Chapter 144
Elara’s POV
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The warehouse smelled like rust and like something was decaying, the kind of smell that settled in your throat and wouldn’t leave. Elara stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the scene in front of her.
Luca leaned against a concrete pillar, looking pleased with himself in his borrowed suit. And beside him. pristine and out of place in this dump, stood Penelope in a burgundy coat that probably cost more than the entire building.
“What the hell is this?” Mimi said from behind Elara, her voice sharp with anger.
Penelope smiled, the expression was cold and annoying. “A business meeting. Though I wasn’t expecting you to bring a guest, Elara. That’s disappointing.”
“You two are working together,” Elara said, the pieces clicking into place. “Of course you are. I should have known.”
“Don’t feel bad. You’ve been rather preoccupied with bed rest and dying babies to notice the obvious.” Penelope took a step forward, her heels clicking against the concrete. “Luca, you didn’t tell me she’d bring backup.”
“She didn’t tell me either,” Luca said, glaring at Mimi. “But it doesn’t matter. She’s still going to pay.”
“I’m not paying you anything,” Elara said firmly. “Either of you. You can take your blackmail and shove it.”
Penelope laughed, the sound echoing in the empty warehouse. “Such bravado. I admire that. But you’re not really in a position to refuse, are you?”
“Yes, I am. Because even if you tell everyone I was pregnant before the wedding, it doesn’t prove anything. People get pregnant. People get married. There’s no law against the order of events.”
“There’s no law, true. But there is a will.” Penelope pulled out her phone and started scrolling through something. “Marcus’s grandfather was very specific about the terms of inheritance. The marriage had to be genuine, entered into with intent to build a life partnership. Not a matter of convenience. Not a business arrangement.”
“Our marriage is genuine.”
“Is it? Or did Marcus marry you because you were pregnant and he needed a wife before his thirtieth birthday? Those are two very different scenarios.”
Mimi grabbed Elara’s arm. “We’re leaving. This is a waste of time.”
“Wait.” Penelope held up one hand. “I’m not done yet, You see, the pregnancy timeline is just the beginning. It’s the appetizer, if you will.”
She turned her phone around, showing Elara the screen. It was a video, paused on a grainy security camera image. Elara’s stomach dropped when she recognized the location.
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The fire exit. The night of the Christmas gala. The night she and Marcus had conceived the twins.
“You have security footage,” Elara whispered.
“I have very explicit security footage of you and my stepson having sex in a corporate fire exit. The timestamp clearly shows it was December twentieth, a full three weeks before your wedding.” Penelope’s smile widened. “The board is going to love this. Proof that your relationship started as nothing more than a drunken hookup that resulted in an inconvenient pregnancy.”
Elara felt the blood drain from her face. The video. She’d completely forgotten about security cameras. Had never even thought to worry about them.
“That’s private,” Mimi said. “You can’t just release someone’s sex tape without consent. That’s revenge porn. It’s illegal.”
“Oh, I’m not going to release it publicly. That would be crass.” Penelope slid her phone back into her pocket. “I’m going to show it to the board of directors during the emergency shareholder meeting. Along with the pregnancy timeline, the medical records I’ve obtained, and the very generous cash payment Marcus made to Elara when they first drew up their contract.”
“How do you even know about the cash payment?” Elara asked.
“Because Marcus made you keep the receipt. For tax purposes, I believe. And receipts have a way of surfacing when you know where to look.”
Luca pushed off from the pillar and walked closer. “So here’s how this is going to work. You have twenty-four hours to convince Marcus to step down as CEO. Voluntarily resign, walk away from the company, and hand control over to Penelope.”
“Why would we do that?”
“Because if you don’t,” Penelope said smoothly, “I present all of this evidence at the shareholder meeting tomorrow. Everything. Marcus will be humiliated in front of the entire board. His reputation will be destroyed. And the board will still strip him of his position anyway.”
“But if he resigns now,” Luca added, “Penelope keeps all the evidence private. No one ever sees the tape. No one questions the legitimacy of your marriage. You get to keep your dignity.”
Elara felt Mimi’s hand tighten on her arm, a silent reminder that they didn’t have to agree to anything.
“This is extortion,” Elara said.
“This is business,” Penelope corrected. “Marcus wanted to play corporate games, to manipulate his grandfather’s will with a fake marriage. Now he gets to face the consequences.”
“Our marriage isn’t fake.”
“Then prove it. Prove that you’re not just a desperate woman who trapped a billionaire with a pregnancy. Prove that Marcus didn’t marry you solely to satisfy the terms of an inheritance clause.” Penelope tilted her head. “Oh wait. You can’t. Because that’s exactly what happened.”
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Elara wanted to scream, wanted to launch herself at Penelope and claw that smug expression off her face But she was on bed rest, pregnant with fragile babies, in no condition to fight anyone physically
“Why do you hate him so much?” Elara asked instead. “What did Marcus ever do to you to deserve this?”
Something flickered in Penelope’s expression. Not quite emotion, but acknowledgment of the question.
“He exists,” Penelope said simply. “He inherited a company that should have been split more equitably among family. He holds power that could have been shared. And he judges me, looks down on me like I’m nothing more than a gold digger who married his father for money.”
“Maybe because that’s what you are.”
Penelope’s smile turned razor sharp. “Perhaps. But I’m a gold digger who’s about to own seventy percent of Thorne Dynamics. While Marcus will be a disgraced former CEO with a sex tape scandal and a shotgun wedding to his name.”
She checked her watch, the gesture casual and dismissive.
“You have twenty-four hours to convince Marcus to resign. After that, everything goes public. The tape, the timeline, all of it. And trust me, Elara, once that video is out there, you can’t put it back in the box. The
internet is forever.”
Penelope turned and started walking toward a door on the far side of the warehouse. Luca followed, pausing only to throw one more comment over his shoulder.
“I’d start with begging if I were you. Marcus seems like the type who responds to a woman on her knees.”
The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Elara and Mimi alone in the cavernous space.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Elara just stood there, processing everything that had just happened. The threats, the evidence, the impossible choice Penelope had presented.
“We need to tell Marcus,” Mimi said finally. “Right now. We need to tell him everything.”
“I know.”
“And then we need to figure out how to destroy that bitch before she destroys you.”
Elara pulled out her phone and looked at the time. Twenty-four hours. That’s all they had to figure out a way to fight back.
She typed out a message to Marcus with shaking hands.
Elara: I need to talk to you. It’s urgent. Can you come home?
The response came almost immediately.
Marcus: On my way. Are you okay? Are the babies okay?
Elara: We’re fine. Just come home. Please.
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Elara slid the phone back into her pocket and turned to Mimi. “Let’s go. I need to tell my husband that we’re about to lose everything.”
They walked back to the car in silence, both lost in thoughts about what came next. As Mimi started the engine, Elara looked back at the warehouse one more time.
Twenty-four hours until that tape went viral. Twenty-four hours to convince Marcus to give up everything he’d worked for. Twenty-four hours to find a miracle.
The car pulled away from the curb, heading back toward the penthouse where Marcus was waiting.
And Elara had absolutely no idea what she was going to tell him.
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