Julie looked stunned. “What?”
“My mother was supposed to marry James Christmas,” Pamela said, her voice rising. “Not that cold, arrogant Richard Sullivan. But you came along and stole him away. The life I should have had, the family I should have had, you took all of it!”
She rushed at Julie, but a steel band of an arm linked around her waist, stopping her.
“I wouldn’t do that, Pammie,” Victor’s voice was soft and sad. “I think you’re in enough trouble as it is.”
“Victor!” Pamela’s eyes widened with shock. “I don’t know what they’ve told you, but I was trying to get the inn for you. For us. This was supposed to be?—”
“Pamela, I know everything,” Victor said quietly. “Everything. The lies. The manipulation. The fraud. I know all of it.”
He looked at the gathered group with genuine regret. “Again, Jack, Julie, and Jane, I’m deeply sorry for all the problems my... for all the problems Pamela has caused your family. Trust me, you won’t be hearing from us again.”
“Wait,” Jane said suddenly. “What about Simon? Where is he?”
Victor’s expression hardened slightly. “Mr. Bennett is currently having a very interesting conversation with some colleagues of mine. Turns out, attempting to defraud an heiress of money is taken quite seriously by the authorities. Who knew?”
Pamela’s face went white. “You called the police?”
“Among others,” Victor said. “Come on, Pamela. Let’s go.”
He turned and guided a now-silent Pamela fromthe bathroom.
For a moment, everyone just stood there in stunned silence.
“Well,” William said finally, glancing around the bathroom. “I think we should allow the ladies to get back to using their facilities properly.”
That broke the tension, and everyone laughed as they filed out into the hallway.
Twenty minutes later, Jack called a meeting in the library to fill everyone in on what was happening. Jane stood beside her father, looking at everyone gathered before them. Christopher, Gabe, Isabella, Holly, Charlie, Logan, William, and her gran were all staring at them. She swallowed, trying to hold back the tears. She couldn’t believe this was finally over. And if what she’d glanced at those documents of Pamela’s were true… Jane could save the inn a good few times over. It still felt so surreal.
“So let me get this straight,” Christopher said, looking around at everyone. “Yesterday, Victor and Terry met with Charlie, William, and Julie to let them know that it wasn’t Victor after the inn, but Pamela. She thought it was her right to have the inn because her mother was supposed to marry Jack’s father, James, and that Julie stole him from Pamela’s mother?”
“Yes, and my dad and my gran stole the life she was supposed to have,” Jane finished for them.
“Yup.” Jack nodded. “Victor told us all of this yesterday afternoon. That’s what that meeting was really about. He wanted to help us stop her.”
“James and her mother had broken up long before I met him,” Julie said indignantly. “She was already engaged to Richard Sullivan when James and I started dating. There was no stealing involved.”
“Pamela was an unhappy child who grew up with everything money could buy except the one thing she actually wanted,” Holly said thoughtfully. “A loving family. She equated the Christmas Inn with that family unit and happiness. In her mind, if she’d grown up here instead of in that big empty house, she would have been happy. So she became obsessed with taking what she thought should have been hers.”
Jane nodded slowly, understanding but not excusing. “But what I don’t get with her was if she wanted the inn so badly, why leave Dad and marry Victor in the first place?” She held up her hands quickly. “Not that I wish she’d stayed and raised me.” She shuddered. “Heck no.”
“Victor came from an exceptionally wealthy family,” William explained. “Pamela needed wealth and connections to eventually get the inn. She’s been obsessed with this place since she was a child. But here’s the thing—Victor never wanted the inn. He had no idea what Pamela was planning.”
“And get this,” Jack added, his voice tight. “It wasn’t Victor who bankrupted my company ten years ago.”
“No,” William confirmed. “That was Simon Bennett and Pamela. They worked together to destroy Jack’s business in Charleston, hoping it would force him back here and make the inn financially vulnerable.” He sighed. “Only, Jackwas snapped up by a firm, and it took another ten years before he came home.”
“So it was like they were playing a long con,” Gabe said with disdain. “I’m so sorry, Jack… I…”
“Hey, you’re not responsible for the sins of your father, Gabe,” Jack assured him. “You are a completely different person.”
“I never knew,” Holly said, her eyes dark with emotion. “Simon never told me any of this. I thought I knew him.”
“I know,” Jack assured her. He gave her a reassuring smile. “None of this is your fault.” His eyes darkened. “And if he hadn’t taken Pamela as a client, you, Charlie, Trinity, Gabe, and Christopher would never have come here.”
“That’s true,” Christopher said.
