Chapter 9 - The Lie That Started Feeling Real
By noon, Marin had learned three things.
First, reporters could somehow make standing on a sidewalk look aggressive.
Second, customers loved scandal.
Whitlock Floral had received more orders that morning than on Valentine’s Day.
Third, fame was unbearable.
Paige entered the back room carrying a tablet.
“You’re trending.”
“Delete the internet.”
“I don’t have administrator access.”
“Find someone.”
Paige sat beside her.
“One article says you’re a socialite.”
Marin looked down at her stained apron.
“I’m wearing fertilizer.”
“Another says your family owns half of Vermont.”
“My parents own a hardware store.”
“Very powerful.”
Marin groaned.
The front bell rang.
Both women froze.
Luca appeared in the doorway.
“Not press.”
Behind him stood Adrian.
Marin’s pulse betrayed her.
He wore a charcoal suit today.
No tie.
His face looked tired.
Paige stood.
“I’ll disappear.”
“You don’t have to,” Marin said.
“Yes, I do. This is clearly episode nine.”
She left.
Adrian closed the door.
“You got the envelope.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
Marin handed him the board document.
His expression hardened.
“This is confidential.”
“So Corwin has someone inside your company.”
“Yes.”
“Does he?”
Adrian looked at her.
She pointed to the handwritten message.
“What happened to the last person who cost him money?”
Adrian sat.
“His name was Eric Dawson.”
Marin waited.
“He ran a warehouse company that Corwin wanted to buy. Dawson refused.”
“And?”
“Six months later his business collapsed.”
“How?”
“Tax investigation. Contract cancellations. Credit problems.”
“Corwin caused it?”
“We believe so.”
“Did Dawson die?”
“No.”
Marin exhaled.
“Then whoever wrote this wanted me to imagine something worse.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know that immediately?”
“Yes.”
“You could’ve called.”
“I thought you wanted distance.”
She stared.
“You actually listened.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I’m adjusting.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Marin asked:
“Did the board vote happen?”
“At four.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Proceed with the sale.”
“Good.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You aren’t afraid?”
“Terrified.”
“That wasn’t visible.”
“I’m a florist. I’ve survived brides.”
His mouth twitched.
She leaned against the counter.
“Adrian, why did my relationship with Bennett actually end?”
He frowned.
“That’s a sudden question.”
“Answer anyway.”
“You said he believed you prioritized work.”
“That’s what he said.”
“And what do you think?”
Marin looked down.
“I think Bennett loved the version of me he imagined would appear after we got married.”
“What version?”
“One who sold the shop. Moved to Connecticut. Hosted dinners for his clients. Eventually stopped smelling like eucalyptus.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“Did he ask you to sell?”
“Not directly.”
“What did he say?”
“That the shop was a good chapter.”
“A chapter.”
“Not the whole book.”
Adrian went quiet.
Marin shrugged.
“I kept waiting for him to respect it.”
“Why?”
The question sounded harsher than intended.
She looked at him.
“Because I loved him.”
Adrian nodded.
“Right.”
There was something vulnerable in the single word.
Marin changed the subject.
“So how do we handle the press?”
“I can issue a statement.”
“Saying?”
“That your private life is irrelevant to Vale Consolidated.”
“Our private life.”
His eyes held hers.
“There is no ours.”
The words belonged to the lie.
Yet they hurt.
Marin looked away.
“No. There isn’t.”
Adrian stood.
“I should go.”
“Probably.”
Neither moved.
Theodore walked into the room from the office where he had been sleeping.
He approached Adrian.
Again.
Marin rolled her eyes.
“Unbelievable.”
Adrian crouched.
“At least someone likes me.”
“Boston seems pretty fascinated.”
“Fascination and liking aren’t the same.”
Marin watched him stroke Theodore’s head.
The most feared man in Boston, according to one headline.
On the floor of her flower shop.
Petting an overweight rescue cat.
“Stay for lunch,” she said.
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Adrian looked up.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It’s sandwiches.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
She knew.
“So?”
He stood.
“One sandwich.”
They ate in the back room.
No security.
No pretending.
No family.
No Bennett.
Just two people eating turkey sandwiches while Paige loudly avoided coming inside.
Marin learned Adrian hated mustard.
He learned she stole pickles from other people’s plates.
She learned his mother had died when he was thirteen.
He learned Marin had once planned to study architecture before her grandmother left her the flower shop.
He told her Sofia was completing a pediatric residency.
Marin told him Clara had cried for two days when Marin left Vermont for college.
Normal things.
Ordinary things.
Exactly what Adrian had wanted when he approached her.
At two, his phone rang.
He answered.
Marcus’s voice was loud enough that Marin heard fragments.
“Board members… changed vote… leaked document… Corwin…”
Adrian stood.
“I’m coming.”
He ended the call.
“Problem?”
“Two board members are threatening to vote against the sale.”
“Because of Corwin?”
“Likely.”
He put on his coat.
Marin followed him to the door.
“Adrian.”
He turned.
“Don’t let him win.”
His expression softened.
“I won’t.”
He left.
At four thirty-eight, Marin was arranging peonies when every television in the shop switched to financial news.
Paige raised the volume.
A reporter stood outside Vale Consolidated.
“Breaking news this afternoon. Vale Consolidated shareholders have approved the sale of its remaining waterfront terminal interests despite intense opposition from several minority investors…”
Marin smiled.
Then the reporter continued.
“Sources indicate CEO Adrian Vale personally purchased the disputed shares from two board members minutes before the vote, allowing the transaction to proceed.”
Paige stared.
“How much money is ‘personally purchased’?”
Marin didn’t know.
Her phone rang.
Adrian.
She answered.
“You won.”
“For now.”
“How much did it cost?”
“A number you’d hate.”
“Try me.”
“Forty-six million.”
Marin nearly dropped the phone.
“You spent forty-six million dollars today?”
“I transferred assets.”
“That sentence is billionaire nonsense.”
He laughed.
She smiled.
Then a voice spoke in the background.
Luca.
Urgent.
Adrian went silent.
“What?”
“Stay inside.”
Marin’s smile vanished.
“What happened?”
“Corwin just left Vale headquarters.”
“So?”
“He wasn’t invited.”
Adrian’s voice changed.
“Marin, lock the shop.”
She moved toward the front.
“Why?”
“He told reception he was going to congratulate me.”
“That sounds—”
“He also said he already congratulated you.”
Marin froze.
The bell above the shop door chimed.
Paige looked up.
A delivery driver entered carrying a long white box.
“For Marin Whitlock.”
Her blood went cold.
Adrian heard the bell through the phone.
“Marin?”
She stared at the package.
“Don’t open anything,” he said sharply.
The driver set it down.
“I need a signature.”
Luca’s SUV appeared outside before Marin could move.
Security entered seconds later.
The box was checked.
No device.
No weapon.
Inside lay a single bouquet.
Carnations.
Marin almost laughed at the absurdity.
Then she saw the card.
Adrian remembers what you hate. Let’s see if he remembers what you fear.
Below that was an address.
An address Marin knew immediately.
Her parents’ house in Vermont.
And suddenly Richard Corwin had stopped threatening her.
May you like
He had started threatening the people she loved.
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