Snatched a Billionaire to Be My Husband – Episode 37
Helena had lied under oath, framed Cora for financial crimes, and nearly killed Carter to protect herself. An invitation from her deserved suspicion, not curiosity. Yet the connection between Helena and Cora’s childhood account existed in court records created years before the recent conspiracy, which meant ignoring her could discard the first direct path into Miriam’s plan.
Cora agreed to meet at the federal detention center with her attorney present. Byron drove her but did not ask to enter the interview room. He trusted neither Helena nor the institution holding her, yet he understood that his presence might give Helena another way to turn information into emotional pressure.
Helena appeared behind reinforced glass in a plain uniform, stripped of the elegant authority she once carried through Hansen Holdings. She looked first at Cora’s wedding ring, then at the slight change pregnancy had made to her figure. “You survive every cage,” she said. Cora answered that admiration from Helena would be more alarming than hatred.
The old fraud complaint had reached Helena when she was a junior attorney representing the bank that held Cora’s trust. Miriam offered her a private settlement to classify the transfer attempt as an administrative error. Helena accepted because Vale Family Services promised to send lucrative corporate work to her firm.
“So you sold my case before Malcolm ever hired you,” Cora said. Helena did not deny it. Years later, Malcolm learned of the sealed complaint while searching Lane Capital for weaknesses. He used Helena’s involvement to bind her to his fraud. Each crime became protection for the one before it.
Miriam’s motive, Helena claimed, began with Roland’s late father. The elder Vale created a secret guardian trust after deciding Roland’s independence threatened the dynasty. Miriam, then a scholarship student sponsored by the family, was named contingent administrator because she appeared loyal and had no relatives who could challenge the arrangement.
The trust could activate only through a descendant raised outside Vale control. Such an heir would serve as evidence that Roland had violated family rules, allowing the administrator to suspend his authority. Evelyn’s pregnancy gave Miriam the missing instrument. Helping her escape preserved the child beyond Roland’s reach until Cora became old enough to trigger the clause.
Cora felt cold despite the stale warmth of the interview room. Miriam had not merely betrayed Evelyn or protected her. She had done both, saving a pregnant woman because that rescue also preserved a future weapon. Human motives were rarely clean enough to fit the roles of villain and savior.
Helena said the original guardian trust was hidden in a vault controlled by the family’s oldest charitable foundation. Miriam needed Cora’s DNA and voluntary signature to activate it. That explained the payments, the monitoring, and perhaps the recent pressure. It did not explain why Miriam now blamed Celeste.
“Because Celeste found the trust first,” Helena replied. Celeste wanted it destroyed before Miriam could assume control. The shooting at the hotel might have been Celeste’s attempt to eliminate the document, while the silver insignia could have fallen during the attack. The evidence was plausible, but Helena had built her career from plausible lies.
Cora asked what Helena wanted in exchange. Predictably, she requested a letter supporting a reduced sentence. Cora refused to trade influence before verifying a word. Helena smiled. “You are more like Roland than you want to be.” The comparison failed to provoke her. She had learned that refusing manipulation did not belong to any bloodline.
Before leaving, Helena gave the name of the foundation vault: the Vale Maritime Relief Archive. Its annual inspection was scheduled for the morning of the succession vote, creating a narrow window when Miriam or Celeste could access the trust without court approval.
Byron listened to the recording in the car. He believed Helena had mixed truth with enough uncertainty to keep herself valuable. Cora agreed. They needed an independent route to the archive, not another bargain with someone who considered information a currency.
Roland authorized a judicial inventory over Adrian’s objection. Celeste could not block it without appearing afraid of the contents. She announced that she welcomed transparency and would personally supervise the inspection. Her confidence suggested the crucial document had already been moved—or that she believed it supported her.
Miriam asked to speak with Evelyn before the inventory. Under guard, she admitted using the guardian payments to keep Cora’s legal identity connected to the trust. She insisted her original intention was to prevent Roland’s father and Marcus from destroying Evelyn’s child, not to control Cora later.
“Then why discuss using her?” Evelyn asked. Miriam closed her eyes. At twenty-four, she had believed taking power from the Vale men would protect everyone they controlled. Over time, the plan became more important than the people it was meant to save. She had convinced herself Cora would eventually understand.
Cora asked whether Miriam reopened the surveillance six months ago. Miriam said she did, after learning Malcolm Hansen was probing the old account. She feared he would sell Cora’s identity to Celeste. Her secret monitoring had alerted Charles, escalating his conflict with Malcolm shortly before his death.
Then Miriam revealed what Charles never wrote down: on the night he died, he called her from a parking garage and said he had proof linking Malcolm to the Vale guardian trust. Before he could name the person who provided it, another voice entered the call. Miriam recognized that voice as Byron’s.