Chapter 145
Marcus’s POV
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Marcus was pacing the living room when he heard the elevator doors open. He’d been home for twenty minutes, each one stretching longer than the last, his mind spinning through worst-case scenarios about why Elara needed to talk so urgently.
The babies. Something had to be wrong with the babies.
But when Elara walked in with Mimi beside her, both looking shaken but physically fine, Marcus felt relief flood through him followed immediately by confusion.
“What’s going on?” he asked, crossing the room to meet them. “Your text scared the hell out of me.”
Elara looked at Mimi, who nodded and headed toward the kitchen. “I’ll give you two some privacy.”
Once Mimi was gone, Elara sank onto the couch like her legs wouldn’t hold her anymore. Marcus sat beside her, taking her hand.
“Talk to me. What happened?”
“I did something stupid,” Elara said quietly. “Something I should have told you about immediately but I thought I could handle it myself.”
Marcus felt dread settling in his stomach. “What did you do this time?”
Elara pulled out her phone and handed it to him. “Read the messages. Start from yesterday.”
Marcus scrolled through the texts, his jaw clenching tighter with each line. The blackmail demand. The threat about the pregnancy timeline. The meeting location at some warehouse on Pier 47.
“You got
these yesterday?” Marcus looked up at her. “Why didn’t you tell me immediately?”
“Because you were already dealing with the investor meeting fallout and I didn’t want to add more stress to your plate. Because I thought I could handle my own father.”
“Your father.” Marcus stood up and started pacing again. “Luca sent these. And you went to meet him. At a warehouse. Alone.”
“Not alone. Mimi came with me.”
“Oh, well that makes it so much better! Two women going to meet a desperate criminal in an abandoned building! What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I could talk him out of it! I was thinking I could protect you for once instead of always being the one who needs protecting!”
Marcus ran both hands through his hair, trying to control his anger. She’d put herself in danger. While on bed rest. While carrying their fragile babies. All because she wanted to protect him.
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Chapter 145
“What happened at the meeting?” he asked, forcing himself to stay calm.
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“It wasn’t just Luca.” Elara’s voice broke slightly. “Penelope was there too. They’re working together”
Of course they were. Marcus should have seen that coming.
“What did they want?”
“They gave us an ultimatum. Twenty-four hours for you to voluntarily resign as CEO and hand control of the company to Penelope. If you don’t…” Elara paused, clearly struggling with what came next. “If you don’t, she’s going to release evidence at the shareholder meeting tomorrow.”
“What evidence? The pregnancy timeline? We already know about that.”
“Not just the timeline.” Elara stood up and walked to the window, unable to look at him. “Marcus, do you remember the night we conceived the twins? The fire exit at the end of the year gala?”
Marcus felt his blood run cold. “The security cameras.”
“Penelope has the footage. She’s going to show the board a sex tape of us in the fire exit, along with the pregnancy timeline, along with…” Elara’s voice got even quieter. “The cash payment receipt from our original
contract.”
Marcus stood perfectly still, processing this information. The security footage. He’d forgotten about the cameras in the stairwells. Had been too drunk and too desperate for Elara that night to think about anything beyond getting his hands on her.
And now Penelope had video evidence of the night that had started everything.
“How does she have the receipt?” Marcus asked. “I told you to destroy that.”
“You told me to keep it for tax purposes. So I did.”
“And somehow Penelope got her hands on it.”
“She has everything, Marcus. She’s going to present it all to the board tomorrow and argue that our marriage violates the terms of your grandfather’s will. That it was entered into as a matter of convenience because of an unplanned pregnancy rather than genuine intent.”
Marcus walked to the bar and poured himself a scotch. He downed it in one swallow and poured another.
“So our options are,” he said slowly, “I resign voluntarily and she keeps the evidence private. Or I refuse to resign and she destroys my reputation publicly while the board strips me of my position anyway.”
“That’s the ultimatum.”
“Those aren’t really options. Either way I lose the company.”
“I know.” Elara turned to face him, tears streaming down her face. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant, if I hadn’t kept that stupid receipt, if I hadn’t been so careless…”
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Chapter 145
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“Stop.” Marcus set down his glass and crossed to her, pulling her into his arms. “This is not your fault None of this is your fault.”
“How can you say that? I’m the one who ruined everything!”
“Penelope ruined everything. Penelope sabotaged the investor meeting. Penelope is blackmailing us. Penelope has been scheming for years to take control of this company.” Marcus pulled back to look at Elara’s face. “You didn’t do anything wrong except fall in love with me.”
“But the video…”
“Is embarrassing, sure. But it’s not illegal. We were both adults, both single at the time. So we had sex in a fire exit. So what?”
“The board will care. They’ll say it proves the marriage was fake, was only about the pregnancy.”
“Let them say it.” Marcus wiped tears from Elara’s cheeks with his thumbs. “Let Penelope show them whatever evidence she wants. I’m done playing her games.”
“Marcus, you’ll lose everything.”
“I’ll lose a company. I won’t lose you. I won’t lose our children. Those are the things that actually matter.”
Elara shook her head. “You can’t just give up. This is your grandfather’s legacy, your life’s work…”
“My grandfather’s legacy was built on integrity and honest business practices. He’d be ashamed of the games I’ve played to hold onto it. The contract marriage, the manipulation of his will’s terms, all of it.”
Marcus led Elara back to the couch and sat beside her, keeping her hand clasped in his.
“When my grandfather wrote that will, he put in the marriage clause because he wanted me to have what he had. A real partnership. Someone to share my life with, not just my bed. He wanted me to experience actual love, not the corporate arrangements and society marriages that everyone in our circle settles for.”
“And instead you hired your assistant to play the role.”
“At first, yes. But that’s not what this is anymore. You know that, right? You know this stopped being fake a long time ago.”
Elara nodded. “I know.”
“So let Penelope release the tape. Let her show the board the receipt and the timeline. Let her make whatever argument she wants about the legitimacy of our marriage.”
“They’ll strip you of your position.”
“Probably. But I’ll still have you. I’ll still have our babies. I’ll still have a life worth living that has nothing to do with quarterly earnings and shareholder votes.”
“But Thorne Dynamics…”
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Chapter 115
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“Will survive without me. Or it won’t. Either way, it’s just a company. You are my wife. Those babies upstairs in the NICU fighting for their lives are my children. That’s what matters. That’s the only thing that matters.”
Marcus pulled Elara closer, tucking her head under his chin. He could feel her shaking, could feel the fear and stress radiating off her body.
“I’m not giving Penelope the satisfaction of watching me resign in defeat,” Marcus said quietly. “If she wants to take me down, she’ll have to do it publicly, in front of the whole board. And when she does, I’ll stand there and own every single thing I did. The contract, the pregnancy, the fire exit sex tape, all of it.”
“Marcus…”
“I’ll tell them the truth. That yes, our marriage started as a business arrangement. That yes, you got pregnant before we were married. That yes, I manipulated my grandfather’s will to maintain control of the company.”
He pulled back to look at her face again. “But I’ll also tell them that I fell in love with you. That somewhere between the contract signing and now, this became real. That I would marry you again tomorrow, contract or no contract, company or no company, because you’re the only woman I’ve ever actually loved.”
Fresh tears spilled down Elara’s cheeks. “You can’t just throw away everything you’ve worked for.”
“I’m not throwing it away. I’m choosing something more important.” Marcus cupped her face in both hands. “Let Penelope release the tape. Let her show the world that sex tape from the fire exit. Let her present every piece of evidence she has.”
He leaned forward until his forehead rested against hers.
“I don’t care anymore. I don’t care about the company or the shares or my reputation or any of it. I care about you.”
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