The Wrong Wife by Maya Alden

Chapter 43

Declan

Viv was in my office when Julien and I signed the last legal document to complete the merger between Hartley Industries and Knight Technologies once the newly formed board with members from both companies approved it.

I was living in a fucking soap opera. Engaged to one sister. Married to another. And now being pressured to marry the first sister. Now someone needed to have an evil twin and amnesia and we were set.

Julien grinned. "I can't wait to announce this at the board meeting on Monday."

"Your last board meeting," I reminded him as I leaned back in my chair. And if I have it my way, your last for many things.

"You know, Dec, I was worried you'd be stubborn about this marriage dissolution business. But I'm glad to see that you and Viv have reconciled. She was always the right choice, son."

I wanted to tell him not to call me son. Instead, I said, "It’s a work in progress."

He waved that off. "The annulment has been finalized and you have only one path left. Don't destroy two companies because you want to prove me wrong. You and Viv are worth building on. Am I right, Viv?"

For the first time, I noticed how cowered Viv was with her father. When they'd both been on the same side of a battleline, they'd been at ease with other; she'd been confident with him. But now, she wasn't sure if she could stand up to him, which made her afraid. "You're right, Daddy."

Julien sighed. "What's going on with you? Why are you so…I don't know, sad? This is a fucking great day. Celebrate a little."

"I'm just tired," Viv explained as she packed the papers into her briefcase. She rose and smiled at her father. "Let me process these, and I promise I'll celebrate."

"Good, because I already have a woman who mopes around, and I don't need you to do the same. Monica met with Esme yesterday, and she's been crying her eyes out since she came home. She’s in that wheelchair and…it’s hell."

Viv's lips tightened, but she quietly left my office.

Mark had told me about Esme's meeting with her mother the previous day. I almost buckled then and went to her. But for us to move forward, I had to be patient and have faith in her and us.

"Your mother is very pleased with how things turned out as well," Julien informed me, letting me know that he and my mother were still close, thick as thieves. "And I know your father has some misgivings, but he said he was going to Peru, so you won't have to deal with him."

I don’t know why Julien assumed that I felt about my father the way my mother did. My father was not businessman…but he was a good man. When I asked him to give his building away, worth several million dollars, to Esme, he'd not hesitated. Though Vega informed me, and I wasn't surprised that Esme insisted the building not be in her name but be secured as a Safe Harbor asset.

"I have a meeting, Julien," I replied tightly, scrolling through my computer.

"Dec, this is the right way to proceed. St. Vibiana's Cathedral and a quiet ceremony with just family is right."

I rose then, wanting this man out of my sight.

Julien didn't notice my irritation with him; narcissists like him never did.

Raya was waiting outside my office, and as soon as Julien left came in, a triumphant look came on her face.

"It's all falling into place," she told me almost giddily.

I waved a hand at the chair Julien had just vacated. She sat down, and I did the same.

"Well?"

"We tracked the money source to DemonRum, the hacker, and we are now certain that the money came from Julien Hartley's private bank account. The DA and FBI are certain they can make an arrest soon."

"Why do you think Julien wanted to sabotage our biggest account?"

"That was only going to be a start, Dec." Raya explained. "He was planning to keep the pressure on you so that you'd know that not merging with Hartley would mean the end of Knight Tech. The data shows that Julien gave DemonRum a list of twenty customers, our top ones to start with."

"I don't understand why he desperately wants me to marry Viv. I married a Hartley; isn't that enough?"

Raya turned on her iPad, looking pensive. "Julien hates Esme because he can't control her. I went through his email communication with Esme for the past years, and it looks like she doesn't make a lot of noise, but she also doesn't always listen to him. He wanted her to get a business degree; she chose social work. He was going to get her thrown out of university, but Esme's thesis supervisor was the program's dean, so he protected her."

I nodded. Esme was compliant when she knew she wouldn’t have to go against her values, but if something threatened her morals, I knew she'd find a way to navigate that situation as well as anyone could.

"Anything else?"

Raya nodded and pushed her iPad toward me. “This is going to be hard."

I quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Medical records for both Monica and Esme. They used false names to go to emergency rooms, and since they are Mexican, the assumption made was that they were undocumented. My detective dug these out. There may be more…" she trailed off as I picked up her iPad and started to scroll through the files.

As I read the documents, my heart broke for Esme.

Esme had a broken right arm at age two. Monica had two broken fingers at the same time. When Esme was three, her shoulder was dislocated. Monica had several of those happen throughout the years. Esme had a concussion when she was five because she'd fallen down some stairs and hit her head. When she was eight, right before she went to live with her grandmother, Esme had a broken leg, two broken ribs, and a broken jaw. After Esme left, the reports on Monica were fewer and fewer.

I felt tears prick my eyes, and I didn't stop them from flowing down my cheeks. "It's a horror show, Raya."

"I know." She put her hand on mine.

"You know, I called her a doormat once?"

"You didn't know."

"And I'm hurting her now. She should never be hurt again after that childhood, yet I…seem to keep bruising her soul, no matter what I do."

I dropped my head in my hands and wept.

Raya came to my side of the table and held me as I cried.

That evening I met my father for a drink at his favorite wine bar in West Hollywood. A small place called Tabula Rasa.

"Julien tells me you're off to Peru."

My father nodded. "Yeah. But I wanted to talk to you before I left. I'm going to file papers to divorce Nina. I think…I think it's time."

"Congratulations."

He smiled as he poured more of the natural orange wine we were drinking into his glass and mine. "Who knows, maybe I'll find a woman I can fall in love with."

"I hope you do," I agreed.

"I'll be at the church tomorrow."

I drank some wine and felt fear race up my spine. Tomorrow, it could all end the way I wanted it to or in a way that would destroy many lives. Either way, Julien was toast; I could take comfort in that.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Dec?" my father wasn't a big fan of what was happening tomorrow afternoon at St. Vibiana's Cathedral.

"I don't have a choice, Dad."

"There is always a choice, son."

I shook my head. "You have to trust me."

"I trust you, but you expect a lot from people."

"I know."

My father raised his glass, "To love and foolish plans."

I clinked my glass with his. "To love that forces foolish plans."