Chapter 6 - The Man Behind Evelyn
Thomas ordered the ballroom cleared.
No wedding.
No guests.
No ceremony.
Only family remained.
Evelyn sat alone in a chair.
Her hands were folded tightly in her lap.
Thomas stood across from her.
“Start talking.”
Evelyn stared at the floor.
“My younger brother owes money.”
Thomas waited.
“He borrowed from people he shouldn't have.”
“Who?”
“The Vale organization.”
Thomas's expression changed.
He knew the name.
A private criminal network that had been connected to financial crimes for years.
“What does that have to do with Claire?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“Claire found documents.”
“What documents?”
“Money transfers.”
Thomas frowned.
“From where?”
“The hotel.”
His eyes narrowed.
The wedding hotel.
Claire had discovered that someone had been moving millions through accounts connected to the hotel.
Evelyn had been sent to recover the evidence.
Instead, Claire caught her.
“She was going to expose everything,” Evelyn whispered.
“So you attacked her.”
“I panicked.”
“You tied her up.”
“I was afraid.”
“You left her bleeding.”
Evelyn started crying.
“I didn't know what else to do.”
Thomas's voice remained cold.
“You could have called for help.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“They took my son.”
Thomas stared.
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
“And they told you to marry me?”
Evelyn nodded.
“They knew you trusted Claire. They knew Claire would investigate me.”
Thomas suddenly understood.
The wedding had never been a wedding.
It had been a trap.
Evelyn had been placed inside the family.
Claire had discovered the trap.
Toby had accidentally become the one person who carried the evidence out.
Thomas looked at the USB.
“Where is my daughter now?”
Evelyn whispered:
“An old warehouse near the river.”
Thomas immediately reached for his phone.
But before he could call security, the lights in the hotel hallway flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then every light went dark.
A phone vibrated somewhere in the ballroom.
Thomas turned.
It wasn't his.
It was Evelyn's.
She looked at the screen.
May you like
Her face collapsed.
👉 The message on Evelyn's phone contained one sentence: “If Thomas leaves this hotel, Claire dies.”
