My Boss's Hidden Heir (Elara and Marcus) novel Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Penelope’s POV

The drive to Elara’s old house was long as hell.

Penelope sat in the back of her Royce Rolls, watching the scenery change from the beautiful streets of Manhattan’s wealthy neighborhoods to progressively rougher areas. The buildings got smaller, shabbier. The cars parked on the streets got older. Trash accumulated on corners that clearly weren’t serviced as frequently as the parts of the city she was used to.

Luca sat beside her, leaning forward every few minutes to give directions to her driver.

“Take a left up here,” he’d say. Then a few minutes later, “Right at the next light.” Then, “Keep going straight, it’s still a ways down.”

The road doesn’t seem to end really. Penelope checked her watch multiple times, growing increasingly irritated as the minutes ticked by. They’d been driving for thirty minutes, then thirty-five, now freaking forty.

Finally, Luca pointed ahead. “There. That building on the right.”

The driver pulled up to the curb and put the car in park.

Penelope looked out the window at what Luca had called “home,” and her mouth actually fell open slightly.

The building was a disaster. Worn out didn’t even begin to describe it. The paint was peeling off in huge chunks, revealing rotting wood underneath. Graffiti covered the walls, crude words like dicks, fucks, assholes and symbols spray-painted over each other in layers. Several windows were boarded up. Others were cracked or missing entirely. The front steps were crumbling concrete with weeds growing through the cracks.

This was where Marcus Thorne’s wife had grown up?

“That one,” Luca said, pointing to a window on the second floor. “That was our apartment. Where Elara and her mother stayed, anyway. I was in and out.”

Penelope stared at the window. The glass was dirty, covered in grime and what looked like years of neglect. A torn curtain hung limply behind it.

“What the fuck,” she breathed.

She turned to look at Luca. “This is who Marcus settled for? What voodoo was cast on him? What spell did this girl use?”

Her mind was racing now, pieces clicking together. All of Marcus’s previous girlfriends were either models, actresses, or influencers. Women who belonged in the world of wealth and affluence just like Aurora.

Why did he even break up with Aurora? Aurora had been perfect for him. A gorgeous and well-connected girl from a wealthy family.

And then he married this? A girl from the slums?

Chapter 98

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“This even makes it more obvious the marriage is fake.” Penelope said, more to herself than to Luca. “We just need proof. Because there’s no way Marcus would go from Aurora to Elara naturally. It’s not possible. There has to be a contract, an agreement, something.”

“Now you get why I hate that girl,” Luca chipped in, bitterness dripping from every word. “She lies for a living.

Only God knows what lies she told Marcus to get him to marry her. I’m sure if Marcus saw where she actually grew up, he wouldn’t even let her touch his glass cups in his house.”

Penelope nodded slowly, her eyes still fixed on the decrepit building. This was better than she’d hoped. The contrast between this place and Marcus’s penthouse was so stark it would be impossible to explain away as anything other than opportunistic gold-digging.

“Let’s go in,” Luca said after they’d stood outside for a few minutes, both of them just staring at the building.

Penelope turned to him sharply. “What do you mean let’s go in?”

“Isn’t that the point? You’re here so there’ll be more hands to help search. More eyes to see if we can find anything incriminating.”

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