Honeymoon in Paris (28 page)

“Did you do all of this for Dad?” Sandrine asked. “Because you believed he was innocent?”

“Yes, I knew all along who was truly behind the embezzlement, and I wanted to bring the truth to light in the hope that it could fix our family, not to mention save our father’s reputation and career.”

“This family is broken for many more reasons than for what your father did,” Michèle admitted. “I had a hand in it all too, you know. If I had never married Vincent—”

“
Maman
, please. I will get to Vincent in a moment,” Luc said, flaring his nostrils as he said his ex-step-father’s name.

“In order to obtain my position with the government,” he continued, “I had to act as if I believed that Dad was guilty, and I had to cut off all contact with him—or at least pretend to. The idea of the government hiring the son of a man who’d been convicted of embezzlement was crazy enough, let alone if I was still talking to
him. But you see, even my word that I’d cut off all ties with my father wasn’t enough. I had to have a friend on the inside to help me get the job, and this is where my friend Guillaume Dubois came in.”

“That name sounds familiar,” Sandrine said. “Did you go to college with him?”

Funny, like many of the names I’d learned in the past three weeks, I’d never heard the name Guillaume Dubois out of Luc’s mouth.

“Yes, he was one of my closest friends, and more than anyone I know, he understands what it’s like to have a dramatic family. Both of his older brothers are ex-cons, and one of them is currently in prison.” Luc turned to me before continuing. “In fact, Charlotte, do you remember the couple that crashed our cocktail cruise before our wedding reception in Annecy?”

“I may have been smacked in the head earlier, but I could never forget that.” I thought back to the pretty girl with long auburn hair who’d accidentally boarded the boat we’d taken out on the Lake of Annecy. She’d told me she was a wedding planner and that she was absolutely mortified that she’d crashed our wedding. Later we’d found out they were wanted by the police.

“What do they have to do with your friend Guillaume?” I asked Luc.

“The guy who crashed our wedding cruise is one of Guillaume’s brothers—the one who’s
not
in prison. But I want to allow Guillaume to explain all of this to you. He has invited us to his family’s vineyard, which isn’t too far from Lyon. Once you’re feeling better, of course.”

“A trip to a French vineyard sounds amazing after the day I just had,” I said with a tired smile.

“You won’t have a day like this ever again,
chérie,
I can promise you that,” Luc said as he reached over and squeezed my hand. “So to get back to the story, I worked on many high-profile cases, and because my cover was never blown—well, until now of course—I
moved up quickly in the organization. In addition to investigating financial crimes, I moved on to investigate and bust organized crime rings.”

“Wait a second,” I spoke up. “When we first met last year at the Cité Universitaire, you said you were going to grad school—but you weren’t going back to school, were you? You were living there undercover, and
you
were the one who busted that drug ring at the Cité that we read about in the paper on the last day of our honeymoon.”

Luc raised a brow and grinned at me. “Yes, that was me.”

“I thought it was weird that a thirty-year-old once-married man would live in a student dorm. I guess this explains why you kept disappearing for weeks and months at a time, and why you barely ever told me anything about your past.”

He nodded. “Yes,
chérie
. Part of that was due to the divorce and custody battle, of course, but the other part was due to my job. I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you.” He looked to his mom and sister, who were now staring at him with mouths agape. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you two either. It was imperative that I keep my cover to do what I entered the organization to do.”

“Which was to take down Vincent Boucher,” I said.

“Even with a concussion, you are catching on quickly,
mon amour
,” Luc said, flashing that sexy smile of his my way. Despite all of the drama, the secrets, and the lies, the fact that I now knew my husband was an undercover government agent had just raised his sexiness level to the max.

“You did all of this to get revenge on Vincent?” Sandrine asked.

“Not for revenge,” Luc said. “I did it for justice. Justice for our father and for our family. I knew Vincent was behind the embezzlement, but because he is such a master at making sure none of his illegal activity is traced back to him, it has taken many years to build a solid case against him.”

“What about the information Nicolas provided in that envelope?” I asked. “He said that whatever was inside proved without a doubt that your father was innocent.”

“Nicolas must’ve found a way to break into his father’s confidential files, and he did find some old financial documents that show proof of Vincent’s involvement in the embezzlement case, but I’d found that same proof years ago.”

“If you’ve had the proof all along, why did you take so long to arrest Vincent and to prove Dad’s innocence?” Sandrine asked.

“Because I started to figure out that Vincent was involved in something much bigger than just embezzling company funds. And I wanted to bring him down for everything. Not just for what he did to our father.”

A troubled look washed over Michèle’s cold features. It must’ve been hard for her to hear that the father of her children really had been innocent all along, and that Vincent—the man she’d made the mistake of marrying next—had been the true culprit.

“So what is this big thing that Vincent has been involved in?” Michèle asked quietly. “And what does it have to do with that lingerie store?”

Luc nodded to me. “If Charlotte is up for it, I’d like for her to tell you. It seems I have finally met my match. She has become quite the spy this past week.”

I pressed the ice pack harder to my temple and smiled at my husband. “Well, I had to take things into my own hands because you weren’t telling me anything. At least now I understand
why
you couldn’t tell me.”

“So what did you find out?” Sandrine asked me.

I cleared my throat and launched into my story. “After overhearing and recording some of Vincent’s private conversations at the offices of
Bella France
this week, I began to believe that Vincent was running an organized prostitution ring.”

Michèle’s face paled as she shot a hand to her heart. “A prostitution ring? Are you serious?”

I nodded. “Yes, I know. It’s shocking… and appalling. From what I could figure out, it seemed Vincent had a team of people in the entertainment industry—Marcel and Brigitte included—who recruited young, beautiful, desperate actresses to sleep with wealthy film executives and other high-ups in the business. And—correct me if I’m wrong, Luc—but it sounded as if, in return, they were promised better roles and more money.”

Luc nodded. “So far so good.”

“And as I just found out—in a most unfortunate way, I might add—Isabelle, the owner of my favorite lingerie shop, was also involved. She was providing huge orders of her new collection—aptly titled
Les Bijoux,
because of the different colored jewels on the pieces—to the prostitution ring and was receiving a large sum of money in return for each order. She started dating Marcel Boucher some months ago, which was how she got involved in the first place.”

“Is this all true?” Luc’s mother asked him.

“Yes, I’m afraid it is,” he said. “There’s more, though.”

“I’m not finished,” I interjected. “Another player in this whole scheme is a man I had the misfortune of meeting for the first and
last
time today: Jean-Michel Boucher, Vincent’s identical twin brother. He’s the thug behind the scenes who takes care of anyone in the operation who’s getting out of control, and he’s also the main contact for everyone involved in the ring, so that nothing can be traced back to Vincent.”

Michèle shook her head, making a loud
tsk
sound with her tongue. “I always hated Jean-Michel.”

Sandrine turned to me. “You figured all of this out on your own?”

“Well, that last part I only figured out because earlier today, Jean-Michel pulled me into a car that I thought was a cab, knocked me out, and took me to Isabelle’s. Luc filled me in on his identity
while we were at the hospital. They had to put my statement in the police report, of course.”

“So what happened to him after he left you at Isabelle’s?” Sandrine asked.

“He was waiting outside the store in his car when my team arrived,” Luc answered. “We arrested him on the spot. He’ll be facing many years in prison, but not as many as Vincent.”

“What’s happened to Vincent?” Michèle asked.

“Other members of my team caught him just before he boarded a plane to Rio,” Luc said. “He’s finally in prison, right where he belongs. I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now, but the money that Dad was convicted for embezzling eventually found its way back to Vincent, of course. It was at this time that Vincent originally set up the prostitution ring. He used a good portion of that money to buy expensive diamonds and jewels for the women to wear on the job. In his messed-up head, the use of these lavish jewels differentiated his women, making them high-end escorts as opposed to lowly prostitutes. And this is obviously how the title
Les Bijoux
was born. More recently, Isabelle’s line of jewel-studded lingerie was, of course, the perfect touch to Vincent’s operation.”

“So, you knew about Isabelle’s involvement from the beginning, and this is why you bought me something from her store? Because you were investigating her?” I said, thinking back to Luc’s first gorgeous gift for me from Chez Isabelle.

“Yes,
chérie
, but I didn’t expect you to become best friends with the woman.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said, feeling another pang of guilt. “I can’t believe I trusted her. I had no idea she could’ve been involved in any of this.”

Luc reached over and placed his hand on mine. “Of course not. This isn’t your fault.”

“Are the women in
Les Bijoux
forced to be involved?” Sandrine asked.

“No, the women enter the operation voluntarily, and they are allowed to leave whenever they wish. Many of them do leave once they score their first big film role, but they are required to sign an agreement that they will never speak of
Les Bijoux
to anyone else, ever. Vincent’s twin brother, Jean-Michel, acted as the main contact so that most of the women didn’t even know Vincent was behind it all.”

Michèle rubbed her head in her hands, looking as if she might be sick. “I can’t believe Vincent would organize something so degrading to women,” she said. “But then again, I can believe it. I’m ashamed I ever allowed someone with so little morals into my children’s lives. I’m sorry, Luc and Sandrine. I’m so, so sorry.”

“It was Papa too, you know,” Sandrine said. “He trusted Vincent as his business partner. You can’t take all the blame,
maman
.”

“Sandrine is right,” Luc said. “Vincent is a master manipulator. But he won’t be able to ruin more lives now that he is behind bars.”

“And what about Marcel?” I asked. “How did he know that his father was about to be caught?”

“A few months ago, when I learned of Marcel’s involvement in
Les Bijoux,
we cut him a deal. If he would provide us with intel and help us bust his father once and for all, he would get off with a lighter sentence.”

“That’s why he warned me to stay out of all of this?” I said. “Because he was working with you all along?”

“Yes,” Luc admitted. “I was the one who told him to give you that warning.”

“Wait, it was you he was talking to on the phone that morning in his apartment? The same morning of the tabloid disaster?”

Luc nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you,
chérie
. I wanted to, but the only way to ensure your safety was to keep you away from the whole situation. As you found out today, unfortunately.”

“So is Marcel still going to get a lighter sentence for helping you?” I asked.

“Because of the recording you took on your phone today, we found out he wasn’t staying true to our agreement. He tipped off his father, which led to Vincent’s attempt to flee the country. Because of that, Marcel is back where he started.”

“
Humph
, so it was at least a little bit good that I stuck my nose where it didn’t belong?” I said.

“Yes, in that way, it was good,” Luc admitted. “But not at the cost of you being harmed.”

“What will happen to Isabelle?” I asked.

“Marcel had told us she was supplying orders of lingerie to the operation in order to keep her business afloat and support her daughters. Having Adeline, I understood the desperation she must’ve felt to do such a thing, and we were hoping to let her off easy. But after what she did today—kidnapping both you and Adeline—I am not sure what will happen to her.”

“I hope she gets the help she needs,” I said, wishing it could’ve turned out differently. I really did like Isabelle—that is, until she tied me up and threatened me with a knife. “She was obviously at the end of her rope. What about her daughters?”

“From what I understand, Isabelle has a sister in Lyon who will care for the girls. They will be okay, Charlotte. You shouldn’t feel guilty.”

“And Brigitte? Was it really true that she was involved in all of this?” Sandrine asked.

I thought back to the disgusting show of
affection
Brigitte had shown Vincent in his office only yesterday, but decided to keep that nasty tidbit to myself.

Luc nodded, the stress of the day finally showing in the lines around his eyes. “Yes, she has been arrested too. It’s never what I wanted for the mother of my child, but it was unavoidable. The minute Brigitte made the choice to involve herself with Vincent, she had to know it was going to end badly.”

“And was she one of
Les Bijoux
too?” Michèle whispered, almost as if she could barely bring herself to say it.

Luc clenched his jaw as he squeezed his hands together. “Yes, she was. That’s how she managed to land the starring role in her latest film.”