Chapter 13 - THE MARRIAGE THAT NEVER EXISTED
The doors locked.
Adrien immediately moved in front of me.
Luca pulled the emergency panel from the wall.
Nothing.
Thomas’s voice filled the darkness.
“Five years ago, Adrien believed he married Elena Bennett.”
My mother gripped my hand.
“He signed everything,” Thomas continued. “She signed everything. Beautiful ceremony. Lovely photographs.”
Adrien said nothing.
“But the filing was intercepted.”
A screen turned on.
Our marriage license appeared.
CANCELED - ADMINISTRATIVE DEFECT.
My stomach twisted.
We had never received that version.
The certificate hanging in our home was a forgery.
“Why?” I asked.
Thomas answered.
“Because a legal marriage would have complicated the Bellini holdings. I needed Elena emotionally attached to a Moretti, not legally protected by one.”
Adrien looked murderous.
Thomas laughed.
“You should thank me. Technically, she can leave you without a divorce.”
The words cut deeper than they should have.
Because part of me had spent the previous twenty-four hours believing our marriage was dead.
Now someone was telling me it had never legally lived.
Adrien turned toward me.
“Elena.”
“Not now.”
He respected it.
That hurt too.
Luca found the manual override and opened the door.
Federal agents flooded the floor.
Thomas wasn’t there.
The voice had been remote.
But he had accomplished what he wanted.
He had destabilized us again.
The next morning, lawyers confirmed it.
Our filing had indeed been canceled five years earlier.
We were not legally married.
Adrien sat across from me in the safe apartment.
No lawyers.
No security.
No family.
Just us.
“I can fix it.”
I almost smiled at how predictably Adrien that sounded.
“No.”
He went still.
“You can’t fix everything by signing another document.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
He looked at his hands.
“I spent months protecting you without talking to you. I let you believe distance meant indifference because telling you the truth felt dangerous.”
“It was dangerous.”
“So was losing you.”
I said nothing.
He continued.
“I knew why my father wanted me to meet you. I should have told you before our first date became our second. Before I loved you. Before I asked you to marry me.”
My eyes burned.
“Did you love me?”
He looked at me like the question hurt.
“Every day.”
“Even when you stopped coming home?”
“Especially then.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
Again, no defense.
Adrien reached into his pocket.
My wedding ring.
“I found this beside my plate.”
He placed it between us.
“I’m not asking you to put it back on.”
My throat tightened.
“I’m asking you to choose what happens next without me arranging it.”
He stood.
Then left.
For the first time, Adrien Moretti walked away from something he desperately wanted because I had not chosen it.
My mother watched him leave from the hallway.
“He loves you.”
“Love wasn’t the problem.”
“No.”
She sat beside me.
“Fear was.”
My phone buzzed.
Thomas.
A video.
Daniel was tied to a chair.
Blood marked his temple.
Thomas stood behind him.
“Midnight. Pier 46. Bring Margaret, the ledger, and the Bellini certificates.”
Then he smiled directly into the camera.
“And Elena?”
He lifted a document.
May you like
My original marriage application.
“Come alone if you want to know why Adrien’s father chose you before Adrien ever knew your name.”
