Chapter 13 - THE MARRIAGE THAT COULD TAKE EVERYTHING FROM HIM
The certificate was real.
Rose Bennett and Thomas Cole had married quietly in Maine.
Three years before Thomas married Eleanor.
But there was no divorce record.
Which meant Thomas’s second marriage might have been invalid.
Which meant Adrian’s inheritance could be challenged.
By me.
I hated it immediately.
Adrian read the certificate in silence.
Then laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because reality had apparently given up pretending to be reasonable.
“You could own Cole Holdings.”
“I don’t want it.”
“Legally—”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You haven’t even spoken to counsel.”
“I don’t need to.”
“Nora.”
“It’s yours.”
“If my father committed bigamy—”
“You built the company.”
“On inherited assets.”
“So?”
“So truth matters.”
I stared at him.
This man had spent his life in a world where men killed to keep property.
Now he was willing to lose it over paperwork.
Something in me shifted.
“You’d give it up?”
“If it belongs to you.”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Just like that?”
“No.”
He smiled faintly.
“I’d be extremely irritated.”
I laughed.
“But yes.”
We consulted independent attorneys.
The result surprised everyone.
Rose and Thomas had married.
But the marriage had been annulled privately six months later.
The record had been misfiled under Rose’s maiden name.
Adrian’s inheritance was secure.
Mine remained separate.
No empire changed hands.
No war.
Just truth.
For once, the truth did not destroy anything.
That evening, Adrian found me outside Bennett House.
Rain had just started.
He stood beside me.
“I thought I might lose everything today.”
“Were you scared?”
“Yes.”
“Of the company?”
“No.”
I looked at him.
He continued.
“I was scared you would think I’d fight you for it.”
“Why would that matter?”
He stared at me.
“Because I care what you think.”
My heart tightened.
He stepped closer.
“I’ve cared for a while.”
“Adrian.”
“I know.”
“You were engaged six months ago.”
“I know.”
“To my sister.”
His mouth twitched.
“When you say it like that, it sounds terrible.”
“It is terrible.”
“Yes.”
We both laughed.
Then he became serious.
“I’m not asking for anything.”
“Good.”
“I just need to stop pretending.”
I crossed my arms.
“Pretending what?”
“That you’re only someone I used to employ.”
The rain fell harder.
I looked at him.
“You’re a mafia boss.”
“Formerly adjacent.”
“That is not a legal category.”
“No.”
“You terrify people.”
“Less now.”
“You shot a man in Atlantic City.”
“He shot first.”
“Adrian.”
He smiled.
Then said quietly:
“I love you.”
The world went still.
I had imagined many things in my life.
Not that.
I looked away.
“You don’t know me.”
“I know you remember seventy employees’ problems.”
“That’s not me.”
“I know you keep broken buttons because you think someone may need them.”
I stared.
“I know you hate pears.”
“How?”
“You always trade them at lunch.”
I almost smiled.
“I know you forgive slowly.”
“Yes.”
“And I know that after Vanessa humiliated you, you still risked yourself to save her.”
He stepped closer.
“I know enough to love you.”
My throat tightened.
“But not enough to deserve an answer tonight.”
He walked away.
I stood in the rain for several minutes.
Then my phone rang.
Vanessa.
Her voice was frantic.
“Nora, someone broke into my apartment.”
“What?”
“They didn’t take money.”
“Then what?”
“My father’s files.”
My stomach dropped.
“What files?”
“The ones naming every surviving member of his old organization.”
I looked toward Adrian’s disappearing car.
May you like
Vanessa whispered:
“Someone is rebuilding what my father lost.”
