My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104

Chapter 104

Elara’s Pov

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“Did something happen?” Marcus asked, his eyes moving between Elara and Mimi with growing concern. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

Before Elara could answer, Mimi stood up from the couch, grabbing her purse and the vodka bottle she’d been nursing.

“Erhm, I’ll give you two some space,” she said, avoiding Marcus’s eyes. She walked over to Elara and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’ll talk to you later, babe. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

Elara nodded against her shoulder, not trusting herself to speak.

Mimi pulled back, gave her one last reassuring squeeze on the arm, then headed for the door. The sound of it closing behind her felt final somehow, like the last barrier between Elara and the conversation she’d been dreading.

The moment Mimi was gone, Marcus’s full attention turned back to Elara. He walked over to a chair and placed his suit jacket properly. Then he loosened his tie completely, pulling it off and tossing it aside before walking over to sit on the couch beside her.

“Talk to me,” he said, his voice gentle but firm. “What’s wrong?”

Elara opened her mouth, then closed it again. How did you start a conversation like this? How did you tell someone you might have just destroyed their entire life?

“Erhm,” she started, scratching her head nervously. “I might have made a big fuck up.”

Marcus’s expression didn’t change, but she saw his jaw tighten slightly. “Okay. What is it? Tell me. Nothing that can’t be fixed, right?”

The concern in his voice, the automatic assumption that whatever it was could be solved, made Elara feel even worse about what she was about to say.

“Okay, so,” she took a deep breath, forcing the words out before she lost her nerve. “I think Penelope knows the marriage is fake.”

Marcus went very still. “Wait, what? That’s not possible. She couldn’t have possibly figured that out. Plus, she won’t even have any proof to prove anything.”

“That’s kind of like the problem, Marcus,” Elara said quietly. “She has proof. She has the full hard copy of the contract. The marriage contract between you and me.”

Marcus stared at her for a long moment, his brain clearly trying to process what she’d just said. Then he shook his head.

“No. That’s not possible. The contract is locked away with Dante in his office in a safe nobody has access to except me and him.”

“Yes, I know that,” Elara said, her voice getting lower. “So I made a copy back then. When you first gave me the contract to sign.”

15:05 Mon, May 11

Chapter 104

“You made a copy?” Marcus’s tone was shifting now, confusion mixing with the first hints of anger.

“I thought you all were trying to play me, you know? Typical rich people taking advantage of poor people’s situation. I wanted my own evidence in case anything went south. I wanted proof of what we’d agreed to so you couldn’t change the terms or screw me over later.”

She twisted her hands in her lap, not able to look at him directly. “Plus, you know, back then we were barely this close. We didn’t know each other. I didn’t think you were someone I could trust.”

Marcus was quiet for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I can understand that logic. But how did the copy find its way to Penelope then?”

This was the part Elara had been dreading. The part where she had to admit just how careless she’d been.

“I left it in my old house,” she said, the words coming out in a rush. “The apartment where I used to live with my mom. I completely forgot about it. Like, totally forgot it even existed.”

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