Chapter 4

Elena knew something was wrong the moment she walked into the Ashford family office and saw Vivian sitting beside Adrian instead of across from him. The two of them looked almost absurdly comfortable together, as though they had been married for years rather than carrying on an affair behind her back. Vivian was wearing a delicate diamond bracelet Elena remembered giving her for her twenty-fifth birthday, while Adrian had one arm resting casually behind the back of her chair. Across the table sat Elena's father, his expression cold and impatient, and beside him was a lawyer with a thick folder already open. Elena stopped at the doorway and stared at them. She had expected a divorce meeting. Instead, she had walked into what looked suspiciously like a celebration of her replacement.

Her father glanced at the clock. "You're late."

Elena slowly pulled out the chair opposite them. "Good morning to you too, Dad."

"Don't start."

She almost laughed. "I haven't said anything yet."

"You've caused enough trouble already." He pushed a stack of documents toward her. "Sign the papers, cooperate with the investigation, and this can end without becoming uglier than it already is."

Elena looked at the documents but didn't touch them. "You keep saying investigation as if someone has actually investigated anything. Yesterday you told me I stole money from the company. Today you're asking me to sign a divorce. Has anyone bothered to ask me where I supposedly put the money?"

Adrian leaned back in his chair. "Elena, stop pretending you don't understand what's happening. The evidence is clear."

"Evidence that you prepared."

His eyes hardened. "Be careful."

"No." Elena finally looked at him. "You be careful. You cheated on me with my sister for eight months, lied to my face every day, prepared forged documents to make me look like a thief, and now you're sitting there telling me to be careful because I'm angry?"

Vivian sighed dramatically. "I really wish you would stop making this about the affair."

Elena turned toward her. "Then what should I make it about, Vivian? The fact that you slept with my husband, or the fact that you spent eight months helping him destroy me?"

Vivian's expression remained remarkably calm. "I never wanted to hurt you."

"Really?"

"I didn't."

Elena stared at the bracelet on Vivian's wrist. "Then take that off."

Vivian glanced down. "What?"

"That bracelet. I gave it to you."

"It's mine now."

"Exactly." Elena smiled without humor. "That's always been your problem. You see something you want, and eventually you convince yourself that because you want it badly enough, it belongs to you."

Adrian slammed his palm against the table. "Enough."

Elena looked at him. "Does she usually speak for you now?"

"She's my future wife."

The words were deliberate.

Vivian lowered her eyes, pretending embarrassment, but Elena caught the tiny smile she tried to hide.

Something inside Elena finally snapped.

She stood so quickly that the chair scraped against the floor. "You couldn't even wait until the divorce was final?"

Adrian's expression didn't change. "Why should I? Everyone already knows."

"Everyone?"

"Both families. Our business partners. Most of our friends."

Elena stared at him.

He continued, almost casually, "We announced the engagement this morning."

For a moment, she couldn't understand the words.

Then she looked at Vivian.

Vivian gently placed her hand over her stomach.

Elena's eyes dropped to it.

"I wanted you to hear it from us," Vivian said softly. "I'm pregnant."

The room went silent.

Elena felt as though someone had reached into her chest and squeezed her heart.

Adrian immediately stood beside Vivian, his hand settling protectively around her shoulder.

The gesture was almost more painful than the words.

Elena whispered, "You're pregnant?"

Vivian nodded.

"How long?"

"Almost three months."

Three months.

Elena's eyes moved to Adrian.

Three months ago, he had kissed her goodbye before leaving for a business trip. Three months ago, he had told her he missed her. Three months ago, he had come home and slept beside her as if nothing had happened.

She laughed softly.

It was an ugly sound.

"You were sleeping with her while you were sleeping beside me."

Adrian's face hardened. "I told you the marriage was over."

"You told me yesterday."

"It had been over for a long time."

"Then why didn't you leave?"

He didn't answer.

Elena nodded slowly. "Because you wanted my family first."

Her father suddenly spoke. "Enough accusations. Vivian is carrying Adrian's child. You need to accept the situation."

Elena turned toward him.

"You're choosing her?"

"I'm choosing the future of this family."

"She's not your daughter."

His expression didn't change.

"No," he said coldly. "But she is carrying my future grandson."

The words hit harder than Elena expected.

For years, she had tried to make her father proud. She had studied what he wanted, behaved how he wanted, married the man he approved of, and defended the family name whenever anyone attacked it.

And apparently, one unborn child had been enough to make all of that meaningless.

She sat down again.

"Fine."

Adrian pushed the divorce agreement toward her. "Sign."

Elena picked up the pen.

But before she could sign, she noticed another document underneath the divorce papers.

She pulled it out.

Her name was printed across the top.

"What is this?"

Adrian's lawyer answered. "A settlement acknowledging your responsibility for the unauthorized transfers from Ashford Holdings."

Elena looked at Adrian in disbelief. "You want me to sign a confession?"

"It's not a confession."

"It says I accept liability."

"You'll avoid criminal prosecution if you cooperate."

Elena stared at him.

"So that's the plan."

"What plan?"

"You destroy my reputation, divorce me, freeze my accounts, and then make me sign a document admitting I stole from the company."

Adrian's expression remained cold.

"You should be grateful we're giving you a way out."

Elena laughed.

"Grateful?"

She threw the document across the table.

"You stole my marriage, stole my family's trust, stole my money, and now you're trying to make me confess to a crime I didn't commit. And you want me to be grateful?"

Vivian suddenly spoke.

"Elena, you're making this harder than it needs to be. Sign the papers, leave quietly, and at least you'll have your dignity."

Elena slowly looked at her.

"My dignity?"

She smiled.

"You slept with my husband behind my back, announced your pregnancy before my divorce was even finalized, and you're wearing a bracelet I gave you while telling me to preserve my dignity."

Vivian's face flushed.

Elena leaned forward.

"Don't ever lecture me about dignity again."

Her father stood.

"This meeting is over."

"No."

Everyone looked at her.

Elena picked up the divorce papers.

"You wanted my signature."

She signed.

The pen moved steadily across every page until there was nothing left.

She placed it down.

"There."

Adrian looked at the signed papers, then at her.

"You understand that you walk away with nothing."

Elena looked around the room.

Her father.

Her husband.

Her stepsister.

The people she had once considered her entire world.

She picked up her handbag.

"Then I'll build something from nothing."

Vivian smiled.

"You?"

Elena stopped at the door.

Vivian's smile widened. "You don't even have somewhere to sleep tonight."

Elena looked back at her.

For the first time, there was no sadness in her expression.

"You're right."

She opened the door.

"I don't."

Then she looked directly at Adrian.

"But remember something. You didn't leave me because you found someone better."

Her gaze moved to Vivian.

"You left me because you thought I was finished."

Elena smiled.

"And that's going to be the most expensive mistake both of you ever make."

She walked out.

Behind her, Vivian leaned against Adrian's shoulder with a satisfied smile.

Neither of them noticed the lawyer staring at the signed documents with an uneasy expression.

Because there was one thing they had forgotten.

Elena had signed the divorce papers.

She had not signed the confession.