Chapter 9 - The Billionaire Who Finally Told Me His Own Secret|
I found Nico standing alone on the terrace at two in the morning.
Manhattan glittered below us.
The city looked peaceful from sixty floors above.
It was strange to think that millions of people were sleeping behind those windows while my entire world was coming apart.
Nico leaned against the railing.
His tie was undone.
His sleeves were rolled to his elbows.
For the first time, he looked less like a billionaire and more like a man carrying something too heavy to put down.
I stepped outside.
"Can't sleep?"
He turned.
"Neither can you."
I shook my head.
He pulled a chair beside his.
I sat.
For several minutes, we watched the city.
Then I asked the question I'd been avoiding.
"Nico, why did you really agree to marry me?"
He looked at me.
"I told you. I wanted revenge."
"That's how it started."
His expression changed.
I continued.
"But you didn't know about the scars. You didn't know about my mother. You didn't even know me."
He looked away.
"You're right."
"Then why me?"
He was silent for a long moment.
Finally, he said, "Because your father offered you before I had decided what to do about the debt, and I saw how frightened he was of losing control over you."
I stared at him.
"He wasn't frightened of losing me."
"No."
Nico's jaw tightened.
"He was frightened of losing what he controlled."
I swallowed.
"Did you know about the trust?"
"Not then."
"Are you sure?"
He turned toward me.
"Nora, I won't lie to you. I knew your mother's family had money. I knew Edmund managed some of it. But I didn't know he was using forged documents or hiding Eleanor."
I studied his face.
Then asked quietly, "Did you think marrying me would help you get his money?"
Nico closed his eyes.
For one terrible second, I thought I already knew the answer.
Then he said, "I thought marrying you would put pressure on him to reveal what he'd done to Marco."
My chest tightened.
"So I was leverage."
"Yes."
The word hurt.
Even though I'd expected it.
Nico turned toward me.
"I made a cruel decision, Nora. I treated your life as a bargaining chip because I was furious about my brother."
My eyes burned.
"I was terrified of you."
"I know."
"You told me my father would understand what it felt like to lose something."
Nico nodded.
"I remember."
"Do you know how that made me feel?"
He looked down.
"Like an object."
"Exactly."
His expression twisted with regret.
"I'm sorry."
I stared at him.
Then asked the question that frightened me most.
"Would you have been kind to me if you hadn't seen the scars?"
Nico didn't answer immediately.
I appreciated that he took the question seriously.
Finally, he said, "I don't know whether I would have understood what I'd done as quickly. I was angry, arrogant, and convinced I was justified."
A tear slipped down my cheek.
He continued.
"But the scars didn't make you deserving of respect. You deserved it before I ever met you."
I wiped my face.
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Then Nico reached into his jacket and removed a small envelope.
"I asked Rebecca to prepare these."
I opened it.
Inside were documents explaining my right to challenge the marriage and seek to have it annulled or dissolved.
There was also information about independent legal representation.
I looked up.
"What is this?"
"Your choice."
My throat tightened.
"Nico—"
"I won't make you stay married to someone who agreed to a transaction involving you."
He paused.
"And I won't tell you that my good intentions afterward erase what I did."
I stared at the papers.
For twenty-three years, men had made decisions for me.
Now the man who could afford almost anything was giving me something money couldn't buy.
The right to leave.
"What if I go?" I whispered.
Nico looked at me.
"Then I'll help you find somewhere safe, if you want my help. After that, I'll respect your decision."
My heart ached.
"Would you miss me?"
He smiled sadly.
"More than I have any right to."
I looked down at the documents.
Then at the city.
I wasn't ready to decide.
Not yet.
Too much had happened.
And too much of my life had been shaped by fear.
"I need time."
Nico nodded.
"Take as much as you need."
I stood.
Before leaving, I turned.
"Can I ask one more thing?"
"Anything."
"Why haven't you told me what happened to your father?"
His expression changed.
I noticed it immediately.
Nico looked toward the skyline.
For several seconds, he didn't speak.
Then he said, "Alessandro Ferrara died in a plane crash ten years ago."
"I know."
"That's the public story."
My stomach tightened.
"What really happened?"
Nico looked at me.
"Six months before he died, he told me he was investigating fraudulent transfers involving Atlantic Meridian."
I stared.
"The same company my mother was investigating."
He nodded.
"He said he'd discovered that someone had used our shipping business to conceal stolen money."
"What did he do?"
"He began gathering records."
"And then?"
Nico's voice grew quiet.
"Then his plane went down."
I covered my mouth.
"Do you think my father was involved?"
"I don't know."
He looked directly at me.
"And I refuse to accuse him of that without evidence."
For a moment, I saw the difference between Nico and Edmund.
My father used suspicion as a weapon.
Nico was learning to live with questions until he could prove the answers.
Then Nico continued.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Marco found an old account linked to my father's final investigation."
My pulse quickened.
"Whose account?"
"Eleanor Whitmore."
I froze.
Nico pulled out his phone.
"The transfers suggest your mother may have been trying to move evidence beyond Edmund's reach."
I stared at him.
"Where?"
He opened a photograph.
A small bank vault.
Located in Manhattan.
"An account under her maiden name."
Nico looked toward me.
"And according to the records, the only other person authorized to access its contents when she reaches adulthood is her daughter."
I couldn't breathe.
"Me?"
He nodded.
The city lights blurred.
My father had spent twelve years trying to convince me I was weak.
Unstable.
Worthless.
But my mother had prepared something for me before she disappeared.
May you like
Something Edmund couldn't easily take.
And something that might finally reveal what happened to both our families.
