MY WAY TO THE BILLIONAIRE'S HEART.

Chapter17

Linda's eyes were sharp, assessing. "Because you're going to marry him. And you need to understand what you're getting into. Carter will push you, test you, try to make you as hard as he is. But underneath all that armor? There's still a boy who wanted to teach fourth grade. If you can reach that part of him…" she paused, "...maybe you can save him from becoming his father."

"I'm not a savior. I'm just trying to survive."

"Survival is the first step, dear. Transformation comes later." Linda stood as Cameron emerged with plates of pasta. "Now let's eat before Cameron's cooking kills us all."

Dinner was easy in a way Maeve hadn't experienced since this whole nightmare began. Cameron told embarrassing stories about Carter as a child, the time he'd tried to sue his elementary school for serving "nutritionally inadequate" lunches at age ten, the year he'd refused to celebrate Christmas because he'd calculated that the economic impact of gift-giving was "fiscally irresponsible."

"He was an insufferable child," Linda said fondly. "And he's an insufferable adult. But he's our insufferable person."

Maeve's phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number: We need to talk. Meet me at Griffith Observatory at 9 PM. Don't tell Carter. Your life depends on it. M.W.

Her blood ran cold. M.W. Those were her initials.

Someone was pretending to be her.

"Everything okay?" Cameron asked, noticing her expression.

"Yeah, just, work stuff." The lie came automatically.

But her hands shook as she checked the time. 8:15 PM. Forty-five minutes.

She shouldn't go. This was obviously a trap.

But what if it wasn't? What if someone had information she needed? What if this was the key to understanding what was really happening with Carter, with Jade, with all of it?

"I should go," Maeve said, standing abruptly. "Early morning tomorrow."

Cameron looked disappointed but didn't argue. "I'll walk you out."

At the door, he caught her hand. "Maeve, if something's wrong, if Carter's pressuring you or you're having second thoughts, you can tell me. I'll help you. No matter what."

"I know." She squeezed his hand. "Thank you. For dinner, for being kind. For making me feel normal for a few hours."

"You are normal. Don't let this world convince you otherwise."

She left before he could see the tears pricking her eyes.

Griffith Observatory sat perched above Los Angeles like a crown, the city lights sprawling below. Maeve parked in the mostly empty lot, her heart hammering. This was stupid. Reckless. Probably dangerous.

She got out anyway.

The observatory was closed, but someone had propped open a side door. Maeve's instincts screamed at her to leave, to call Carter, to call anyone.

Instead, she walked inside.

The interior was dark except for emergency lighting. Her footsteps echoed on tile floors as she made her way toward the planetarium.

"Hello?" she called out, hating how small her voice sounded.

A figure emerged from the shadows, tall, female, wearing a hooded jacket that obscured her face.

"Maeve Wells." The voice was distorted, electronically altered. "Thank you for coming."

"Who are you?"

The figure stepped closer, and Maeve's hand went to her phone, ready to call for help.

"Someone who's been watching you very carefully. Someone who knows exactly what Carter Langston is, and what he's planning to do to you."

"If you have something to say, just say it."

The figure pulled back her hood, and Maeve's breath caught.

It was her.

Or rather, it was someone who looked almost exactly like her. Same dark hair, same build, same facial structure. A doppelgänger.

"My name is Miranda Welch," the woman said, her real voice emerging now that the hood was down. "And three years ago, I was engaged to Carter Langston. Then I disappeared. Officially, I broke the engagement and moved to Europe. Unofficially…" her smile was bitter, "

…I barely escaped with my life."

Maeve's mind reeled. "That's not possible. Carter's engagement history is public record…"

"Is it?" Miranda pulled out a tablet, showed Maeve a series of photos. A younger Carter, smiling genuinely, his arm around a woman who looked disturbingly like Maeve. Wedding planning documents. News articles that Maeve had never seen, scrubbed from the internet but preserved here.

"He does this," Miranda said quietly. "Every few years. Finds a woman who fits a specific profile, dark hair, ambitious, from a struggling background. He proposes, starts the wedding planning. Then, right before the ceremony, something happens. The woman disappears. Breaks the engagement suddenly. Moves away. And Carter walks away looking like the victim of another failed relationship

."

"Why?" Maeve's voice barely worked."Because it's not about marriage. It's about control. About power. About seeing how far he can bend someone before they break." Miranda stepped closer. "I was you three years ago. Desperate for money to save my sick father. Carter offered salvation, and I took it. But the deeper I got, the more I realized, he was destroying me piece by piece. Isolating me from friends, controlling every aspect of my life, making me doubt my own sanity. By the time I understood what was happening, I'd lost everything that made me myself."

"How did you escape?"

"I didn't. Not really." Miranda's laugh was broken. "I tried to leave, and he, he made it clear that leaving wasn't an option. He had leverage. Photos, videos, manufactured evidence that made me look unstable. He said if I tried to break the engagement publicly, he'd destroy my father's business, make sure my family never recovered. So I played along until the night before the wedding, then I ran. Changed my identity, moved across the country, lived in hiding for three years."

"Why are you here now?"

"Because I saw your engagement announcement. Saw your face, so much like mine, and I knew. He'd found another one. Another woman to break." Miranda grabbed Maeve's hands, her grip desperate. "You have to get out. Now. Before the wedding. Before he owns you completely."

Maeve's mind spun. This was impossible. Insane. But Miranda had proof, documents, photos, a story that was too detailed to be fabricated.

"If this is true," Maeve said slowly, "why not go to the police? Why hide?"

"Because Carter Langston owns half the LAPD. Because his lawyers are better than any evidence I could provide. Because women who cross him end up like Jade, hospitalized, discredited, written off as crazy ex-girlfriends." Miranda's eyes filled with tears. "I'm risking everything just being here. If he finds out I contacted you…"

"He won't." The voice came from behind them, cold and familiar.

They both spun.

Carter stood in the planetarium entrance, flanked by two security guards. His expression was carved from ice.

"Hello, Miranda," he said quietly. "It's been a long time."

Miranda backed up, terror flooding her face. "You, how did you…"

"I've been tracking you for three years. Did you really think you could hide from me?" Carter stepped forward, and the security guards moved with him. "You violated the NDA. That means you forfeit the settlement and face legal consequences."

"I don't care about your money!" Miranda shouted. "I care about stopping you from destroying another woman!"

"How noble." Carter's gaze shifted to Maeve, and something dangerous glittered in his eyes. "Maeve, get in the car. We're leaving."

"No." Maeve stood her ground. "Not until you explain this. Not until you tell me if what she's saying is true."

"What she's saying is a delusion brought on by untreated mental illness," Carter said flatly. "Miranda Welch was briefly engaged to me, yes. But she broke it off because she was having a psychotic episode. I paid for her treatment, set up a trust to ensure she'd be cared for. Instead, she ran and has been harassing me ever since."