CHAPTER 6 — Project Bride
The courtroom projector illuminated the screen.
PROJECT BRIDE.
Thousands of files appeared.
Photographs.
Financial reports.
Private social-media screenshots.
Credit histories.
Medical information.
Home valuations.
Handwritten notes.
The investigators counted over...
Two hundred women.
The gallery gasped.
This wasn't one family targeting one victim.
It was a business.
Vanessa had built an entire system.
Every woman received a score.
Income.
Assets.
Family support.
Likelihood of legal resistance.
Psychological profile.
Estimated emotional vulnerability.
Beside my file, investigators found a note.
"Primary target.
Apartment already purchased.
No siblings.
Father believed deceased.
Proceed immediately."
My father quietly closed his eyes.
He understood what those words meant.
They hadn't simply tried to steal my home.
They had carefully studied every corner of my life before approaching me.
The FBI financial analyst continued speaking.
"Over twelve years..."
"...this organization accumulated nearly forty-eight million dollars through fraudulent marriages, forged transfers, identity manipulation, and real-estate theft."
Forty-eight million.
The courtroom erupted.
Vanessa remained silent.
Until finally...
She smiled.
It wasn't fear.
It was confidence.
"I won't spend one day in prison."
Everyone looked confused.
Then she turned toward Ethan.
"My son handled every signature."
His face drained of color.
"Mom..."
"You signed everything."
"You opened every account."
"You moved every dollar."
"You'll protect your mother."
The betrayal was breathtaking.
The woman who had controlled him his entire life...
Had just sacrificed him to save herself.
Ethan broke.
For the first time in years...
He cried.
Real tears.
Not for me.
Not for the women he had ruined.
For himself.
He pointed at Vanessa.
"It was her!"
"She chose every victim!"
"She taught me everything!"
"She said love was just another business transaction!"
Vanessa stared at him with complete disgust.
"Weak men always confess."
The judge ordered silence.
But it was too late.
The perfect criminal family had begun destroying itself from the inside.
One week later, Ethan requested a private meeting with me.
Against my attorney's advice...
I agreed.
He entered the interview room wearing jail clothing.
He looked twenty years older.
"I never loved Claire," he whispered.
"I don't care."
"I know."
"I don't care."
He lowered his head.
"There is one thing you still don't know."
"What?"
He looked into my eyes.
"My mother didn't choose you first."
The room fell silent.
"She originally wanted..."
"...your mother."
My heartbeat stopped.
"My mother died fifteen years ago."
"I know."
"That's why she chose you instead."
For the first time...
I realized this nightmare had begun long before I ever met Ethan.
And somewhere in my late mother's past...
May you like
A secret was still waiting to be uncovered.
End of Chapter 6
