Wearing a blue and white check shirt and jeans, Paul Carter strolled into the crimson-walled cocktail bar and locked eyes with Katherine.

Perched on a chair, he spared no time trying to charm her.

He soon confided to Katherine that he had come from a wealthy family, but was a “self-made millionaire” with properties across Melbourne and Queensland, she claims.

He also boasted of owning a fleet of luxury cars, including Maseratis.

Carter took particular interest as Katherine told him how she was being required by the government to sell her beauty salon in Clifton Hill to make way for the East West Link, she says.

And that she was hoping for a good sum of money.

Throughout the night, he inched closer to her, occasionally placing his hand on her hand, or a knee.

He showered her with compliments, telling her she had a beautiful smile and that she was the “complete package”.

Katherine was lovestruck.

Their next few dates were spent at fancy restaurants, where Carter lit up at the mention of his kids and of family.

He was smart, charismatic, attractive — the “perfect gentlemen”.

Within weeks, Katherine had moved in with him and was driving his “spare” Maserati.

But his home wasn’t the flash penthouse he described.

He lived in a basic townhouse in Box Hill.

Works were under way on his penthouse, Katherine says he claimed.

It was supposed to have been a dream home for him and his previous partner, he said, but she had died of bone cancer.

Katherine had her first shock when she found women’s clothes in his house, but was told by a incensed Carter that they belonged to the deceased partner.

Katherine was “heartless” to even bring them up, she says he told her.

“I felt like I was moving into someone’s territory, even though she was apparently dead,” Katherine says.

Carter promised luxury holidays to Bora Bora and Fiji and charmed her friends.

In their eyes, she was beyond lucky.

She felt so too.

So on a bitterly cold winter night on the steps of the St Michael’s Church in Melbourne she excitedly responded “yes” when he asked her to marry him.

That was mid 2014 — just twelve weeks after they met.

“I was deliriously happy,” she has told the Herald Sun this week.

As he rested on one knee, her eyes widened as she opened up a blue box containing a beautiful “3.5 Carat diamond ring”.

By this point, Katherine had begun to rely heavily on Carter.

He had claimed to be in expert in compulsory acquisitions, she says, so as Katherine stressed over the negotiations relating to the payout for her salon, Carter enthusiastically took over the reins.

He had her best interests at heart, he said.

Her payout would be nothing in comparison to his wealth, she thought.

“It is hard to find a good man, let alone one that wants to look after you in all ways,” she says.

Legal documents show Katherine made him Power of Attorney for her salon, Spoilt Ladies’ Luxury Lounge, on June 15, 2014.

Meanwhile, their lavish love affair continued.

Carter and Katherine held a no-expenses spared engagement at the State Library in Melbourne.

It was there that she finally met his parents.

The event was fully catered for by a former chef of Mr Tulk eatery, next to the library.

There had been another blow-up on the eve of the engagement, she says, over unpaid bills for the bridesmaids’ dresses and the non-arrival of more promised jewellery.

But it was smoothed over, with Carter presenting her with a pair of sparkling earrings which he boasted were also diamond.

“He put them in my ears, kissed me and proceeded to take me through the venue, showing everyone what he had bought me,” she says.

A few weeks later, she received a phone call from a relative warning her she was in trouble.

Her fiance was a conman, the relative said. A dangerous conman.

She was told he had a wife and another child living in the USA.

Further, she was informed, the wife had no idea about Katherine and was waiting for him to follow her across the Pacific.

“I felt like the world I had lived in just evaporated into a fuzzy fog,” she says.

“I couldn’t reconcile the new version of Paul with the one he pretended to be.”

She confronted Carter.

He was initially stunned and speechless, she says.

Then he told Katherine it was a lie aimed at destroying their happiness, before walking out to buy fish and chips.

When he returned, she says he confessed to his double life as a married man.

But Carter insisted they had separated and he was ending his marriage in order to keep Katherine.

She packed her bags and revealed the betrayal on social media to her friends.

The next day, she claims she saw another side of Paul — a vicious side.

A police report seen by the Herald Sun details allegations that he threatened to have her killed after she aired his dirty secret on Facebook.

Katherine says at this point she went into hiding, while seeking to regain Power of Attorney rights for her eyelash extensions business.

She received threatening phone calls and the windows of her salon were smashed, she claims.

She was in fear for herself and her biggest asset.

“I was so sick. I threw up for days,” she says.

A short time later, the Carter she first met and fell in love with remerged.

And after a barrage of assurances, apologies, professions of love and texts, he convinced Katherine to forgive him and come home to Box Hill.

Do you know more? Email: Aneeka.Simonis@news.com.au

Within days, he flew to the US, where he said he would file for a divorce from third wife Brooklin.

But as it turned out, Carter was also working his charms on Brooklin, who had learned of the affair with Katherine after the engagement photos were posted on Facebook, the women claim.

Brooklin had moved to the US to set up a new life for Carter, herself and their young son.

Brooklin says she, too, was convinced by his grovelling.

Katherine was then sent a photograph of a smiling Carter, complete with wedding ring, playing happy families with Brooklin and their son.

Devastated at learning the divorce promise was just another lie, Katherine says she became a “pathetic and desperate mess”.

“I was clinging to every single shred of light and hope,” she says.

After his return Katherine alleges he preyed on her vulnerability, convincing her again to come back.

Then he raped her, she has claimed to police.

And this time, Katherine — who says she was petrified for her safety — left for good.

“Directly after the assault, I hated him. Every single cell in my body knew he was pure evil,” she says.

“But then there was confusion in my brain that was still in love with the ‘pretend Paul’ that I had been wooed by. I still loved the man but he is a monster.”

Police have confirmed they are investigating the rape allegation, which the Herald Sun is not suggesting is true, only that it has been made.

With the settlement payout for her salon imminent, she regained power of attorney, documents show.

Layers of lies and deception also bubbled to the surface.

Katherine says she learnt her engagement ring and other jewels were fake.

She learnt Carter was being chased over a trail of debts, including for their engagement party.

And other victims of his alleged financial scams had lost million of dollars, she was told.

Katherine’s “perfect life” had become an horrific nightmare.

Yet Carter once lived a perfectly normal suburban life.

Elise Ryan says she, Paul Cristallo and their three children were happy in their humble Westmeadows unit, the family of five spending weekends at the local footy and catching up with friends.

Ms Ryan, the first wife of the casanova conman who now goes by the surname Carter, says it was all smooth sailing until Carter turned 30.

“It was like a midlife crisis,” she says.

“He got tattoos, earrings, the big talk started and so did the cars.

“One day he just came home with a Porsche. I asked where he got it. I was driving a Tarago. We were living life like normal.”

Cristallo and Ms Ryan married in the late 1980s and had two sons and a daughter.

Today the kids refer to him as the “sperm donor” — as he abandoned them at a young age.

“They don’t call him their father,” she says.

The 10-year marriage ended after she learnt he had been unfaithful.

After the split, Cristallo/Carter chased the “high life” while the single mother worked two jobs to support her young family and pay the mortgage.

Ms Ryan claims he failed to pay child support payments totalling $150,000.

At the same time, he was living it up, driving a Maserati and making trips to the US.

Authorities put a block on his passport after Ms Ryan reported him.

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She claimed he began threatening her.

“He wanted to meet one day after I blocked him from going to the US. I made sure to meet him in a public place,” she says.

“He said he would give me cash if I cleared his passport. I said no and he went to a solicitor to try get the house out of me.”

Then came the intimidating men at her doorstep, asking for money.

“I started to get phone calls and people visiting the house who he owed money to,” Ms Ryan said.

“He’s not a nice person. He’s done some horrible things.”

aneeka.simonis@news.com.au