I glanced at Rick.
He stood.
“It’s not happening today.”
Elena’s expression sharpened.
“It is,” she said. “You don’t get to delay this because you decided to play house.”
Play house.
Something in me tightened—but I stayed still.
Rick didn’t raise his voice.
“I’ve made my position clear.”
“And we’ve made ours,” she replied. “Which is why this—” she gestured toward me “—doesn’t change anything.”
I finally spoke.
“Clearly, it changes something.”
All eyes turned to me.
For a second, I almost wished I hadn’t said it.
But it was too late.
Elena studied me, slower this time.
“You don’t even know what you’re part of, do you?”
“No,” I said honestly. “But I’m guessing you’re about to explain it.”
A small smile touched her lips.
Not kind.
“Not me.”
She looked at Rick.
“He should have told you before putting a ring on your finger.”
Rick’s jaw tightened slightly.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Handle it quickly,” she said. “Because whether she understands it or not… she’s already involved.”
That word again.
Involved.
In what?
The first man checked his watch.
“We’ll give you forty-eight hours,” he said. “After that, this moves forward—with or without your cooperation.”
Rick didn’t respond.
They turned to leave.
But Elena paused at the door.
She looked back at me one last time.
“You married for security,” she said.
Not a question.
A statement.
Then—
“Let’s see how long that lasts.”
And just like that, they were gone.
—
The house felt quieter after they left.
Not peaceful.
Empty in a different way.
I looked at Rick.
“You want to start explaining now?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he walked to the cabinet, poured himself a drink, and took a slow sip.
That told me everything.
This wasn’t simple.
“This family,” he said finally, “built something together a long time ago.”
“What kind of something?”
“A company,” he replied. “An empire, depending on who you ask.”
“And the problem?”
He looked at me again.
“They want control.”
“Of the company?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I still have it.”
That part was clear.
“So where do I fit into this?” I asked.
He set the glass down.
“Inheritance laws,” he said.
It took a second to connect.
Then it hit.
“You married me to—what? Change who gets what?”
“To protect it,” he corrected.
“From your own family?”
“Yes.”
That landed harder than I expected.
“And me?” I asked quietly. “What happens to me in this ‘protection’ plan?”
He didn’t look away.
“You’re the only variable they didn’t account for.”
That wasn’t comforting.
“That makes me a target.”
“It makes you important.”
“Those are not the same thing,” I said.
“No,” he agreed. “But right now, they overlap.”
I let out a slow breath, trying to steady the sudden rush of thoughts.
“This isn’t what I agreed to.”
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