One Night With My Fiancé Ruthless Uncle

Chapter Fourteen: The Night She Died

For several seconds, Jennifer could not understand what she was hearing. The words had reached her ears, but her mind refused to give them meaning, as though some part of her was desperately trying to protect her from whatever truth Carter was about to force into the open. She stared at him across the dim church, barely aware of Gerald standing several feet away or Rosa's frightened expression beside her. All she could see was Carter's face, pale beneath the weak light filtering through the stained-glass windows, and the unbearable certainty in his eyes.

"You watched her die?" Jennifer finally whispered.

Carter didn't answer immediately.

His gaze dropped briefly to the photograph lying on the stone floor between them before returning to her face. Something in his expression made Jennifer's chest tighten because he looked less like the powerful man who had walked into the church ready to confront Gerald and more like the man she had glimpsed only once before, the broken man hiding beneath all that control.

"I was there," he said quietly. "Ten years ago."

Jennifer shook her head, taking a step backward. "Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't know who to trust."

"You knew my mother was there."

"Yes."

"You knew she died."

"Yes."

"And you let me believe it was an accident."

Carter's jaw tightened. "I didn't know it was an accident, Jennifer. I knew what I saw, and for ten years I've been trying to understand what it meant."

Her eyes burned with tears. "You could have told me."

"I should have."

The simplicity of the admission hurt more than an excuse would have.

Jennifer looked at him as though she were seeing him for the first time. The man she had trusted with her father's future, the man she had allowed into the most vulnerable parts of her life, had been carrying a piece of her mother's story all along. She wanted to be angry, wanted to demand answers, wanted to scream at him for every year she had spent believing her mother had simply been taken from her by a meaningless accident, but beneath all of that anger was something worse.

Fear.

"Tell me what happened."

Carter looked toward Gerald.

"I will."

Gerald scoffed. "Don't listen to him."

Carter's eyes hardened. "You don't get to speak."

"You've spent ten years rewriting what happened so you can make yourself the victim."

"I was the victim."

"You were a fool."

Jennifer turned sharply toward Gerald. "Enough."

Gerald looked at her, and for the first time she saw something in his expression that she had never seen during all the years she had known him. He wasn't angry because Carter had interrupted him. He was afraid that Carter was about to say something Gerald had spent years making sure no one discovered.

Jennifer noticed it.

So did Carter.

Carter took another step forward. "You knew Elena."

Gerald's face remained carefully blank.

"I knew of her."

"Don't lie."

"I have nothing to hide."

Rosa let out a bitter laugh from behind Jennifer. "That's exactly what you said the night she died."

Gerald's eyes snapped toward her.

Jennifer's heart began pounding again.

"You were there too?" she asked Rosa.

Rosa hesitated.

"I was."

Jennifer looked between them. "Then tell me. All of you. No more secrets. No more protecting me from the truth. I have spent my entire life being told half-truths because everyone thought I was too young, too fragile, or too innocent to handle what happened to my mother. I'm not that girl anymore."

Her voice broke slightly, but she refused to look away.

"I want to know what happened."

Carter's expression softened.

Then he finally began.

"Ten years ago, I had already discovered that money was being moved out of the company through accounts that shouldn't have existed. I didn't know who was behind it, but I knew someone inside the family was involved. I confronted Margaret about it, and she denied everything. A few days later, Elena contacted me."

Jennifer's breath caught.

"My mother contacted you?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"She had found the same thing I had."

Carter looked down briefly.

"She told me she had evidence, but she was afraid to bring it directly to the board because she believed someone there was already compromised. She wanted to meet me somewhere private and show me what she'd found."

Jennifer's hands trembled.

"Where?"

"Old St. Mary's."

She looked around the church.

"This place?"

Carter nodded.

"It was raining that night too. I remember because the roads were almost empty, and I was late. When I arrived, Elena was already here."

Jennifer closed her eyes.

For the first time, the vague childhood memory of her mother inside a church returned to her with painful clarity. Rain against glass. Her mother's hand in hers. The smell of old wood. A soft voice telling her that some places carried memories even after people were gone.

She opened her eyes.

"What happened?"

Carter's voice lowered.

"She was frightened."

"Why?"

"Because someone had followed her."

Jennifer felt cold spread through her body.

"Who?"

"I didn't see their face."

Gerald suddenly laughed.

Carter looked at him.

Gerald folded his arms. "Of course you didn't."

"Keep talking," Carter said. "It will only make it easier for Jennifer to understand exactly what you were involved in."

Gerald's smile vanished.

Jennifer turned back to Carter. "You said someone followed her."

"Yes. Elena gave me a folder and told me I needed to leave with it immediately. She said if anything happened to her, I had to take the evidence somewhere safe."

"What was in the folder?"

"I never found out."

Jennifer frowned. "Why?"

"Because someone attacked me before I could open it."

The church seemed to grow colder.

"What happened?"

"I remember someone hitting me from behind. I fell. When I woke up, Elena was gone."

Jennifer's voice trembled. "Gone?"

"I heard a car outside. I tried to get up, but I couldn't. By the time I reached the door, I saw her car disappearing down the road."

"And you followed her?"

"I tried."

Carter's eyes darkened.

"I found her car several miles away. It had crashed."

Jennifer's hand went to her mouth.

"Was she already..."

Carter nodded once.

"She was alive when I reached her."

Jennifer stopped breathing.

Carter looked away.

"She was trapped inside the car. There was blood everywhere. I tried to get her out, but the doors were crushed. She kept asking me about the folder."

"The folder?"

"She told me not to let them find it."

Jennifer felt tears spill down her cheeks.

"What else did she say?"

Carter's eyes met hers.

"She said your name."

Jennifer's breath caught.

"Mine?"

"She knew she wasn't going to survive. She kept saying, 'Jennifer. Protect Jennifer.'"

A sob escaped Jennifer before she could stop it.

Her mother had known.

Even in her final moments, Elena had been thinking about her.

Carter's voice softened. "I promised her I would."

Jennifer wiped her cheeks.

"But you didn't tell me."

"I tried."

"What does that mean?"

"The next morning, I was arrested."

Jennifer stared at him.

"For the fraud."

Carter nodded. "They had forged documents showing that I had authorized the transactions. They had witnesses prepared to testify against me. Marcus Vane, the attorney who was supposed to defend me, suddenly produced evidence that made it look as though I had orchestrated everything myself."

Jennifer's stomach twisted.

"And the folder?"

"It disappeared."

She looked at Rosa.

"You said my mother had proof."

Rosa nodded slowly. "She did."

"Where is it?"

Rosa's eyes moved toward the envelope in Jennifer's hand.

"Your mother didn't trust anyone with the original evidence. She made copies and hid them in different places."

Jennifer stared at the envelope.

"What is this?"

"One of the copies."

She opened it with shaking fingers.

Inside was a single sheet of paper.

At first, she didn't understand what she was looking at. There were numbers, account names, dates, signatures and several company names she recognized from Carter's investigation. At the bottom of the page was a handwritten note.

If anything happens to me, follow the money. The person who ordered the transfers is not the person signing the documents.

Jennifer's eyes moved over the words again.

Then she noticed a name.

Margaret Kane.

Her heart sank.

"She was involved."

Carter stepped closer.

"Maybe."

Jennifer looked at him sharply. "Maybe?"

"The evidence proves Margaret knew about the money. It doesn't prove she ordered your mother's death."

Gerald immediately stepped forward. "Exactly."

Jennifer turned toward him.

"So why did you say Margaret ordered it?"

Gerald's face tightened.

"I said what I knew."

"You said my mother was killed because she tried to save Carter."

"She was."

"And now Carter says you were there."

Gerald's eyes flickered.

Jennifer saw it.

That tiny hesitation.

That moment when a person realizes the lie they prepared isn't enough anymore.

"You knew her," Jennifer said quietly.

Gerald didn't answer.

"You knew my mother."

"I told you, I knew of her."

"No." Jennifer shook her head. "You knew her."

Gerald's expression hardened.

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then tell me why my mother had your name written in her records."

Gerald froze.

Jennifer pulled another paper from the envelope.

It was a list of names.

One name had been circled.

Gerald Kane.

Beneath it was a handwritten note.

He knows.

Jennifer looked up slowly.

Gerald's face had gone completely pale.

Carter saw the page.

His eyes narrowed.

"Where did you get that?"

"From my mother."

Carter stared at it.

Then he looked at Gerald.

"You knew Elena was investigating you."

Gerald's silence was answer enough.

Jennifer's heart shattered.

"Why?"

Gerald finally spoke.

"Because your mother wasn't innocent."

Jennifer stared at him.

"Don't."

"I'm telling you the truth."

"You've lied to me all night."

"Because you wouldn't listen."

"I don't believe you."

Gerald stepped closer. "Your mother discovered something about the company, yes, but she didn't understand everything. She thought she was protecting Carter. She didn't know what he had done."

Carter's expression darkened.

"I did nothing."

"You believe that because you've spent ten years convincing yourself."

"Enough."

Carter's voice echoed through the church.

Gerald smiled.

"Ask him what happened after your mother died."

Jennifer looked at Carter.

Carter didn't move.

"What is he talking about?"

Carter's silence frightened her.

"Carter."

He looked at her.

"After Elena died, I went back to the church."

Jennifer frowned.

"Why?"

"Because I remembered something she said before I left her that night."

"What?"

"She told me that if she didn't make it, I should look beneath the altar."

Jennifer's eyes moved toward the altar.

"Did you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because by then, the police were already looking for me."

Gerald laughed bitterly.

"And because he was afraid."

Carter's eyes flashed.

"You were the reason I had every reason to be afraid."

Jennifer looked toward the altar.

Then something caught her attention.

A small section of the wooden floor near the base looked newer than the rest.

She walked toward it.

Carter followed.

"Jennifer, wait."

She crouched and ran her fingers along the edge.

There was a small metal latch hidden beneath the wood.

Her heart began racing.

She lifted it.

A narrow compartment opened beneath the floor.

Inside was a small black box.

Jennifer stared at it.

Carter's face changed.

"That's it."

She looked at him.

"You've seen it before?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

Carter's eyes remained fixed on the box.

"Because Elena told me about it."

Jennifer reached inside.

Before her fingers could touch the box, a gunshot exploded through the church.

Jennifer screamed.

The box fell from her hand.

Carter grabbed her and pulled her behind one of the stone pillars as another shot struck the wooden altar.

Chaos erupted.

Rosa dropped to the floor.

Gerald shouted something at the men behind him.

Carter pushed Jennifer lower.

"Stay here."

"No."

"Jennifer, stay here!"

He moved toward the sound.

Jennifer grabbed his arm.

"Who is shooting?"

Carter looked toward the shattered window.

"I don't know."

Then his eyes dropped to the floor.

The black box was gone.

Jennifer's blood ran cold.

Someone had taken it.

And then, through the chaos, her phone began ringing.

Unknown number.

She stared at the screen.

Carter saw it.

"Don't answer."

But Jennifer already had.

She lifted the phone to her ear.

For several seconds, there was only silence.

Then a woman's voice whispered through the line.

Jennifer stopped breathing.

She knew that voice.

She had heard it in old recordings.

In childhood memories.

In the few remaining videos her father had kept hidden away.

Her mother's voice.

"Jennifer."

Tears filled her eyes.

She couldn't speak.

The voice continued, trembling softly.

"If you're hearing this, then they failed to keep you away from the truth."

Jennifer pressed a hand over her mouth.

Carter stared at her.

"What is it?"

The recording continued.

"Do not trust Margaret. Do not trust Gerald. And whatever you do, Jennifer, do not trust the man standing beside you."

Jennifer's blood turned to ice.

Her eyes slowly lifted to Carter.

He was staring at her with the same stunned horror on his face.

Then the recording ended.

And from somewhere behind them, Gerald whispered,

"Now you finally know why your mother was afraid of Carter."