PART 3
“Mr. Alexander!”
“Good evening, Clara.”
The woman looked at Valerie, then at Sophie. Her expression immediately softened. “I haven’t seen him smile like that in years…”
Alexander cleared his throat awkwardly. “Clara, please prepare a room for the two of them.”
The woman smiled warmly. “With pleasure.”
That night, while Valerie was bathing Sophie, she heard voices coming from Alexander’s study. The door wasn’t fully closed. She hadn’t intended to eavesdrop. But the words reached her anyway.
“Boss, we’ve started our investigations into Andreas Sauer.”
“And?”
“He has debts of over four million euros.”
Alexander said nothing.
“We’ve also found multiple fraud complaints against him.”
“Go on.”
“There’s something else…”
The head of security placed a folder on the desk. “We believe that Mrs. Valerie’s divorce was planned over a year ago.”
Alexander looked up. “Explain.”
“Andreas set up shell companies. He transferred properties. He siphoned money aside. And it looks like he worked with multiple lawyers to leave her with practically nothing.”
Alexander slowly opened the folder. As he flipped through the pages, his expression grew colder and colder. Then he stopped at a photograph. It showed Valerie signing documents. Smiling. Completely unaware that the papers in front of her were draining away her own assets.
Alexander closed the folder with a sharp snap. “He didn’t just betray her.”
“No, sir.”
“He robbed her.”
“Exactly. And we believe there might be something even worse behind all of this.”
The next morning, Valerie woke with a start. She had heard a noise outside. Carefully, so as not to wake Sophie, she got out of bed and walked to the window. Her breath caught in her throat.
A gray car was parked directly across from the main gate. The same model Andreas drove. The headlights were off. But someone inside was watching the house.
At that moment, her phone rang. Unknown number.
With trembling fingers, she answered the call. The voice on the other end was the one she had sworn never to hear again.
“Good morning, Valerie.”
She froze. “Andreas…”
He laughed softly. “I know where you are.”
Valerie looked back at the car. Her knees nearly gave way.
“You can’t hide behind that businessman forever.”
She tried to end the conversation. But Andreas kept talking. And his last words made her blood run cold.
“Tomorrow, I’m coming for my daughter… and for something else that Alexander Montenegro doesn’t know yet.”
The call ended.
Valerie stood motionless. She didn’t understand what he meant by that.
But on the other side of the hallway, Alexander had heard everything. And for the first time in years, he realized that their meeting on the plane had not been a simple coincidence.
Someone had been moving the pieces in a much larger game for months. Now he and Valerie had been pulled into the center of a conspiracy involving millions of euros, family betrayal, and a secret powerful enough to destroy more than one of Germany’s most influential families.
