
Isabella said, “Andrew was never supposed to hurt you.”
“You hired a stranger to deceive me for years, and violence is the part that surprises you?”
Her face tightened.
I opened the contract.
A termination clause stated that if Andrew physically harmed me, framed me or attempted to remove my legal authority, all financed assets reverted to the Escalante trust.
He had always known one violent act could destroy him.
“Why did you slap me?” I asked.
Andrew’s jaw hardened.
“Because you looked at me like you already knew.”
“That was enough?”
“I thought I was losing everything.”
“So you hit the person holding it together.”
He looked away.
I turned to Isabella.
“Did you poison Dad?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
“Why?”
“Because he controlled every person he claimed to protect.”
“You killed him because he controlled you?”
“I killed him because he refused to release us.”
“Who is us?”
“Celeste. Brenda. Me. You.”
My father had staged deaths.
Hidden daughters.
Managed identities.
Purchased marriages.
Designed trusts that turned human beings into conditions.
But Isabella had copied his methods.
She recruited Andrew.
Manipulated my marriage.
Used my assault to activate a plan.
“You became him,” I said.
Her eyes changed.
“No.”
“You decided your purpose justified my pain.”
“That is not the same.”
“It is exactly the same.”
Federal officers arrested Victor.
Isabella surrendered for my father’s murder.
Samuel agreed to cooperate.
Margaret faced conspiracy and evidence-tampering charges.
Andrew was detained for assault and fraud.
Brenda remained under investigation.
Before police took Isabella away, she looked at me.
“There is one person Rafael feared more than all of us.”
“Who?”
“Elena Torres.”
May you like
I had never heard the name.
“Find her before Samuel does.”
