Chapter 3 - MY HUSBAND FINALLY REALIZED I WASN’T WHAT HE EXPECTED
Nico studied me differently after that photograph.
Not warmly.
More carefully.
“You worked for the DA.”
“Interned.”
“Without your father knowing.”
“Yes.”
“Why hide it?”
“Because my father believes daughters are safer decorating donor tables.”
Nico almost smiled.
Almost.
“What did you investigate?”
“Public corruption. Procurement fraud.”
His expression changed.
“Construction?”
“Yes.”
“Hart Meridian?”
“Indirectly.”
I told him about Bellweather.
Not Rebecca Shaw.
Not yet.
He listened without interrupting.
That surprised me.
Then:
“Show me.”
I hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because my family has contracts with Bellweather.”
My stomach tightened.
“How many?”
“Enough.”
We moved to his office.
Not the forbidden west wing.
A smaller room near the library.
Nico opened a secure laptop and pulled vendor records.
Bellweather had subcontracted on Caruso construction projects for nine years.
Payments climbed dramatically over the last three.
Forty million.
Then sixty-two.
Then one hundred eighteen million.
“Your people never questioned this?”
“They did.”
“What happened?”
Nico’s face hardened.
“The auditor died.”
I stared.
“How?”
“Apartment fire.”
“Accident?”
“At the time.”
That phrase again.
Then Nico opened another file.
The auditor’s name:
Daniel Price.
I knew it.
He had been one of the sealed witnesses in my DA internship.
My supervisor told me Price refused further contact.
Apparently because he was dead.
I felt sick.
“Nico.”
“Yes?”
“This is bigger than our marriage.”
“I know.”
“What did my father tell you before you agreed?”
Nico leaned back.
“He said somebody was trying to force control of Hart Meridian through you.”
“Through me?”
“You inherit forty-two percent when you turn twenty-five.”
I laughed.
“No, I don’t.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Your father says you do.”
“My trust is mostly cash and property.”
“According to him, that’s what you were told.”
I stared.
I turned twenty-five in four months.
Then a memory surfaced.
My mother.
Before she died when I was sixteen.
She once told me:
When you’re old enough, your father won’t be able to decide everything anymore.
I thought she meant adulthood.
Maybe she meant ownership.
Nico continued.
“Your marriage changes the trust.”
“How?”
“Any hostile acquisition involving your shares requires spousal acknowledgment for twelve months after marriage.”
My jaw dropped.
“So marrying you blocks somebody from forcing my shares?”
“Yes.”
“Why you?”
“Because no one expects me to sign away leverage.”
He said it like a threat.
For once, I was grateful.
“Did you marry me to gain Hart Meridian?”
“No.”
I searched his face.
He looked irritated.
“Why does everyone assume I want another construction empire?”
“You are a Caruso.”
“That explains reputation. Not motive.”
Fair.
Then he said:
“My father owed your mother.”
I froze.
“You knew my mother?”
“No.”
“My father did.”
“What kind of debt?”
“He never told me.”
Another dead parent carrying secrets.
Wonderful.
Then Nico opened his desk drawer.
Pulled out a letter.
“I was supposed to give this to you after thirty days.”
“From whom?”
“Your mother.”
My breath stopped.
“She died nine years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you have her letter?”
“Because my father gave it to me before he died.”
My hands shook as I opened it.
Evie,
If you ever marry a Caruso, something has gone very wrong.
I laughed once through the tears.
That was my mother.
Then:
But if Nicholas is the man you married, do not assume his family is your enemy.
Your father’s greatest danger has always come from the people he trusts enough to call respectable.
I looked up.
Nico was watching me.
I continued.
There is one person inside Hart Meridian you must never trust.
The letter ended there.
May you like
The next page had been removed.
Someone had torn away the name.
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