Chapter 2

A nobody family?

Yeah, in his eyes, I was just a girl from a modest background.

My parents were just retired low-level civil servants, living in a modest house in a quiet countryside town, with my two unmarried older brothers.

Even at our wedding, my brothers weren't present. To them, I was probably just an afterthought in my own family.

They assumed that even if I got mistreated by my in-laws, no one from my family would ever come to stand up for me.

Behind me, Cole hung up the phone.

I remained seated on the sofa.

Motionless.

My mind felt like a machine running at top speed, pulling up every single event from the past year, re-evaluating and rearranging them piece by piece.

A year ago, Miller Group's cash flow broke.

Right when I was losing my mind trying to fix it, Austin got into that car accident.

Something wasn't right.

Immediately after, Eleanor insisted on taking him abroad for treatment.

At the time, I thought she was just incredibly strong and loved her son fiercely.

But looking back now—

She left way too quickly.

So quickly that it felt like she had planned it all along.

And then there was the three hundred thousand dollars paid to the victims' families.

According to the accident report, it was Austin’s fault for driving while fatigued. He was held fully responsible.

To prevent the family from getting dragged into a massive lawsuit, Eleanor quickly agreed to pay a three-hundred-thousand-dollar settlement out of court.

"Chloe, just wire me the money, and I'll handle it. You focus on the company."

Eleanor said she didn't want me to get too overwhelmed, promising she would take care of it.

I didn't ask a single question. I wired the cash I had just collected from a client straight to Eleanor’s account.

What was I thinking back then?

I thought that as a family, we had to trust each other.

I thought that as long as he was safe, money didn't matter.

I thought that since I was Austin's wife, I had to carry this family on my back.

My fingernails dug deep into my palms.

It hurt.

Incredibly so.

But that pain woke me up completely.

I pulled out my phone and went to Austin’s Snapchat.

The last message was sent by Eleanor using his account. It was a photo.

In the photo, Austin lay on a hospital bed, hooked up to all kinds of tubes, his face as pale as paper.

The caption read: "Chloe, I'll take good care of Austin. Don't worry."

I had cried for a long time looking at that photo back then.

But looking at it now, I suddenly noticed something off.

The bed.

The power outlet on the wall.

It was a European standard outlet.

Eleanor had told me they were in the United States.

I closed Snapchat and dialed a number.

It rang twice before someone picked up.

"Nathan."

"Chloe?" My oldest brother, Nathan Carter’s voice sounded surprised. "Why are you calling this late? Aren't you asleep?"

My brother Nathan was eight years older than me.

To outsiders, he was just a typical tech workhorse, always busy working overtime. He was so busy that he couldn't even make it to his only sister's wedding, and since he was in his mid-thirties and still single, my parents sighed every time his name came up.

But what outsiders didn't know was that while he was indeed a tech guy, he was the founder.

His tech company was valued at over ten billion dollars last year. The reason he couldn't make it to my wedding was because he was busy ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq that day.

The last chunk of debt Eleanor mentioned—I had actually planned to bid on a highly lucrative project in partnership with Nathan’s company to cover it.

Now, there was no need for that.

"Nathan, I need you to look into something for me."

"Go ahead."

"Look into Austin. Find his exact location right now, his medical records for the past year, and the detailed report of his car accident from a year ago."

The other end went silent for a few seconds.

"Did something happen?"

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

My throat felt like it was blocked by a massive lump.

"Chloe?" Nathan’s voice deepened. "What's wrong?"

"Nathan," I took a deep breath. "Just look into it for me. And don't tell Dominic yet."

"Too late," Nathan said. "Dominic came back today. He's sitting right next to me."

Another voice came through the phone—deep, curt, and carrying an undeniable authority.

"Chloe, what's going on?"

My second brother, Dominic Carter.

He joined the military at eighteen and was twenty-eight this year.

He had earned multiple Medals of Honor, and we only heard rumors that his rank was rising rapidly.

But as for his exact position or rank, our family never asked, and he never spoke about it.

Dominic always said that knowing too much would only be a burden to us.

But one year when he came home for leave, the local county officials somehow got word of it and showed up at our door in droves to pay their respects.

He didn't see a single one of them.

"Dominic," my voice finally trembled. "I think... I was scammed into a fake marriage."

Silence fell over the line.

Dominic’s voice was terrifyingly calm: "Explain everything."