My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 150

Chapter 150

Marcus’s POV

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The boardroom felt smaller than usual, the walls pressing in as Marcus took his seat at the head of the table Every chair was occupied. All fifteen board members had shown up for this emergency meeting, their faces ranging from sympathetic to openly hostile.

Penelope sat in the back corner wearing navy blue, her expression serene. She’d already won and they both knew it. This meeting was just theater, a formality before the execution.

Robert Morrison cleared his throat and stood. As the longest-serving board member, he’d taken it upon himself to chair the proceedings.

“Marcus, thank you for coming. I know the last twenty-four hours have been difficult for you and your family.”

“Let’s skip the pleasantries, Robert. We all know why we’re here.”

Morrison’s jaw tightened but he nodded. “Very well. The board has called this emergency session to address the video that was leaked yesterday morning. The video that shows you and your wife, then your employee, engaged in sexual activity in a company fire exit.”

“I’m aware of what the video shows.”

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“Then you understand our concern. The optics alone are damaging to the company’s reputation. Add in the power dynamic between a CEO and his assistant, the timeline of your marriage, the questions about whether you satisfied the requirements of your grandfather’s will…”

“I understand all of it.” Marcus leaned forward, hands clasped on the table. “So let me address it directly. Yes, the video is real. Yes, Elara and I had sex in that fire exit. We were both single adults who’d been drinking at a company party. It was impulsive and probably stupid given our professional relationship, but it was consensual.”

Lisa Chen spoke up from across the table. “Consensual is a complicated word when there’s a power imbalance. You were her boss, Marcus. She worked for you.”

Marcus felt his temper rising but kept his voice level. “Elara wasn’t coerced. She wasn’t pressured. If you don’t believe me, ask her yourself. She’ll tell you the same thing.”

“We’re not questioning Mrs. Thorne’s version of events,” Morrison said. “We’re questioning your judgment A CEO should know better than to engage in that kind of behavior with an employee, regardless of consent.”

“Then question my judgment. Vote me out if you think I’m unfit to lead. But don’t pretend this is about protecting Elara or corporate ethics. This is about Penelope manipulating you into removing me so she can seize control.”

Several board members shifted uncomfortably. Eduardo Rodriguez, who’d been silent until now, leaned forward.

“Whether or not Penelope’s motives are pure doesn’t change the facts, Marcus. You married your assistant

17:00 Mon, May 11 M

Chapter 150

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three weeks after having sex with her in a fire exit. She was pregnant at your wedding. The timeline raises legitimate questions about whether your marriage satisfies the terms of the will.”

“My grandfather’s will required me to be married with genuine intent to build a life partnership. Not to have a perfect courtship or meet some arbitrary standard of propriety.”

“But was your intent genuine?” Rodriguez pressed. “Or did you marry Elara because she got pregnant and you needed a wife before your thirtieth birthday?”

“Both can be true. I married her because of the pregnancy and because I cared about her. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“But they do suggest the marriage was entered into as a matter of convenience rather than genuine partnership.”

Marcus stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. “You want to know the truth? Fine. Here’s the truth. I hired Elara as my assistant because I was attracted to her and wanted her close. I pursued her knowing it was probably inappropriate. I slept with her in that fire exit because I wanted her and she wanted me and we were too drunk to care about the consequences.”

He could see shock on several faces but he didn’t stop.

“When she got pregnant, yes, I saw an opportunity. A way to satisfy my grandfather’s will while taking responsibility for my child. So I offered her a contract. Two million dollars to marry me and play the role of devoted wife.”

Penelope was smiling now, leaning forward in her seat like she was watching her favorite movie.

“But here’s what you don’t know,” Marcus continued.

“That contract stopped mattering about two weeks after we signed it. Because somewhere between the marriage and now, I fell in love with my wife. Actually in love. Not contract love or convenient love or marriage-of-necessity love. Real love.”

“That’s very touching,” Lisa Chen said dryly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that the marriage was founded on a transaction.”

“So is every arranged marriage in history. So is every prenup, every joint business venture between families, every strategic alliance. Marriage has been transactional since the beginning of time. The only difference is I’m honest about it.”

“Your grandfather wanted you to have what he had with your grandmother,” Morrison said quietly. “A genuine partnership built on love and mutual respect.”

“And I do have that. Just because it started unconventionally doesn’t make it less real.”

Thomas Bradford, who’d been silent the entire meeting, spoke up. “What about the corporate sabotage? The altered financial reports from the investor meeting? Do you have proof Penelope was behind that?”

“Gerald has already testified that Penelope paid him to tamper with those files. We have bank records, offshore transactions, everything needed to prove she orchestrated the sabotage.”

17:00 Mon, May 11 M…

Chapter 150

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