Chapter 2 - The Woman in Gold
Marla Hayes had entered Robert’s life as a corporate event consultant.
She was charming, ambitious, and skilled at making wealthy men feel younger than they were. During meetings, she laughed at Robert’s stories and praised decisions that experienced executives quietly questioned.
Within six months, she was attending private dinners with him.
Within nine months, Robert had rented her a penthouse.
By the eleventh month, Marla had begun introducing herself to resort staff as the future Mrs. Carter.
She believed Evelyn was merely an elderly wife waiting to be replaced.
Robert encouraged that belief.
He told Marla that he had built Carter International alone. He claimed Evelyn had inherited comfort while contributing nothing. He insisted that every property, account, and investment belonged to him.
The truth was more complicated.
Carter International had begun with a small logistics company owned by Evelyn’s father. Robert had joined after marrying her. He possessed confidence, ambition, and an instinct for expansion, but Evelyn had supplied the original capital and negotiated the company’s first major contracts.
For decades, she allowed Robert to stand in front of cameras while she worked quietly behind the scenes.
Marla knew none of that.
The week before the anniversary celebration, Robert gave her the emerald bracelet.
“It belonged to Evelyn,” Marla said, fastening it around her wrist.
“It belongs to the Carter family,” Robert replied. “Soon, that means you.”
Marla admired herself in the mirror.
“When will you tell her?”
“At the resort.”
Marla turned toward him.
“In front of everyone?”
Robert smiled.
“She’ll make a scene privately. In public, she’ll be too embarrassed to fight.”
Marla liked the plan. A public announcement would establish her position before Robert’s family, business partners, and wealthy friends.
“What about the company?”
“I control it.”
“The mansion?”
“Mine.”
“The investments?”
“Mine.”
“And Evelyn?”
Robert’s smile hardened.
“She’ll receive enough to live comfortably. She should be grateful.”
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Neither of them noticed that the penthouse’s security system had been installed by a Carter International subsidiary.
Neither knew that copies of Robert’s unauthorized expense reports had already reached Margaret Harrison.
