Chapter 3

CARRIE

I stared at my phone screen for a moment.

My thumb hovering over my contacts list until it stopped on a name that still brought me a strange kind of comfort, Big Bro.

Calvin.

My only sibling. My anchor. My older brother who was thousands of miles away in Copenhagen but always close when it mattered.

He picked up on the second ring.

“Carr-Bear. What’s going on? You never call me during business hours unless something serious is happening.” His voice was warm and teasing. “Are you alright?”

I let out a soft chuckle and leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes. “I’m fine, Calvin. I only need your brain... and your gut.”

“Uh-oh,” he said, his tone immediately sharpening. “Talk to me.”

I walked to the window, staring out at the city below me but not really seeing it. “There’s something going on in the office.”

“Okay,” he smiled tentatively and said, “I'm listening.”

“There's this merger we are working on,” I started and then I told him everything.

I laid it all out; succinctly, but with enough detail for him to understand. The doctored report. The falsified data. How Nathaniel’s fingerprints were all over it. Shane’s blind ignorance. My anger. And the temptation that was clawing at me to just stay quiet and let the storm come.

When I was done, there was silence on the other end. Then I heard the creak of a chair and a long exhale.

“So,” he said slowly, “you hold the grenade now, huh? The question is whether to throw it or disarm it, right?”

“Pretty much.” My voice felt small. “And if I let it explode, I’ll walk away untouched. But a lot of good people will go down with it. The staff… they’ll lose everything.”

“But Shane goes down hard,” Calvin added softly. “And you’ve got reason to want that. You want to punish him?”

I didn’t respond. Not immediately.

“You want me to tell you what to do,” he continued, his voice softer now. “But I won’t, darling.”

“What…Cal?” I tried to smile. “I called you so you could do exactly that.”

“I’m serious. You already know what you should do, Carrie. That’s why you called me. Not for permission, but because you needed someone to remind you that doing the right thing still matters.”

My throat tightened, and I swallowed hard against the lump building there.

“I hate that it’s on me,” I whispered. “He made the mess. I wasn’t even consulted on the merger. He doesn’t treat me like I matter. Most days, he barely treats me like a person.”

“I know,” Calvin said. “And I hate that for you. But listen, doing the right thing for someone who doesn’t deserve your grace? That’s not a weakness, sis. That’s strength. That’s the kind of person Mom and Dad raised us to be.”

I blinked hard. My vision swam for a second.

“But what if doing the right thing means protecting the very man who’s been nothing but ungrateful and selfish?”

“Then you do it for yourself,” he said without hesitation. “Not for him. For the part of you that still believes in what’s right. For the part that refuses to let bitterness define who you are.”

I looked over at the folder lying on the desk again. It held all the answers and all the consequences that would follow if the merger ever went through.

“I don’t want to save him now that I have a weapon to use against him,” I said quietly. “Not after everything, you know.”

“You’re not,” Calvin said gently. “You’re saving yourself. Your conscience. Your future. The people that matter in that company.” He took a sharp breath and continued. “You’re making sure you can look in the mirror tomorrow and feel okay, Carr-Bear.”

A shaky breath pushed its way out of my chest.

“And if I do this, if I stop the merger he’s still not going to appreciate it.” I complained. “Something tells me he’ll take the credit in front of the executive members. Like he figured it out by himself.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“I’ll wait until the executive meeting next week,” I said slowly. “I’ll expose everything then, in front of everyone. He won’t be able to twist it around to be about him.”

Calvin didn’t hesitate.

“What if they close the deal before then?”

I hesitated. “I don’t know…Calvin.”

“Then tell him today,” he said firmly. “Let him do whatever he wants after that. You can’t control what he thinks or how he behaves.”

His words landed with weight, striking something deep inside me. I felt it loosen this tight, desperate need for Shane’s recognition. His validation. I didn’t need that. I didn’t need anything from him anymore.

A small smile tugged at my lips as if Calvin were right there with me. I wiped beneath my eyes the way he used to when I was little.

“I should’ve called you sooner…, I croaked.”

“Yeah, well,” he replied, “next time you find out you’re holding a nuke that could destroy lives, don’t wait until it’s almost too late to call your big brother.”

I laughed; soft but real. God, it felt good to laugh… even if only for a second.

“I’m proud of you,” he said, his voice warm again. “Not because you’re making the hard choice, but because you still care enough to wrestle with it.”

I nodded, the last of the weight settling: not crushing me but anchoring me. Giving me clarity.

“I’ll do it,” I said into the phone. “I’ll go to his office after my meeting and tell him what I found.”

“That’s my girl.”

We chuckled, said our goodbyes, and I placed my phone back on the desk. My hands braced against the edge of the desk as Calvin’s words echoed in my mind.

Then… just like that, my thoughts drifted to Eleanor again. And I picked up her little photo frame on my desk. Looking intently at her.

I remembered the day she first asked me to marry Shane.

I could only let out a small, incredulous laugh when the old woman said it. I set the teacup down on her ornate coffee table. "Mrs. Blackwood, I don’t know what gave you the idea that I can fit into such a role. But I…I can't.” I shook my head vigorously.

She had invited me over for tea on a Saturday and I went. It wasn't an unusual occurrence. She had always invited me for such once in a while since I started working closely with her husband. In fact, she already took me like a daughter.

Eleanor gave that perspective smile of her, as if she had expected that response.

"Carrie I’m sure you can.” She reached out and took my hands. “You are smart and intelligent, and know everything about Blackwood Marketing Incorporated; that's the kind of wife Shane needs.”

I shook my head, trying to process the sheer absurdity of her request. How could I, a daughter of a cook and a cleaner, marry Shane Blackwood; the scion of the great Blackwood dynasty? I didn't even know how I would fit into such a role: we are from two totally different worlds.

"I barely even know him," I said, my voice tight with disbelief. "He’s the boss’s son…. and now my boss. I’m afraid that’s all I know about him.”