Chapter 2 - The Bride Who Knew
Roman deleted the message.
Tessa stared at him.
“That doesn’t make it disappear.”
“You’re not going downstairs.”
“Two minutes ago you ordered me downstairs.”
“Two minutes ago I didn’t know they had been watching you.”
“They?”
Roman crossed to the windows.
Below them, black cars lined the circular drive.
Some belonged to politicians.
Some belonged to Castell associates.
Others bore Bishop plates.
“Roman.”
He turned.
“The engagement wasn’t my idea.”
“I already assumed romance wasn’t involved.”
“Neither was the marriage.”
Tessa frowned.
Roman opened the desk safe.
Inside were cash, passports, two encrypted drives, a pistol, and a thick cream-colored document.
He handed her the document.
At the top:
CASTELL-BISHOP CONSOLIDATION AGREEMENT.
Tessa scanned the clauses.
Shipping terminals.
Rail access.
Warehouse rights.
Labor guarantees.
Then Article Twelve.
Her stomach tightened.
“Marriage?”
“The old families still think contracts mean more when blood is attached.”
“This is insane.”
“Yes.”
She continued reading.
A handwritten amendment had been added.
Marriage between Roman Castell and Chloe Bishop would formally activate the agreement.
Failure to complete the marriage would trigger immediate dissolution of the truce.
Tessa looked up.
“What does dissolution mean?”
“Everyone takes back what they believe belongs to them.”
“War.”
“Yes.”
The office phone rang.
Roman answered.
“Speak.”
A woman’s voice said, “Send Tessa down.”
Chloe.
Tessa recognized her immediately.
Roman’s expression went cold.
“No.”
“Then I’ll come up.”
The line disconnected.
Roman cursed quietly.
Tessa folded the contract.
“You’re afraid of her?”
“No.”
“Her father?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what?”
Roman looked at her.
“Chloe knows something.”
Before Tessa could ask, the handle turned.
Roman had forgotten to relock the door.
It opened.
Chloe Bishop entered alone.
She was still wearing the silver evening gown from downstairs. The diamond on her finger flashed beneath the office lights.
Her gaze moved from Roman to Tessa.
Then to Tessa’s bag.
“You really were going to run.”
Tessa stiffened.
“How did you know?”
Chloe closed the door.
“Because I would have.”
Roman stepped between them.
“Chloe.”
“Relax. If I wanted her hurt, she wouldn’t be standing here.”
“That isn’t reassuring,” Tessa said.
For the first time, Chloe smiled.
“I always liked you.”
“Interesting way of showing it.”
“I’m not your enemy.”
“You’re wearing the ring I paid for.”
Chloe glanced at the diamond.
Then, unexpectedly, removed it.
She placed it on Roman’s desk.
“I hate this thing.”
Tessa blinked.
Roman didn’t.
Apparently he already knew.
Chloe looked at Tessa.
“You think I’m stealing the man you love.”
Silence.
Tessa’s face heated.
Roman watched her.
She refused to look at him.
Chloe continued.
“I’m not.”
“What exactly are you doing?”
“Buying time.”
“For what?”
“For Roman to get us out.”
“Us?”
Chloe’s confidence disappeared for a fraction of a second.
Roman said quietly, “Don’t.”
Chloe ignored him.
“My father arranged this marriage because he thinks marrying me to Roman gives him permanent access to Castell infrastructure.”
“I know.”
“No. You know the public agreement.”
She walked to Roman’s safe and pulled out a second document.
Roman grabbed her wrist.
Not violently.
But firmly.
“Chloe.”
“She deserves to know.”
“Not like this.”
“When, Roman? After she reaches Montreal?”
Tessa froze.
“How do you know about Montreal?”
Neither answered.
Tessa looked at Roman.
“You knew?”
“I knew you had prepared an exit route.”
“You knew the city?”
Roman’s silence hurt worse than an admission.
“You had me followed.”
“Protected.”
“Don’t use that word.”
“Tessa—”
“You watched me buy a ticket under another name?”
“I discovered it this afternoon.”
“And you still went downstairs and announced your engagement.”
“Because canceling tonight would have put you in greater danger.”
Tessa laughed once, bitterly.
“Everything you do to me becomes protection after you explain it.”
Roman flinched.
Good.
Chloe placed the second document on the desk.
“Tessa, read page nine.”
She did.
The document was older.
Twenty-three years older.
It described a debt between Roman’s father, Vittorio Castell, and Chloe’s father, Warren Bishop.
But page nine contained something stranger.
A list of beneficiaries.
Several names had been blacked out.
One remained visible.
Eleanor Hayes.
Tessa stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
Roman looked at Chloe.
“You said that name wasn’t in your copy.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Where did you get this?”
“My father’s study.”
Tessa stared at the page.
Her mother had died when Tessa was seventeen.
Or so she had believed.
“What does she have to do with your families?”
Chloe looked almost apologetic.
“I don’t know.”
Tessa turned to Roman.
“You knew?”
“I knew there was a Hayes connection. I didn’t know it was your mother until six months ago.”
Six months.
Tessa felt something inside her break.
“You knew for six months?”
“I was trying to verify it.”
“You could have asked me.”
“And tell you what? That the mother you buried might have been connected to the men who killed mine?”
Tessa went still.
Roman’s mother had died in a car bombing when he was fourteen.
He never discussed it.
Chloe moved closer to Tessa.
“There’s more.”
She produced a small brass key.
“My father keeps a private archive beneath the Bishop terminal.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“You stole that?”
“I borrowed it.”
“You’ve just signed your own death warrant.”
“Probably.”
Chloe pressed the key into Tessa’s palm.
“Your mother’s name appears on the archive index.”
Tessa stared down at it.
“Why give this to me?”
“Because I don’t want to marry Roman.”
For the first time, something genuinely human entered Chloe’s face.
“And because there’s someone else I do want.”
Roman looked away as if he already knew that too.
A crash sounded downstairs.
Then shouting.
Roman touched his earpiece.
“What happened?”
Static.
Then his security chief’s voice.
“Boss, we have a breach.”
Roman moved toward the door.
“Where?”
“Inside the house.”
A gunshot cracked below.
Tessa flinched.
Roman turned back.
“Lock this after me.”
But Chloe was staring through the office window toward the courtyard.
“Roman.”
He followed her gaze.
A black SUV had crashed through the security gate.
Three armed men emerged.
One looked directly toward the office.
Then Tessa’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered before Roman could stop her.
A man whispered two words.
“Tessa Hayes?”
“Yes?”
There was a pause.
May you like
Then:
“Your mother is alive.”
