Chapter 3 - My Father’s PriceCharles Montgomery came to see Aria two days later.
Ethan advised against it.
Aria insisted.
“I need to hear him lie to me directly.”
They met in Nora’s office.
Charles entered looking ten years older.
“Aria.”
She did not stand.
He sat.
For several seconds he cried.
“I’m sorry.”
Aria looked at him.
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Specific.”
Charles swallowed.
“I knew Victoria was negotiating with Vance.”
“Yes.”
“I knew he was interested in you.”
“Yes.”
“I knew she planned to introduce you privately.”
Aria’s hands tightened.
“Did you know she would lock me in a room?”
“No.”
She believed him.
That somehow hurt more.
“You knew enough.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“The company.”
Of course.
Montgomery Group had been failing for nearly three years.
Bad real-estate investments.
Hidden debt.
Political bribery.
Victoria managed finances after Aria’s mother died.
Charles stopped asking questions because profits looked good.
By the time he discovered the truth, the family owed hundreds of millions.
Vance offered rescue.
“Did you think I’d sleep with him to save your company?”
Charles whispered:
“I convinced myself Victoria was arranging a relationship.”
Aria laughed.
“A relationship?”
“I didn’t want to know more.”
There.
That was the truth.
He had not sold her himself.
He had done something easier.
He refused to look closely enough to stop the sale.
Aria stood.
“Get out.”
“Aria.”
“You watched her take me upstairs.”
He began crying.
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
He had no answer.
She left.
Later that afternoon investigators found documents proving Charles had signed false financial statements.
Not because Victoria forced him.
Because he wanted lenders to believe the company was healthier than it was.
He had his own crimes.
His own choices.
Aria stopped thinking of her father as Victoria’s victim.
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He was something more uncomfortable.
Complicit.
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