Chapter 6 - The Company That Had My Name on It
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Paige had never owned a business.
She had never opened an offshore bank account.
And she certainly had never agreed to become managing director of a company called Aster Holdings International.
Yet there it was.
Her name.
Her signature.
Her old address.
And a corporate registration date from the month Colin had broken her ribs.
Paige stared at the documents spread across Evelyn Carter's desk.
“This isn't possible.”
Evelyn watched her carefully.
“Do you recognize the signature?”
Paige nodded.
“Yes.”
“Do you remember signing it?”
“No.”
Then she hesitated.
“Wait.”
A memory surfaced.
Colin sitting beside her hospital bed.
A folder resting on his lap.
Her right arm aching from an IV.
He'd smiled at her.
Baby, I need you to sign a few insurance forms.
Paige remembered being exhausted.
In pain.
Afraid of what would happen if she refused.
She'd signed.
Without reading.
Her stomach twisted.
“He brought papers to the hospital.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Tell me everything you remember.”
Paige described the room.
The medication.
The forms.
Colin's impatience.
The way he kept turning pages before she'd finished reading.
When she was done, Evelyn made several notes.
Then said, “We'll need the original documents and medical records. If he misrepresented what you were signing or used your identity improperly, that could be important.”
Paige looked down.
“Could I go to prison?”
Evelyn didn't offer false reassurance.
“Your name appearing on corporate records doesn't automatically make you criminally responsible. We need to establish what you knew, what you authorized, and what the company did.”
Paige swallowed.
“What did it do?”
Evelyn turned the laptop toward her.
Aster Holdings had received millions of dollars.
Some came from corporations tied to Richard Hale.
Others moved through accounts in Switzerland and the Caribbean.
Several transfers were linked to the period when Lucia Rossy disappeared.
Paige felt sick.
“So Colin used me to hide the money?”
“That is one possibility.”
She stared at the screen.
“He could make it look like I was responsible.”
Evelyn nodded.
“That's why we're documenting your circumstances and preserving evidence of the coercion.”
Across the room, Gabriel stood near the window.
He hadn't spoken for almost twenty minutes.
When Paige finally looked at him, his face was hard.
Not angry at her.
Angry at something much larger.
“Gabriel?”
He turned.
“Did you know?”
His expression changed.
“No.”
“About my name?”
“No.”
She searched his face.
“Would you have told me if you had?”
“Yes.”
She wanted to believe him.
Then Evelyn asked Gabriel to give them privacy while she discussed Paige's legal options.
He left immediately.
When the door closed, Paige leaned forward.
“Can I trust him?”
Evelyn considered the question.
“You can assess his actions, but don't confuse shared enemies with guaranteed safety.”
Paige nodded slowly.
“He unlocked the car door.”
“That's good.”
“He gave me a room.”
“Also good.”
“He told me I could leave.”
“Then let's make sure that remains true.”
Evelyn explained that she could arrange independent housing, transportation, access to funds, and legal representation.
None of it required Paige to remain at Gabriel's estate.
Paige stared at her.
“So I really could go?”
“Yes.”
“Without Gabriel approving it?”
“Correct.”
For a moment, Paige couldn't speak.
Then tears filled her eyes.
Not because she wanted to leave immediately.
But because she finally had a choice.
That afternoon, she walked through Gabriel's estate alone.
The property was enormous.
Cold concrete walls.
Tall glass windows.
Security guards at distant entrances.
It was beautiful in a severe, almost intimidating way.
But she noticed something strange.
Every door inside the guest wing opened from the inside.
No hidden locks.
No guards standing outside her bedroom.
Gabriel had given her more freedom inside his fortress than Colin had allowed in an ordinary penthouse.
The thought unsettled her.
At sunset, she found Gabriel on the terrace.
He stood overlooking the valley.
A glass of water rested on the stone railing.
He looked up when she approached.
“How did the meeting go?”
Paige folded her arms.
“I'm apparently the director of an international company.”
His expression tightened.
“I'm sorry.”
She laughed bitterly.
“I've never felt less qualified for a job.”
He almost smiled.
Then grew serious.
“Evelyn will help you separate yourself from it.”
Paige looked toward the mountains.
“Did Lucia know about Aster?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Possibly.”
“Was that what she discovered?”
“I don't know.”
Paige turned.
“Then maybe that's why they used my name.”
Gabriel studied her.
“What do you mean?”
“If Lucia knew the accounts were dirty, Colin might have needed someone else to appear responsible.”
Gabriel's expression darkened.
“And you were convenient.”
Paige nodded.
“A woman he could control.”
Neither spoke.
Then Paige said something she hadn't expected to say.
“I want to help expose them.”
Gabriel turned.
“Paige—”
“Not because you own my father's debt.”
He stopped.
“Not because I owe you.”
She took a breath.
“Because Colin stole two years of my life. And I won't let him use my name to hurt someone else.”
Gabriel studied her for a long moment.
Then nodded.
“Then we do this through Evelyn and the investigators.”
Paige raised an eyebrow.
“No private revenge?”
He looked away.
“I'd be lying if I said I didn't want it.”
“Gabriel.”
He met her eyes.
She continued.
“You said your sister hated what you did.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Then don't honor her by doing more of it.”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he whispered, “You're right.”
That night, investigators contacted Evelyn.
They had identified a suspicious payment originating from Aster Holdings.
The transfer occurred forty-eight hours after Lucia disappeared.
The recipient wasn't Richard Hale.
It wasn't Colin.
It wasn't even a company.
It was a private medical facility outside Geneva.
And attached to the payment was a reference number.
417\.
Paige stared at the screen.
Then whispered, “That's the number on Colin's document.”
Gabriel looked at her.
His face went pale.
May you like
And for the first time, Paige saw something he'd spent three years trying to bury.
Hope.
