Chapter 97
This was going to be a long ride.
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Penelope left with Luca, the door closing behind them with a soft click that somehow felt ominous. The silence that followed was heavy, thick with tension. Elara, Marcus, and Aurora stood in the living room like three points of a very uncomfortable triangle.
Elara turned to Marcus, her voice very low but managed to sound urgent. “Marcus, did you see that? Did you see Luca all dressed up with Penelope? Luca of all people.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened. “I saw.”
“Luca alone is a bad seed. A disaster waiting to happen. But now he’s combined with Penelope?” Elara shook her head, anxiety creeping into her chest. “That’s a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. We need to figure out what they’re planning.”
She shifted her focus to Aurora, who was still standing by the couch looking far too comfortable for someone who’d just caused chaos at six in the morning. “And Marcus, what are we going to do about her?”
“What about me?” Aurora fired back immediately, her voice sharp and defensive.
Marcus held up his hand, cutting off whatever argument was about to start again. “I told you already, Aurora. If you’re going to stay here, you have to give my wife the same respect you give to me. Are we clear?”
Aurora’s lips pressed into a thin line. She nodded, but the grumbling sound she made under her breath made it clear she wasn’t happy about it.
Marcus walked past both of them toward the balcony, pulling open the glass door and stepping out into the cool morning air. He leaned over the railing and called down to the security post below.
“Yusuf! Yusuf!”
A moment later, a man’s voice called back up. “Yes, sir?”
“Someone will be coming down shortly. Please take her to the guest wing and make sure she’s settled.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
Marcus came back inside, closing the balcony door behind him. He walked over to where Aurora was standing and gestured toward the front door. “You can go down now. The security guy will show you where to go.”
Aurora picked up her designer bags with more force than necessary, her movements stiff with barely contained irritation. She walked toward the door without saying goodbye, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.
The moment the door closed behind her, Elara let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She turned to Marcus, running her hands through her hair in frustration.
“Man, this is going to be crazy,” she said, pacing toward the windows. “I can’t be staying here alone every day while you go to the office. Not now that Aurora is here. And now that I know Penelope is literally
15:03 Mon, May 11
Chapter 97
upstairs with Luca, Luca of all people?”
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She stopped pacing and faced him directly. “This is going to be a mad one, Marcus. I need to start doing something. I have to. I can’t stay home anymore.”
Marcus walked over to her, his expression softening slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I mean I need to work. I need to get out of this house and do something productive instead of sitting around waiting for your psycho stepmother and my alcoholic father to cook up whatever scheme they’re planning.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling suddenly vulnerable in just her silk robe. “Plus, how do you think we’re going to hide this pregnancy from them if I’m just sitting here all day? Penelope already watches everything we do like a hawk. You think she won’t notice when I start showing? When I can’t fit into my regular clothes anymore?”
The words tumbled out faster now, the anxiety she’d been pushing down since finding out about the twins rising to the surface. “And what about morning sickness? What if I’m throwing up and Aurora or Penelope just happens to be around? What then?”
Marcus reached out and took her hands in his, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles on her skin. “Aurora is only staying for two weeks. Remember? She said it herself. Just two weeks while the Wellington deal gets finalized, then she’s going back to England.”
“Two weeks is a long time when you’re living with someone who hates you.”
“She doesn’t hate you…”
“Marcus, please. Did you not just witness what happened this morning?” Elara pulled one hand free and gestured toward the door. “She showed up at six forty in the morning banging on our door like a maniac. She called me co-wife. She’s already marking her territory, and it’s only day one.”
Marcus sighed, running his free hand through his hair in a gesture that matched Elara’s earlier frustration. “You’re right. I know you’re right. But I really don’t want you to work yourself too hard, El. Not with the babies.”
The way he said “babies” made something warm bloom in her chest despite everything else. He really cared about her and the twins they were carrying.
“I won’t work myself too hard,” Elara promised. “I just need to do something. Be somewhere that isn’t this penthouse and feel like I have some actual control over my life again.”
Marcus studied her face for a long moment, his expression thoughtful. “Okay. Take a few days. Think about what you want to do, what kind of work would make sense right now. Then let me know and we’ll figure it out together, okay?”
Elara nodded, feeling some of the tension ease from her shoulders. “Okay. Thank you.”
“And in the meantime, we need to figure out what Penelope and your father are up to. Because you’re right, that combination is dangerous.”
“Extremely dangerous.”
15:03 Mon, May 11
Chapter 97
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They stood there for a moment in the quiet of the living room, both lost in their own thoughts about the complications that had just multiplied exponentially in the span of one morning.
Finally, Elara pulled away and walked toward the kitchen. She needed coffee. Or juice, since coffee was apparently bad for the babies. She needed something to do with her hands, something to occupy her mind besides the spiral of worry threatening to consume her.
The marble countertops were cool under her palms as she leaned against them, staring out the kitchen window at the New York skyline.
She pulled out a glass from the cabinet and filled it with orange juice from the fridge, the simple action grounding her somehow.
Two weeks. She just had to survive two weeks with Aurora. Then she could focus on dealing with Penelope
and Luca.
How hard could it be?
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