Chapter 6 - THE MARRIAGE THAT BEGAN AS A SETUP
Damien took the phone.
“Stefan.”
A low laugh came through the speaker.
“Brother.”
“You threaten my wife again and I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Kill a dead man?”
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
Elena held out her hand.
“Give me the phone.”
Damien stared.
“Now.”
He gave it back.
“Why did you arrange for me to meet Damien?”
Stefan paused.
“You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“Viktor’s favorite girl never told you?”
“My mother?”
“Not her.”
Elena frowned.
“Who?”
“Ask Damien.”
She turned.
Damien looked confused.
“I don’t know.”
Stefan laughed.
“Still protecting himself.”
Damien’s face hardened.
“Elena and I met by chance.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You attended that fundraiser because Marcus told you there was a potential investor you should meet.”
Damien stopped.
Elena remembered.
Damien had told her years later that he almost skipped the event.
Marcus convinced him to attend.
Stefan continued.
“And Elena attended because the Harbor Equity Fellowship gave her a complimentary ticket.”
Elena’s pulse changed.
That fellowship had been anonymous.
She was twenty-six, working in municipal finance, paying student loans.
The ticket had felt like luck.
“Who funded the fellowship?”
Stefan answered.
“Northstar.”
Silence.
Her entire marriage suddenly had a hidden preface.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I wanted you inside the Vasic family.”
“Why me?”
“Because Marina had the last copy of the Black Ledger.”
“I didn’t know anything about it.”
“Exactly.”
“Then marrying Damien accomplished what?”
“It made Viktor watch you.”
Elena stared at Ronan.
He looked sick.
“Viktor knew?”
Stefan laughed.
“Eventually.”
Damien gripped the back of a chair.
“What was the plan?”
“Simple. Get Elena close. Wait for Marina to panic. Follow the ledger.”
“Did it work?”
“No.”
Stefan’s voice turned colder.
“Marina was smarter than I expected.”
Elena’s throat tightened.
“What happened to her?”
Silence.
“Stefan.”
“I didn’t kill your mother.”
“Did you cause her death?”
“I said I didn’t kill her.”
Not the same answer.
Elena shut her eyes.
“Where are you?”
“Soon.”
The line disconnected.
Damien immediately called Ronan’s trace team.
No usable location.
Elena sat.
She felt exhausted.
Thirty-four weeks pregnant.
Husband unfaithful.
Dead brother alive.
Dead mother connected to port crime.
Marriage possibly engineered by a ghost.
At least the baby continued kicking.
That was real.
Damien crouched in front of her.
“Are you okay?”
She looked at him.
“What a strange question.”
His face fell.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
Not I forgive you.
Just I know.
He looked down.
“I didn’t know about the fundraiser.”
“I believe you.”
His eyes lifted, surprised.
“I believe you didn’t know that.”
The distinction hurt him.
Again, good.
Gabrielle leaned against the window.
“Elena, whatever Stefan intended, that doesn’t mean your marriage was fake.”
Elena looked at her.
“I’m not taking marriage advice from my husband’s mistress.”
Gabrielle flinched.
“Fair.”
Damien stood.
“We need to discuss that too.”
“No.”
Gabrielle looked at him.
“Damien—”
“No. You told me you were protecting me. Explain.”
She crossed her arms.
“When Viktor died, I inherited part of his investigation.”
Damien stared.
“My father trusted you?”
“He didn’t trust me. He used me.”
“That sounds familiar,” Elena said.
Gabrielle nodded.
“Also fair.”
She continued.
“Viktor knew Stefan watched people close to you. He believed if Stefan thought you and I were involved, he would try to use me.”
Damien’s face changed.
“You started the affair as bait?”
“At first.”
Elena went completely still.
“At first?”
Gabrielle looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Damien’s voice became dangerous.
“You manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Her eyes shifted toward Elena.
Then Damien.
“Then it became real.”
Silence.
Elena felt something finally crack.
Not because Gabrielle loved him.
Because Damien had still chosen.
No conspiracy erased that.
“Leave,” Elena said.
Gabrielle nodded immediately.
Damien turned.
“Elena—”
“I mean both of you.”
He stared.
“This is my father’s house.”
“And I’m carrying your daughter while learning our marriage began as someone’s operation. I need one room today that isn’t full of Vasic men and women who lied to me.”
That stopped him.
Damien walked toward the door.
Then paused.
“I’ll be downstairs.”
“I didn’t ask where.”
He left.
Gabrielle followed.
Elena remained with Ronan.
After a minute, she asked:
“How did my mother die?”
Ronan looked at her.
“Officially?”
“Don’t.”
He nodded.
“She had pancreatic cancer.”
Relief.
Then:
“But that isn’t why she disappeared from your life before the funeral.”
Elena stared.
“What?”
“She entered witness protection four months before she died.”
“Why?”
“Because she finally agreed to testify about Stefan.”
Elena’s heart pounded.
“Against him?”
“Yes.”
“Did she?”
Ronan’s eyes darkened.
“She never reached the hearing.”
“Why?”
“Her transport was attacked.”
Elena’s breath stopped.
“By whom?”
“We never proved it.”
Then Ronan reached into Viktor’s old file and removed a photograph from the attack scene.
A black SUV.
Broken glass.
One dead federal marshal.
And a man captured by a traffic camera two blocks away.
Elena recognized him immediately.
Marcus Bell.
May you like
The Vasic CFO.
The man still controlling billions inside Damien’s company.
