Chapter 6 - THE REDEMPTION OF ETHAN CARTERAt 9:00 AM the following morning, news of Patricia Carter’s arrest hit the headlines of every major newspaper and TV station in the country: ‘CHICAGO SOCIALITE ARRESTED IN 18-YEAR-OLD MURDER CONSPIRACY.’
I was standing in the hotel’s presidential conference suite reviewing the final liquidity contract provided by Marcus Vance when the door opened.
Ethan walked in.
He looked completely destroyed. His eyes were bloodshot, his designer suit was wrinkled, and his hair was a disheveled mess. The arrogant, triumphant smirk he had worn yesterday was completely gone, replaced by a hollow, broken expression.
“Madison…” he choked out, stopping ten feet away from me.
I didn’t stand up. I didn’t offer him a seat. I just looked at him with cool detachment. “What do you want, Ethan?”
“I… I didn’t know,” he stammered, tears streaming down his face. “I swear to God, Madison, I didn’t know my mother killed your father! I thought… I thought it was just about business! I thought we were just getting what was legally ours!”
“Legally yours?” I said, my voice dripping with venom. “You tried to kick me out of my own home night after night! You humiliated me in front of your family! You told me I was useless, that I was just a housewife!”
“She made me do it!” Ethan cried out desperately, dropping to his knees on the carpet, clutching his hands together in a pathetic plea. “My mother controlled everything! My bank accounts, my company, my life! She told me if I didn’t control you, she would disown me! Please, Madison… you have to help her lawyer! Talk to the police! Tell them it was a mistake!”
I stared at the man kneeling before me. Three years ago, I would have dropped to my knees to comfort him. Today, I felt nothing but utter disgust.
“Get up, Ethan,” I said coldly. “You look pathetic.”
He slowly stood up, wiping his face with his sleeve, looking at me like I was a stranger. “Madison… please. We can start over. I’ll divorce my mother’s influence! We can run the hotel together! I love you!”
“You don’t love me, Ethan,” I said, walking around the desk until I stood right in front of him. “You love money. You love status. And most of all, you love yourself. But you were too stupid to realize that while you were trying to play the villain, you were just a tool used by your mother and Victoria Sterling.”
I pulled out a document from my desk and slapped it against his chest.
“What is this?” he asked, trembling.
“Full confession and asset surrender documents,” I replied. “Sign over your remaining shares in Carter Real Estate to the Bennett Trust to pay for the damages your family caused, and sign the uncontested divorce papers right now.”
Ethan looked at the pen in my hand, then at the door. “And if I don’t?”
“Then Arthur Vance will release the secondary evidence we found in your mother’s safe showing that you personally signed off on fraudulent tax filings for Carter Real Estate,” I said smoothly. “You’ll be sharing a prison cell next to your mother by tonight.”
Ethan’s hand shook so violently he could barely hold the pen. He placed the paper on the table and signed his name at the bottom of every page.
When he finished, he looked up at me with dead eyes. “You’ve turned into a monster, Madison.”
“No, Ethan,” I replied, taking the signed papers and locking them in my drawer. “I just stopped being your victim.”
Ethan turned and walked out of the room, his shoulders slumped in total defeat.
Just as the door closed, Marcus Vance walked in through the side entrance, carrying a sleek silver briefcase.
“That was cold, Miss Bennett,” Marcus said with a dark, appreciative smile. “I like it.”
“Is everything ready for 5:00 PM?” I asked, turning to face him.
May you like
Marcus opened the briefcase, revealing a certified $148 million bank draft issued directly by Vance Global Capital, alongside a sealed federal subpoena.
“Victoria Sterling is walking into a trap she spent eighteen years building,” Marcus said. “It’s time to close the curtain.”
