Chapter 3 - THE TRAP INSIDE THE TRAP
Claire didn’t scream.
She didn’t fight.
She simply looked at the fake officer and smiled.
Damian noticed.
And for the first time, he looked uncertain.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
Claire looked at the man pretending to arrest her.
“You should have checked your details before sending someone to intimidate me.”
The fake officer frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Claire pointed at his badge.
“Your badge number belongs to a retired officer from another state.”
The room went silent.
The man’s expression changed.
Damian immediately stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Claire looked at him.
“Did you really think I came here without preparing?”
Damian stared.
“You…”
“I knew you would attack.”
She opened her phone.
“And I recorded everything.”
The fake officer reached toward her.
But before he could touch her, several guests moved back and started filming.
The power had shifted.
Damian’s carefully controlled world was falling apart.
Victoria looked at him with horror.
“You hired fake police?”
Damian said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Claire turned toward Victoria.
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”
Victoria looked broken.
“I don’t understand.”
“You were never his partner.”
Claire’s voice softened.
“You were his shield.”
Victoria’s face went pale.
Damian had used her family name, her money, and her wedding to create the perfect image.
The perfect illusion.
A respected lawyer marrying into a powerful family.
But behind the image was a man who had built everything on stolen lives.
Damian suddenly laughed.
Everyone looked at him.
“You think you won?”
Claire stared.
“Yes.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
He slowly pulled out a small envelope from his jacket.
“I knew Ethan Carter had a daughter.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
Damian smiled.
“You think you discovered my secret?”
He held up the envelope.
“I discovered yours first.”
The room became silent.
Damian looked at Claire.
“Your father left something behind.”
Claire’s heart started racing.
“What?”
“A letter.”
She stared.
“He wrote it before he died.”
Damian opened the envelope slightly.
“And in that letter…”
He paused.
“He admitted you were never supposed to inherit anything.”
Claire felt the world stop.
“That’s a lie.”
“Is it?”
Damian smiled.
“Maybe you should ask yourself why your father hid you for eleven years.”
Claire said nothing.
Because deep inside…
She had always wondered.
Why did her father send her away?
Why did her mother disappear?
Why did everyone tell her to forget the Carter name?
Damian stepped closer.
“Maybe you didn’t come here to claim your inheritance.”
He lowered his voice.
“Maybe you came here to steal something that was never yours.”
Claire looked at the envelope.
Then at Damian.
And she realized something terrifying.
Damian wasn’t afraid of her evidence.
He was confident because he had something bigger.
Something that could destroy her completely.
The ballroom doors opened again.
A woman walked in.
Everyone gasped.
Claire stopped breathing.
Because the woman standing there…
Was the person she had spent eleven years believing was dead.
Her mother.
May you like
And she was walking straight toward Damian.
TO BE CONTINUED…
