Chapter 1 - The Estate Trap
I walked back into the hotel suite with my heart pounding against my ribs.
Adrian was still neatly folding his designer clothes by the bed.
Celeste sat on the velvet sofa, sipping a fresh mimosa.
Neither of them looked up as I quietly closed the heavy oak door behind me.
I forced my hands to stop trembling and pasted a bright smile on my face.
Adrian turned and gave me that charming, dimpled grin that had completely fooled me for a year.
He asked if my stomach was feeling any better.
I told him it was just a mild case of wedding jitters and that a walk had cleared my head.
Celeste scoffed softly into her champagne glass.
She muttered something about how fragile modern women were these days.
I ignored her and walked over to the wooden desk near the balcony window.
The thick manila envelope was sitting exactly where Adrian had left it that morning.
He had called it standard marital tax paperwork, something his accountant needed before we flew to the Bahamas.
I slipped my hand over the envelope, feeling the weight of my father’s legacy inside.
Adrian casually mentioned that we needed to sign those documents before the airport shuttle arrived.
He handed me a sleek silver pen and tapped the line marked for my signature.
I pulled the paperwork out and let my trained forensic eyes scan the dense legal jargon.
It was not a tax declaration.
It was a total transfer of power of attorney, giving an LLC full control over my father’s coastal properties.
I recognized the name of the shell company from a fraud case I had studied years ago in training.
I looked up to tell Adrian I needed more time to read it.
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But when I raised my eyes, Celeste was standing directly behind me in the mirror.
She was holding a heavy bronze candlestick, and her smile was completely gone.
