Chapter 8 - THE LETTER MY MOTHER NEVER SENT
I reached the Dupont Grand in less than twenty minutes.
Christian was waiting outside Room 814.
He looked exhausted.
He held the wooden box.
I took it.
The rosary was inside.
Old.
Worn.
Familiar.
My mother had prayed with it every night.
I hadn't seen it since she died.
My hands trembled.
Christian handed me the letter.
“Read it.”
I opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Camille,
If you're reading this, then someone has finally opened the trust.
My vision blurred.
I continued.
I need you to understand something before you hate me.
I never lied because I didn't love you.
I lied because I did.
I pressed the letter to my chest.
Christian looked away.
I kept reading.
My mother explained everything.
She and Christian's father had discovered that Lucien was using the Dupont family company to hide illegal payments.
They had created a separate trust.
Not to enrich themselves.
To protect the people whose money had been stolen.
My mother became the legal custodian.
I became the beneficiary because Lucien couldn't legally touch assets belonging to a person outside his control.
But there was a problem.
Lucien discovered the arrangement.
He threatened my mother.
She refused to surrender the records.
Christian's father intervened.
That was when Lucien tried to destroy him.
Not by killing him.
By destroying his reputation.
He leaked financial records that made Christian's father appear responsible.
The scandal nearly destroyed the family.
My mother disappeared from the company.
She raised me quietly.
The trust remained dormant.
Until now.
I looked at Christian.
“Why didn't your father tell you?”
“Because he wanted me away from it.”
I looked down at the letter.
There was another paragraph.
Christian is not your enemy.
I stared.
The sentence felt strange.
My mother knew him.
She knew what kind of man he would become.
She continued.
He will make mistakes.
I almost laughed through my tears.
He will confuse independence with rejection.
That sounded exactly like him.
But he is not Lucien.
Christian closed his eyes.
I kept reading.
If he ever hurts you, do not stay simply because I trusted him.
My breath caught.
My mother had known.
She had understood that love did not excuse betrayal.
The final line was written shakily.
Choose yourself, Camille. Then choose whoever earns the right to stand beside you.
I folded the letter.
Christian stared at me.
“I don't deserve you.”
“No.”
He looked down.
“I know.”
“But that's not the question.”
He waited.
“The question is whether you deserve another chance.”
His eyes filled.
“I don't know.”
“That is the first honest thing you've said.”
He nodded.
Then his phone rang.
This time, he answered.
It was Martin.
“Mr. Dupont, the trust documents have been stolen.”
Christian's face changed.
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“From where?”
“Your corporate vault.”
I looked at him.
“What documents?”
Martin hesitated.
“The originals.”
The ones proving ownership.
The ones proving the fraud.
The ones proving my mother's story.
Someone had taken them.
Christian ended the call.
Then Giselle entered the hallway.
“I know who took them.”
We both turned.
She held a small photograph.
“Lucien had a partner.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
She handed me the photograph.
I recognized the woman immediately.
Elise Laurent.
But Giselle shook her head.
“That's not Elise.”
“What?”
“My father's assistant had a sister.”
Christian stared at the picture.
“That's my mother.”
I looked at him.
His mother?
The woman in the photograph was Christian's mother, who had died when he was young.
Giselle whispered,
“She wasn't his victim.”
“She worked with him.”
Christian's face went white.
“What are you saying?”
“She helped Lucien hide the money.”
The room fell silent.
Then Giselle added the final piece.
“But she changed sides.”
I looked at her.
“When?”
“Before she died.”
“Why?”
Giselle pointed to the photograph.
“Because she discovered Lucien had been planning something worse.”
“What?”
She swallowed.
“He wasn't trying to steal the trust.”
She looked at me.
May you like
“He was trying to use it to destroy your military career.”
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