Chapter 104
Chapter 104
Elara’s Pov
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“Did something happen?” Marcus asked, his eyes moving between Elara and Mimi with growing concern. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”
Before Elara could answer, Mimi stood up from the couch, grabbing her purse and the vodka bottle she’d been nursing.
“Erhm, I’ll give you two some space,” she said, avoiding Marcus’s eyes. She walked over to Elara and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’ll talk to you later, babe. Call me if you need anything, okay?”
Elara nodded against her shoulder, not trusting herself to speak.
Mimi pulled back, gave her one last reassuring squeeze on the arm, then headed for the door. The sound of it closing behind her felt final somehow, like the last barrier between Elara and the conversation she’d been dreading.
The moment Mimi was gone, Marcus’s full attention turned back to Elara. He walked over to a chair and placed his suit jacket properly. Then he loosened his tie completely, pulling it off and tossing it aside before walking over to sit on the couch beside her.
“Talk to me,” he said, his voice gentle but firm. “What’s wrong?”
Elara opened her mouth, then closed it again. How did you start a conversation like this? How did you tell someone you might have just destroyed their entire life?
“Erhm,” she started, scratching her head nervously. “I might have made a big fuck up.”
Marcus’s expression didn’t change, but she saw his jaw tighten slightly. “Okay. What is it? Tell me. Nothing that can’t be fixed, right?”
The concern in his voice, the automatic assumption that whatever it was could be solved, made Elara feel even worse about what she was about to say.
“Okay, so,” she took a deep breath, forcing the words out before she lost her nerve. “I think Penelope knows the marriage is fake.”
Marcus went very still. “Wait, what? That’s not possible. She couldn’t have possibly figured that out. Plus, she won’t even have any proof to prove anything.”
“That’s kind of like the problem, Marcus,” Elara said quietly. “She has proof. She has the full hard copy of the contract. The marriage contract between you and me.”
Marcus stared at her for a long moment, his brain clearly trying to process what she’d just said. Then he shook his head.
“No. That’s not possible. The contract is locked away with Dante in his office in a safe nobody has access to except me and him.”
“Yes, I know that,” Elara said, her voice getting lower. “So I made a copy back then. When you first gave me the contract to sign.”
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Chapter 104
“You made a copy?” Marcus’s tone was shifting now, confusion mixing with the first hints of anger.
“I thought you all were trying to play me, you know? Typical rich people taking advantage of poor people’s situation. I wanted my own evidence in case anything went south. I wanted proof of what we’d agreed to so you couldn’t change the terms or screw me over later.”
She twisted her hands in her lap, not able to look at him directly. “Plus, you know, back then we were barely this close. We didn’t know each other. I didn’t think you were someone I could trust.”
Marcus was quiet for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I can understand that logic. But how did the copy find its way to Penelope then?”
This was the part Elara had been dreading. The part where she had to admit just how careless she’d been.
“I left it in my old house,” she said, the words coming out in a rush. “The apartment where I used to live with my mom. I completely forgot about it. Like, totally forgot it even existed.”
“And?”
“And this morning, after we saw Luca and Penelope together, something in my gut told me they were up to something. I called Mimi over and we talked about whether there was anything in that house that could be used as evidence against us.”
Elara finally looked up at Marcus, meeting his eyes even though it hurt to see the way his expression was changing.
“That’s when I remembered. The contract. I’d hidden it in a drawer in my old room. So Mimi and I drove over there as fast as we could to get it before anyone else found it.”
“But you were too late,” Marcus said flatly.
“When we got there, the house owner told us Luca had just left with a sophisticated woman and some security guards. When we went inside and checked the drawer where I’d left the contract, it was gone. They’d already taken it.”
“Oh my God.”
The words came out quiet, almost a whisper, but Elara could hear the fury building beneath them.
“What the fuck, Elara?”
“I’m sorry,” she said immediately, tears starting to burn in her eyes. “Marcus, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. I forgot about those papers completely until today.”
“Sorry?” Marcus stood up abruptly, running both hands through his hair. “Sorry doesn’t fix shit right now! Do you understand what you’ve done?”
His voice was rising now, the anger she’d been dreading finally breaking through. “Penelope now has physical proof that our marriage is a contract. That you were paid two million dollars to marry me for two years. That none of this is real.”
“I know-”
“Do you?” Marcus turned to face her, his expression harder than she’d ever seen it. “Do you actually
15:05 Mon, May 11
Chapter 104
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understand what this means? My grandfather’s will states very clearly that I have to be married before my thirtieth birthday. Really married. A real relationship, a real commitment. Not a business transaction.”
He started pacing, his movements jerky with barely controlled rage. “If Penelope takes that contract to the board, if she shows them proof that this marriage is fake, I lose everything. Seventy percent of Thorne Dynamics gets redistributed to the other shareholders. Which means Penelope and her husband get complete control of my company.”
“We can fight it,” Elara said desperately. “We can get lawyers, we can….”
“With what defense?” Marcus cut her off. “The contract has both our signatures on it. It details the exact terms of our agreement. It’s dated before our wedding. What exactly are we supposed to argue? That it’s fake? That someone forged our signatures?”
He laughed bitterly. “Oh my God. I swear, if I lose everything I’ve worked hard for because of this dumbass mistake, I will never forgive you.”
The words hit Elara like a physical blow. She felt tears spill over, running down her cheeks.
“Shit,” Marcus continued, pacing faster now. “Fuck. Why did I even allow myself to be too friendly with you? Why did I let my guard down? This is so annoying. Fuck!”
He grabbed his jacket from where he’d hung it up moments ago and stormed toward the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Elara heard his bedroom door slam shut a few seconds later, the sound echoing through the entire penthouse.
And then she was alone.
AD
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