Chapter 6 - The Marriage Contract
Evelyn read the document twice.
Roman stood ten feet away.
Samuel had disappeared into the darkness during the distraction.
Roman didn't chase him.
For once, Evelyn mattered more than the enemy.
"Tell me it's fake."
Roman could have lied.
Three years earlier, he might have.
"It's real."
Evelyn's face emptied.
The contract had been negotiated before their wedding.
If Evelyn died within five years, Roman would receive temporary voting authority over several Hart companies.
In return, Calder resources would protect Hart interests from creditors.
It looked monstrous.
A business agreement built around her death.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You married me knowing this existed."
"Yes."
She stepped back.
Roman looked as if the distance physically hurt.
"Why?"
"Because Samuel was already moving against you."
"That's not an answer."
"I needed legal authority to protect the assets attached to your name."
"So you married the dying woman and gained control when she died."
"I never intended to keep anything."
"But you signed it."
"Yes."
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
"Of course you did."
"Evelyn—"
"Don't."
He stopped.
She returned to the manor with Clara and Lily.
Roman did not follow until morning.
When he entered the study, Evelyn was waiting.
The original marriage certificate sat on the desk.
Beside it was a second document.
Roman recognized it.
Divorce papers.
His face went still.
Evelyn watched him.
"I had them prepared last year."
"Why didn't you file?"
"I didn't know where to serve them."
A painful almost-smile touched his mouth.
"Fair."
"I'm filing now."
Roman looked at the papers.
Then at her.
"All right."
She had expected resistance.
"What?"
"If that's what you want, I'll sign."
"You won't fight?"
"No."
"Why?"
Roman's answer came quietly.
"Because I've done enough things to you without your consent."
Evelyn's anger faltered.
Roman picked up a pen.
His hand paused.
"I need you to know one thing."
"What?"
"I didn't marry you because I thought you'd die."
She said nothing.
"I married you because Samuel had already tried to move your medical trust. Your family was compromised. Marriage gave me legal standing to stop him."
"That doesn't make it romantic."
"It wasn't."
Roman looked down.
"Not then."
Evelyn's heart betrayed her with one hard beat.
"Don't."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
She stood.
"You don't get to disappear and then come back with feelings."
"I had them before I left."
That made her angrier.
"Then leaving was worse."
Roman absorbed it.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought if you hated me, you'd survive me."
Evelyn stared.
"Do you hear yourself?"
"Every day."
His voice cracked almost imperceptibly.
It was the first time she had ever heard Roman Calder sound tired.
"I thought distance was protection. I thought money was care. I thought making decisions alone was strength."
He met her eyes.
"I was wrong."
Evelyn looked away.
An apology did not erase three years.
Understanding did not restore them.
She pushed the papers toward him.
Roman signed.
No argument.
No threat.
No bargain.
He placed the pen down.
"After Samuel is stopped, I'll leave."
"This is my house."
"I know."
Those words mattered.
Roman spent the next week helping without taking command.
It was almost irritating.
He repaired a broken greenhouse door.
He drove Arthur to a medical appointment.
He helped Lily and June carry boxes.
He ate at the kitchen table when invited.
When he wasn't invited, he ate alone.
Evelyn watched him from a distance.
This Roman was harder to hate.
She preferred the arrogant one.
Anger was simple.
Change was dangerous.
Meanwhile, Gabriel traced Samuel's accounts.
The breakthrough came from Evelyn.
She recognized one shell company's name.
Bellweather Agricultural.
It had purchased produce from Calder House six months earlier.
"Samuel has been watching us," she said.
Roman looked at the invoices.
"Through business transactions."
"He wanted access to our books."
Gabriel nodded.
"And someone here approved these."
The traitor remained.
They reviewed staff access.
Vendor logs.
Security codes.
Nothing.
Then June wandered into the study carrying a broken tablet.
"Evie?"
"Yes?"
"It stopped working."
Evelyn took it.
"What happened?"
"Mr. Arthur dropped it."
Roman looked up.
"Arthur?"
June nodded.
"He was looking at the gate cameras."
Evelyn froze.
Arthur had access to everything.
He had delivered Roman's letter.
He had known about the threat.
He had known Roman was returning before anyone else.
"No," Evelyn whispered.
Roman stood.
"Where is he?"
They searched the manor.
Arthur was gone.
His room was empty.
So was the old key cabinet.
On his desk sat a photograph.
Roman's grandfather.
Arthur.
Samuel Hart.
All three men were young.
Standing together.
Evelyn turned the photograph over.
A handwritten date appeared.
Below it:
THE FIRST AGREEMENT.
Roman stared.
"My grandfather knew Samuel."
Gabriel picked up a ledger beside the photograph.
"More than knew him."
The old Calder and Hart families had been partners decades earlier.
Samuel's scheme had not begun with Evelyn.
It had begun before she was born.
A noise came from the front hall.
The door opened.
Arthur walked in.
Everyone turned.
His coat was wet.
Blood marked one sleeve.
Evelyn stepped toward him.
"Arthur?"
He looked at Roman.
"I'm sorry."
Roman's hand moved instinctively toward his coat.
Arthur shook his head.
"Not for what you think."
He placed an old cassette recorder on the table.
"Samuel contacted me."
Evelyn stared.
"When?"
"Three years ago."
Roman's expression became lethal.
Arthur continued quickly.
"I pretended to cooperate. It's why I could warn you. It's why I knew his movements."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Roman demanded.
"Because your grandfather made me promise."
"My grandfather is dead."
"Yes."
Arthur looked at Evelyn.
"But the secret isn't."
He pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then a man's voice.
Roman recognized his grandfather.
Another voice followed.
Samuel.
They were discussing a child.
A Hart child.
A Calder inheritance.
Then Evelyn heard her father's name.
Arthur stopped the tape.
"There's more."
Evelyn's mouth went dry.
"Play it."
Arthur looked at her.
"You need to understand. Once you hear the rest, you cannot unknow it."
"Play it."
His finger moved toward the button.
Before he touched it, the manor lights went out.
A scream came from upstairs.
Then a man's voice echoed through the darkness.
May you like
"Evelyn."
Samuel was inside the house.
