Chapter 3 — Lauren Finally Revealed Why She Was At The Hospital
Chapter 3 — Lauren Finally Revealed Why She Was At The Hospital
Lauren didn’t move.
She stared at the photograph as though looking at it long enough might somehow make it disappear.
It wouldn’t.
I picked it up and held it between us.
“You were at the hospital.”
Her lips parted.
“I can explain.”
“Then explain.”
Michael stepped toward her.
“Lauren, don’t say anything.”
She turned sharply.
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
It was the first time I had ever heard her speak to him that way.
Michael looked stunned.
I wasn’t.
Because suddenly I understood.
Lauren wasn’t afraid of me.
She was afraid of what Michael knew.
I placed the photograph back on the table.
“You told me you were home that night.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
She looked down.
“Because your father asked me to.”
The room went silent.
My heart stopped for a second.
“My father?”
Lauren nodded.
“He called me two hours before the accident.”
“Why would he call you?”
“He knew about Michael.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“That’s not true.”
Lauren looked at him.
“He knew about the accounts.”
Evelyn Carter slowly stood.
“What accounts?”
Lauren swallowed.
“The offshore accounts. The shell companies. The money moving through Carver Strategic Holdings.”
Robert immediately began taking notes.
I stared at Lauren.
“So my father knew what you and Michael were doing.”
“He knew something.”
“And then he died.”
Lauren’s eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t kill him.”
“I didn’t ask if you killed him.”
She looked at me.
I lowered my voice.
“I asked why you were at the hospital.”
Lauren finally sat down.
Her hands were shaking.
“That night, your father called me because he wanted me to meet him.”
“Where?”
“At the hospital.”
“Why?”
“He said he had evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“A drive.”
She pointed toward the folder.
“Your father had copied financial records from Michael’s company. He believed Michael had been using your family company to hide money.”
Michael slammed his hand against the table.
“Enough.”
Robert immediately stood.
“Sit down.”
Michael ignored him.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at her.
She stared at Michael with an expression I had never seen before.
“My son has been stealing from this family for years.”
Michael’s face changed.
“Mom…”
“Don’t.”
She shook her head.
“I warned your father.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“You’re blaming me now?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“I’m telling him the truth.”
Michael suddenly reached for his phone.
Victor moved faster.
He grabbed Michael’s wrist.
“Don’t.”
Michael pulled away.
“You can’t hold me here.”
“No one is holding you.”
Victor pointed toward the door.
“But if you leave, the police will meet you downstairs.”
Michael froze.
I looked at Robert.
“You called the police?”
“Thirty minutes ago.”
“Why?”
“Because the documents we found are enough to warrant an investigation.”
Michael looked at Lauren.
“You set me up.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“You brought him here.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
Lauren looked at me.
“Daniel did.”
Michael’s face twisted.
“You knew?”
She didn’t answer.
That was enough.
I walked toward her.
“Three weeks ago, I found the hotel receipt.”
She closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“I saw you holding it.”
That surprised me.
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I thought you would confront me.”
“And?”
“I wanted you angry.”
“Why?”
She looked at Michael.
Then at me.
“Because we needed you to leave the company.”
I stared at her.
“So that was the plan.”
“Yes.”
“You were going to destroy my marriage to get me out.”
She nodded.
“But there was something I didn’t know.”
“What?”
Lauren’s voice dropped.
“Michael wasn’t planning to stop there.”
Michael suddenly shouted.
“Lauren!”
She flinched.
I turned toward him.
“What weren’t you planning to stop at?”
Michael said nothing.
Robert opened another file.
“We found a draft agreement.”
He placed it on the table.
The document transferred control of my father’s company to Carver Strategic Holdings after my death.
I read it twice.
Then I looked at Lauren.
“My death?”
She nodded slowly.
“I found it two weeks ago.”
“And you still stayed with him?”
“I was trapped.”
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of Michael?”
She shook her head.
“Of everyone.”
I couldn’t speak.
The woman I had loved for six years had been standing between a criminal organization and me.
But I still couldn’t understand one thing.
“Why didn’t Michael kill me?”
Lauren looked at me.
“He didn’t need to.”
She pointed at the contract.
“If you divorced me, your voting shares would have been divided according to the agreement your father signed years ago.”
I frowned.
“What agreement?”
Robert answered.
“Your father created a succession clause.”
He showed me another document.
“If you died without children, control would pass temporarily to your spouse.”
My stomach tightened.
“And after that?”
“The spouse could sell the controlling interest.”
I looked at Lauren.
She whispered:
“They needed me to become your widow.”
The sentence hung in the room.
For years, I had believed Lauren’s worst betrayal was sleeping with another man.
It wasn’t.
She had been part of a plan where my marriage was supposed to become the legal pathway to my death.
I looked at Michael.
“Did you know?”
He didn’t answer.
Robert stepped closer.
“Answer him.”
Michael smiled.
It was a completely different smile from the one he’d worn downstairs.
Cold.
Calculated.
“Yes.”
Lauren began crying.
I felt something inside me go numb.
“How long?”
Michael looked directly at me.
“Since before your wedding.”
I stared at him.
“Six years?”
“Yes.”
“Lauren?”
He glanced at her.
“She was useful.”
Lauren covered her mouth.
Michael continued.
“She knew about the company. She knew about the succession clause. She knew how much you trusted her.”
I looked at my wife.
“Did you know about the clause?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Michael laughed.
“That was the beauty of it.”
He turned toward me.
“You never asked why your father suddenly approved of Lauren before your wedding.”
I remembered.
My father had been unusually enthusiastic about her.
He had told me she was ambitious.
Smart.
Loyal.
At the time, I thought he was proud of my choice.
Now I understood.
My father had been trying to warn me.
But he had waited too long.
Michael’s voice lowered.
“Your father discovered everything six years ago.”
I stared at him.
“Then why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because he thought he could fix it.”
Michael looked at Evelyn.
“He made a deal with us.”
Evelyn’s eyes widened.
“What deal?”
“He offered the company in exchange for Daniel’s safety.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Michael smiled.
“Your father agreed to transfer control.”
“Then why did he die?”
“Because he changed his mind.”
The room went silent.
Michael continued.
“He was supposed to sign the final documents that night.”
I looked at the photograph again.
My father had been driving to the hospital.
Not for treatment.
To meet someone.
To deliver evidence.
To expose them.
And Lauren had been there because he had asked her to help.
I turned toward her.
“Did you help him?”
Lauren started crying.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I took the drive.”
“Where is it?”
She looked at Michael.
His face suddenly changed.
I saw it.
Fear.
Real fear.
Lauren reached into her handbag.
For a moment, she hesitated.
Then she placed a small black USB drive on the table.
“I kept it.”
Michael whispered:
“Lauren…”
She looked at him.
“You told me he destroyed it.”
“I lied.”
“You lied about everything.”
She pushed the drive toward me.
“This is what your father gave me that night.”
I picked it up.
“What happened after?”
Lauren’s voice broke.
“I left the hospital.”
“And my father?”
“I thought he was still alive.”
“You thought?”
She nodded.
“I heard tires outside. Then I heard a crash.”
My throat tightened.
“You saw the accident?”
“No.”
She wiped her tears.
“But someone called me afterward.”
“Who?”
She looked directly at Michael.
“He said, ‘Your husband will never know what happened here.’”
Michael’s face had gone completely pale.
Robert immediately moved toward him.
But before he could reach him, Michael suddenly pulled something from his jacket.
A phone.
He looked at the screen.
Then at me.
And smiled.
“You really think this ends with me?”
The phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Michael answered.
He listened for five seconds.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“No.”
The call ended.
Robert grabbed the phone.
“What did they say?”
Michael didn’t answer.
I stepped closer.
“Who was that?”
Michael looked at me.
His voice was barely a whisper.
“The person who ordered your father’s death.”
Everyone froze.
I stared at him.
“Who?”
Michael looked toward the closed hotel door.
Then he said four words that made my blood run cold.
“Someone sitting in this room.”
No one moved.
Then the lights suddenly went out.