Chapter 9 - Mrs. Flores by Choice
No intruder was found.
That was worse.
Someone inside Dempster’s household had accessed the vault.
Selena picked up the ring.
Beneath it was a note.
MARRIAGE WILL NOT SAVE HER.
Dempster dismissed half his staff pending investigation.
Selena watched suspicion tear through a household built on loyalty.
Then she asked the question Victor’s recording had raised.
“Why does controlling me matter?”
Dempster finally explained.
Marianne’s trust did more than hold Wright shares.
It contained a dormant controlling interest in Meridian’s legitimate corporate structure.
Selena was unknowingly the legal key capable of dismantling the network.
Marriage complicated any attempt to coerce her into transferring assets.
That was why drunk Selena had suggested it.
But Dempster had agreed because he knew more than he admitted.
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You keep protecting me with half the truth.”
“Yes.”
“Stop.”
He looked at her.
“I will.”
Selena placed the ring between them.
“I won't wear this because I need protection.”
Dempster’s face tightened.
She continued.
“If I wear it again, it means something else.”
“What?”
“My choice.”
Silence.
Then she slipped it onto her finger.
Dempster stared.
“This doesn't mean I'm ready to be your real wife.”
“I know.”
“It means I trust you enough to find out whether I could be.”
His eyes softened.
“That is more than I expected.”
Selena stepped closer.
This time she initiated the kiss.
Gentle.
Brief.
Nothing like the possession Alidoro called love.
Dempster touched her cheek only after she leaned into him.
When they separated, Selena whispered, “Still terrifying.”
“I've been told.”
“Mostly by federal prosecutors?”
“Among others.”
She laughed.
The next morning, Selena exercised her voting rights in Wright Holdings.
Alidoro’s father panicked.
Emergency board meeting.
Lawyers.
Threats.
Selena walked into the Manhattan headquarters wearing the ring and a red dress Alidoro had once told her body was “not built for.”
Every head turned.
She did not shrink.
Charles Wright stared.
“You have no idea what you're doing.”
“My mother apparently did.”
She placed the trust documents on the table.
Charles went pale.
Selena called for an independent forensic audit.
The motion passed.
Barely.
Meridian began cracking.
Afterward, an elderly board member stopped Selena.
“Your mother sat in that chair.”
He pointed.
“She built the first financial model this company ever used.”
Selena swallowed.
“Why did nobody tell me?”
“Charles erased her.”
Not completely.
Selena was here.
That evening, Dempster took her home.
At the mansion, security stopped them.
A black sedan waited outside.
The rear door opened.
Helena Wright stepped out.
Alidoro’s mother.
She carried a gun in one hand.
And Marianne Roundtree’s diary in the other.
“I didn't come to kill you,” Helena said.
She looked at Selena.
“I came to tell you who did.”
May you like
Then she turned toward Dempster.
“And the murderer is inside your house.”
