Chapter 9 - The Bridal Contract
Emma searched the bouquet again.
Beneath the satin wrapping was a second envelope.
Victoria had hidden it more carefully than the phone.
Inside was a marriage-contingency agreement signed by Margaret Merrick.
It promised Victoria twenty percent of Merrick Hospitality if she married Ethan and removed Emma from trust supervision.
Ethan stared at the signature.
“My mother hated Victoria’s family.”
Emma turned another page.
Margaret had also authorized the sale of the employee apartments.
Her stated reason:
The workforce should not control assets beyond its social capacity.
The sentence sounded like Margaret.
Elegant.
Cold.
Certain that class was a measure of competence.
The siblings had spent years treating their mother as the moral center of the company.
Now the document suggested she had designed the betrayal before her death.
Victoria finally spoke.
“Margaret contacted me two years ago.”
Ethan went still.
“You knew she was alive?”
“I received messages through an attorney.”
“Did you ever see her?”
“No.”
“Then why did you obey?”
Victoria looked toward the mansion.
“Because she promised my family control of the properties.”
The truth was uglier than romance.
Victoria had not married Ethan only for love.
She entered an agreement with the woman who built his idea of family loyalty.
Emma examined the contract seal.
It came from a private Merrick trust office inside the mansion.
The office had been closed since Margaret’s memorial.
The venue manager opened its old access record.
May you like
Someone had entered that office ninety minutes before the ceremony.
The access code belonged to Ethan.
