Chapter 4 - The Secret Behind the Marriage
At 11:52 a.m., the Creel Shipping board believed Silas Carbone was coming alone.
He wasn’t.
Vivien walked into the meeting first.
Conversation stopped.
Silas entered behind her.
Then Mave.
Tomas Vieri stood at the far end of the conference table.
Gray-haired. Immaculate suit.
He smiled.
“Silas.”
“Tomas.”
His smile disappeared when he saw Mave.
“She doesn’t belong here.”
Mave pulled out a chair.
“I’ve heard that a lot since three this morning.”
Vivien placed the divorce documents on the table.
Tomas stared at them.
“You have no idea what you’re destroying.”
Vivien sat.
“My marriage?”
“Your protection.”
“No. Silas protected me. The marriage protected your access to my company.”
Tomas looked toward the directors.
“This is a private family dispute.”
Mave spoke.
“Then why did your people break into a townhouse looking for me?”
Murmurs spread.
Tomas smiled thinly.
“You have no proof.”
Silas placed a phone on the table.
“We have the hospital access logs.”
Vivien added another document.
“And the emergency board authorization filed through a holding company your brother controls.”
Tomas’s expression finally changed.
Mave watched him.
There.
Fear.
Not anger.
“You thought they’d be too busy protecting each other to look at the paperwork,” she said.
Tomas looked at her.
“And what exactly are you?”
Mave’s stomach tightened.
The other woman.
The hidden woman.
The category.
Silas started to speak.
Mave beat him to it.
“My name is Mave Holloway.”
She held Tomas’s gaze.
“That’s all you need.”
Vivien smiled slightly.
Silas said nothing.
For once, he let Mave define herself.
Tomas turned toward the board.
“You believe them? Carbone concealed this marriage for four years.”
Vivien nodded.
“He did.”
Silas looked at her.
She continued.
“And I agreed to it.”
The room went quiet.
Vivien explained the arrangement.
The protection.
The shares.
The agreement made after her father’s death.
Then she said the part Tomas had not expected.
“And today, I’m ending it voluntarily.”
She signed the final page.
Silas signed beside her.
Tomas stared.
“You’ll lose everything.”
Vivien closed the folder.
“No.”
She looked at Mave.
“I’ll finally own my own choices.”
Silas’s gaze moved toward Mave too.
He understood the message.
Police investigators entered minutes later with Creel’s attorneys.
Tomas didn’t fight.
He simply looked at Silas.
“Your father would be ashamed.”
Silas replied quietly.
“My father is why I spent half my life confusing control with protection.”
Tomas was escorted out.
The boardroom emptied gradually.
Vivien stood near the window.
“It’s over.”
Silas nodded.
“For you.”
Vivien glanced toward Mave.
“No.”
She picked up her bag.
“Your difficult part is just beginning.”
Mave raised an eyebrow.
“I’m standing right here.”
“I know.”
Vivien smiled.
“That’s why I’m leaving.”
She walked toward the door, then stopped beside Mave.
“For what it’s worth, he never lied to me about you.”
Mave’s expression cooled.
“That doesn’t help him.”
“I know.”
Vivien looked toward Silas.
“He needs to hear that.”
Then she left.
Mave and Silas remained alone.
Silas loosened his tie.
Mave looked at him.
“You’re divorced?”
“The filing still needs processing.”
“So technically?”
“Still married.”
“Great.”
Silas almost smiled.
He thought better of it.
Mave picked up her coat.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“It isn’t secure.”
“My apartment is.”
“Mave.”
She faced him.
“You promised I decide.”
Silas fell silent.
“Do you love me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Then prove you can love someone without owning the outcome.”
She walked away.
May you like
This time, Silas Carbone did not follow her.
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