CHAPTER 12 — JASON'S LAST CHANCE
CHAPTER 12 — JASON'S LAST CHANCE
Jason had one chance.
He knew it.
I knew it.
And, apparently, so did everyone else.
The federal investigation had torn through the Vale family like a storm, leaving behind frozen accounts, seized properties, empty boardrooms, and enough evidence to keep several lawyers employed for decades.
But Jason was different.
He wasn't in handcuffs.
Not yet.
He was sitting alone in an interrogation room at the federal building, his suit wrinkled, his tie loosened, and his wedding ring still on his finger.
My wedding ring.
The ring I had once believed meant forever.
I stood on the other side of the glass.
Victoria stood beside me.
"He's been there for three hours," she said.
"Has he talked?"
"Not about the important things."
"What has he said?"
"That he loves you."
I looked through the glass.
"That's not evidence."
"No."
"That's an excuse."
Victoria nodded.
"Probably."
I watched Jason lower his head.
He looked nothing like the man who had once stood beside me at the altar.
He looked smaller.
Afraid.
Human.
For the first time, I wondered whether I'd ever really known him.
The door opened.
An investigator stepped out.
"Meline."
I turned.
"Yes?"
"He's asking for you."
I laughed quietly.
"Of course he is."
"He won't speak to anyone else."
"Then he won't speak."
The investigator studied me.
"He says he knows who ordered the attempt on your life."
I stopped.
"Who?"
"He won't say."
"Why?"
"He says he will only tell you."
Victoria's expression hardened.
"That's a trap."
"I know."
The investigator nodded.
"You don't have to go in."
I looked through the glass again.
Jason lifted his head.
Our eyes met.
He looked away first.
"I'll go."
Victoria caught my arm.
"Don't trust him."
I looked at her.
"I don't."
Jason stood when I entered.
"Thank you."
I sat across from him.
"Talk."
He stared at me.
"That's all?"
"You asked for me."
"I thought you'd want to know why."
"Why what?"
"Why I did it."
I frowned.
"You lied to me."
"Yes."
"You monitored my company."
"Yes."
"You hid your connection to the Vale family."
"Yes."
"You knew about the trust."
"Yes."
"You knew they wanted my assets."
"Yes."
I leaned forward.
"Then tell me the one thing I don't know."
Jason swallowed.
"I was supposed to marry you."
"I know."
"No."
He shook his head.
"You don't."
I waited.
"The marriage wasn't the plan."
"What was?"
"Your death."
The room went silent.
I felt nothing.
Not shock.
Not fear.
Just a terrible confirmation.
"Who?"
Jason closed his eyes.
"Richard."
I expected it.
But then he added:
"And your mother."
I froze.
"What?"
"Elizabeth."
"You said she was missing."
"I know."
"You said Richard controlled everything."
"He did."
"Then why was my mother involved?"
Jason looked at me.
"Because Richard didn't recruit me."
"Who did?"
He whispered:
"Elizabeth."
I stood.
"No."
Jason grabbed the edge of the table.
"Listen to me."
"You expect me to believe my mother hired you to marry me?"
"She didn't hire me."
"Then what?"
"She warned me."
"About what?"
"About the trust."
He pulled a folded document from his jacket.
The investigator hadn't found it.
I took it.
It was an old letter.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Elizabeth.
Jason,
If you are reading this, then Meline has already entered the final stage.
My hands trembled.
I kept reading.
You must not allow her to access the trust until she understands what it contains.
I looked at Jason.
"What is this?"
He shook his head.
"Keep reading."
The next line made my stomach turn.
If she discovers the truth too early, they will kill her.
I stared at him.
"Who are they?"
Jason whispered:
"The people behind Richard."
I read the rest.
Elizabeth had known about Jason for years.
She had approached him before he met me.
She didn't ask him to betray me.
She asked him to watch me.
To keep me away from the trust.
To make sure I didn't access the hidden assets until I was ready.
But then something changed.
Jason fell in love with me.
He stopped following Elizabeth's instructions.
And Richard noticed.
"That's why Richard started controlling you."
Jason nodded.
"He threatened my family."
"Your parents?"
"Yes."
"What did he threaten?"
"My sister."
I looked at him.
"Is she safe?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Out of the country."
"Does she know?"
"No."
I sat back.
"So you married me because you were protecting your sister."
"At first."
"And then?"
Jason looked at me.
"Then I loved you."
I felt something crack inside me.
Not forgiveness.
Something more complicated.
Pain.
Because I had once loved him too.
"Why did you go through with the wedding?"
"I thought I could stop them."
"You couldn't."
"I know."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because every time I tried, someone threatened you."
"Who?"
"Richard."
"Only Richard?"
Jason looked down.
"No."
I waited.
"Your mother."
My heart sank.
"Elizabeth."
He nodded.
"She contacted me again six months before the wedding."
"What did she say?"
"She told me that if you ever learned the truth about your birth, you would become the most powerful person in the family."
"And?"
"She was afraid of what you'd do with that power."
I laughed bitterly.
"She was afraid of me?"
"No."
Jason looked directly at me.
"She was afraid of what they would do to you."
The door opened.
The investigator entered.
"Jason, we're done."
Jason stood.
"Wait."
He looked at me.
"There is one more thing."
"What?"
"The account."
My heart stopped.
"What account?"
"The one you found."
"The two-billion-dollar account?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"The account behind it."
Victoria's words returned to me.
The account they hid was never the real prize.
Jason continued.
"Your company has a master account."
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know it exists?"
"Because Richard showed it to me."
"Why?"
"To convince me he controlled your inheritance."
"Did he?"
Jason shook his head.
"No."
"Then who does?"
He stared at me.
"You."
I frowned.
"I already control the company."
"No."
He stepped closer.
"You control the company."
He paused.
"But someone else controls the trust."
"Who?"
Jason whispered:
"Your mother."
The room went silent.
"Elizabeth controls my trust?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"She created the final authorization."
"When?"
"Twenty-five years ago."
"Why?"
"Because she knew the family would eventually try to destroy you."
I shook my head.
"Then why did she disappear?"
Jason looked at me.
"Because she needed everyone to believe she was dead."
"She's alive."
"Yes."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
He reached into his pocket.
"She gave me this."
A key.
Small.
Silver.
Engraved with a single letter.
E.
"What does it open?"
Jason looked at me.
"Your mother's house."
I stared.
"She has a house?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Three hours north."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was afraid."
"Of her?"
"No."
He looked toward the window.
"Of what she left inside."
We drove through the night.
Jason stayed behind.
The federal agents didn't trust him enough to let him leave.
Victoria came with me.
Sydney insisted on coming too.
The three of us drove north.
No security convoy.
No reporters.
No lawyers.
Just three women and a secret none of us fully understood.
The house stood at the edge of a forest.
Old.
Small.
Almost painfully ordinary.
It looked nothing like a Vale property.
No gates.
No guards.
No cameras.
Just a white wooden house surrounded by dead trees.
I inserted the silver key.
The door opened.
Dust covered everything.
A photograph sat on the mantel.
Elizabeth.
Holding two babies.
Me.
And Daniel.
I touched the glass.
"She kept it."
Sydney stood behind me.
"She loved you."
I looked at her.
"Then why did she leave?"
Victoria answered quietly.
"Because love isn't always enough."
We searched the house.
Kitchen.
Bedroom.
Basement.
Nothing.
Then Sydney noticed the floorboard beneath the fireplace.
"Here."
We lifted it.
A metal box was hidden underneath.
Inside were dozens of letters.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Bank documents.
And one video drive.
I connected it to the laptop.
Elizabeth appeared on screen.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
My heart stopped.
"Meline."
Her voice broke.
"If you're watching this, then Jason failed."
I froze.
Sydney looked at me.
Elizabeth continued.
"I didn't mean for him to betray you."
I whispered:
"Mom."
She smiled sadly.
"I know you hate me."
Tears filled her eyes.
"You have every right."
She took a breath.
"But there are things you must understand."
A document appeared beside her.
THE ORIGINAL TRUST AGREEMENT.
She looked directly into the camera.
"The trust does not belong to the Vale family."
I stared.
"It belongs to the children."
The screen changed.
Two names appeared.
MELINE CARTER
DANIEL VALE
Then Elizabeth said the words that changed everything.
"You were never meant to fight each other."
I felt my throat tighten.
"You were meant to rule together."
Sydney gasped.
Elizabeth continued.
"But Richard made sure Daniel believed you stole his birthright."
A second document appeared.
Richard's signature.
He had changed the succession agreement.
He had separated the twins.
He had created the war.
But there was something else.
Elizabeth's expression became frightened.
"Richard wasn't acting alone."
A name appeared.
JASON VALE.
I froze.
No.
Not my Jason.
Elizabeth continued.
"Jason was born into the family."
I stared at the screen.
"He is not who you think he is."
Victoria whispered:
"What?"
Elizabeth looked directly at me.
"Jason is Richard's son."
The room went silent.
I stepped backward.
"No."
Sydney covered her mouth.
Elizabeth continued.
"I kept him close because I believed I could control him."
She shook her head.
"I was wrong."
The screen flickered.
Then another photograph appeared.
Jason as a child.
Standing beside Richard.
And beside him—
a woman I didn't recognize.
Elizabeth's voice became barely audible.
"That woman is his real mother."
I stared.
Victoria suddenly stepped forward.
Her face had gone white.
"That's impossible."
I turned.
"What?"
Victoria pointed at the screen.
"I know her."
"Who?"
Victoria whispered:
"Margaret Bell."
The nurse.
The woman who had given me the box.
The woman who had told us about my birth.
I felt sick.
"She lied."
Victoria nodded.
"Yes."
A final message appeared on the screen.
JASON'S LAST CHANCE WAS NEVER ABOUT SAVING MELINE.
Then:
IT WAS ABOUT CHOOSING WHICH FAMILY TO BETRAY.
The video ended.
My phone rang.
Jason.
I answered.
His voice was shaking.
"Meline."
"What happened?"
"I escaped."
I froze.
"What?"
"The agents are dead."
My blood went cold.
"Jason, where are you?"
He whispered:
"At the house."
I looked toward the front door.
Outside, headlights appeared between the trees.
Jason continued:
"Don't trust Victoria."
I turned.
Victoria was standing behind me.
Her face was expressionless.
Then the lights outside went out.
A man's voice came from the darkness.
"Nobody move."
The door burst open.
And Jason walked inside.
Blood covered his shirt.
He looked directly at me.
"I'm sorry."
Then he raised his gun.
May you like
Not at me.
At Victoria.
