Chapter 12 - Eleven Weeks Before the Wedding
Eleven weeks before Roman DeLuca was supposed to marry Vivian Mercer, he removed her engagement photograph from his office.
Claire watched him do it.
He placed the silver frame face down.
No ceremony.
No dramatic declaration.
Just finality.
“She's threatening Lily again,” Claire said.
Roman nodded.
“Which means she's desperate.”
“That doesn't make me feel better.”
“It shouldn't.”
Roman doubled security at Harbor Ridge.
Lily hated it.
“This hallway looks like the Secret Service moved in,” she complained over video call.
Claire tried to smile.
“Temporary.”
“One of them asked if my physical therapist had been background checked.”
Roman, standing nearby, said, “He has now.”
Lily stared through the screen.
“You're intense.”
“So I've been told.”
Claire covered her face.
Lily grinned.
Then the smile faded.
“Be careful.”
Claire nodded.
“You too.”
After the call ended, Roman's phone buzzed.
Federal investigators had frozen several Granite Harbor accounts.
Northstar offices were being searched.
Victor's flight had been flagged.
Swiss authorities had been contacted.
The empire was beginning to fracture.
But Vivian remained missing.
Then Daniel discovered something.
“Her wedding trust.”
Roman looked up.
“What about it?”
“Victor transferred eighty-six million dollars into a trust payable after the marriage.”
Claire frowned.
“For Vivian?”
“Yes.”
Roman's face hardened.
“So she had eighty-six million reasons to make sure the wedding happened.”
Daniel nodded.
“And if the marriage is canceled?”
“She loses control of most of it.”
Claire leaned against the desk.
“This was never love.”
Roman almost laughed.
“No.”
“Did you ever love her?”
He looked at Claire.
“No.”
She looked away.
“Did she love you?”
“I don't think Vivian understands love without ownership.”
Claire thought about that.
Roman asked, “Why?”
“No reason.”
He stepped closer.
“Claire.”
“You're very good at interrogating people.”
“I practice.”
She smiled.
Then serious again.
“I'm trying to understand why she hates me.”
Roman's gaze softened.
“She doesn't hate you.”
“She sent me into a blizzard.”
“She fears you.”
“Why?”
“Because you represent something she can't control.”
Claire frowned.
“What?”
Roman almost answered.
Then didn't.
He knew.
Claire represented choice.
For years Roman had accepted his life as a series of obligations.
Business.
Family.
Reputation.
Marriage.
Everything decided by what protected the DeLuca organization.
Then Claire came into his life quietly.
No ambition for his name.
No interest in his wealth.
She argued with him.
Ignored his orders.
Called him unreasonable.
And when everyone else feared Roman DeLuca, Claire worried he might become a worse man if anger consumed him.
Vivian understood before Roman did.
Claire mattered to him because she never tried to possess anything he had.
She saw the person beneath it.
Roman finally said, “Because I care what happens to you.”
Claire looked at him.
Silence.
He continued.
“More than I should.”
Her breath caught.
“Roman.”
“I know.”
“You're dealing with a criminal investigation, your uncle betrayed you, your fiancée disappeared—”
“Former fiancée.”
“You haven't officially announced that.”
“I will.”
“This isn't the time.”
“When is?”
Claire had no answer.
Roman took one step closer.
“I've spent my entire adult life waiting for the correct time to do things other people expected.”
“I'm not something you do.”
His expression softened.
“No.”
Claire looked down.
“I work for you.”
“You don't anymore.”
Her head snapped up.
“What?”
“I terminated your employment this morning.”
She stared.
“You fired me?”
“Yes.”
“Roman!”
“With one year's salary and full benefits.”
“That isn't the point.”
“It solves the conflict.”
“You cannot fire me so you can tell me you have feelings for me.”
“Apparently I can.”
Claire looked so outraged Roman almost smiled.
“This is not funny.”
“No.”
“It is a little.”
She grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him.
Roman caught it.
For the first time in weeks, Claire laughed.
Real laughter.
It lasted only seconds.
But Roman would remember it.
Then Gabriel rushed in.
“Vivian's car was found.”
“Where?”
“Near Harbor Ridge.”
Claire stopped laughing.
Roman was already moving.
The car was abandoned three blocks from the rehabilitation center.
No Vivian.
Inside the trunk, police found clothes.
Cash.
Two passports.
And a printed map of Harbor Ridge.
Claire stared at the photograph Gabriel sent.
“She was going there.”
“Yes.”
“To take Lily?”
“Maybe.”
Claire grabbed her coat.
Roman caught her arm gently.
“Security says Lily is safe.”
“I need to see her.”
“I know.”
They drove north.
Halfway there, Lily called.
Claire answered instantly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“My room.”
“Lock the door.”
“It is.”
“Claire.”
A knock sounded through the phone.
Both sisters froze.
Claire's blood went cold.
“Who is it?”
Lily whispered, “I don't know.”
Roman called Harbor Ridge security from his own phone.
Claire kept Lily talking.
“Don't open it.”
The knock came again.
Then a woman's voice.
“Lily?”
Claire recognized it.
Vivian.
Her entire body went cold.
Lily whispered, “Is that—”
“Yes.”
Vivian knocked again.
“I just want to talk.”
Claire shouted into the phone.
“Do not open the door.”
Vivian heard.
“Claire?”
Silence.
Then Vivian laughed softly from the hallway.
“So predictable.”
Footsteps approached.
Security.
Vivian began moving.
Lily described what she heard.
Running.
A shout.
Then another.
Roman gripped the steering wheel.
“Talk to me, Lily.”
“Someone caught her.”
Claire nearly collapsed with relief.
Ten minutes later Harbor Ridge security confirmed Vivian had been detained.
No weapon.
No injury.
But inside her handbag was a transfer authorization with Lily's forged signature.
Again.
And a one-way ticket to Montreal.
Vivian had intended to take Lily.
For leverage.
Maybe worse.
The engagement was over.
Not privately.
Not strategically.
Completely.
Roman looked at Claire.
“I'm ending it today.”
Claire didn't argue.
May you like
This time, there was nothing left to preserve.
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