Chapter 4

Eve’s POV

The morning had already delivered one gut punch. I saw no reason to stop at a single blow.

After Devin dropped the revelation about my father's debt to Martin, I sat at the breakfast table for a long time, staring at the cooling eggs and trying to rearrange the shattered pieces of my life into something resembling a plan. Devin cleaned the kitchen quietly, giving me space. He knew when to push and when to hover, and right now hovering was the correct call. I could feel his presence behind me like a wall between me and the abyss.

Finally I stood up and reached for my phone. "I'm calling Marguerite Chen."

Devin turned from the sink, drying his hands on a towel. "The family judge?"

"She's the executor of my mother's will. If anyone can tell me whether that marriage clause has any flexibility, it's her." I was already scrolling through my contacts. "Maybe there's a loophole. Maybe the deadline can be extended. Maybe I can petition the court for an adjustment based on extenuating circumstances, like my fiancé being a douchebag"

"Extenuating circumstances. That's one way to put it."

"I'm being diplomatic."

Marguerite's assistant answered on the second ring. I explained who I was and what I needed, and within five minutes I had an appointment for later that morning. The speed of it should have reassured me, instead it made my stomach knot tighter. Efficient people were efficient for a reason. She knew I was coming and she had probably been expecting my call.

I hung up and found Devin watching me with that steady gaze of his. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"I think I need to do this alone."

He nodded without argument. He never pushed, never insisted. That was one of the thousand reasons I trusted him completely. "I'll be here when you get back. If you need me."

"I always need you," I said, and the words came out more honest than I intended. I grabbed my bag and headed for the door before either of us could acknowledge what I had just admitted.

Marguerite Chen's office was in a building that had been old when my mother was young. It smelled of leather and floor wax and something faintly floral that I could not identify. The walls were lined with law books that looked like they had not been opened in decades, their spines perfectly preserved, their contents probably irrelevant to anything happening in the modern world. Marguerite herself was seated behind a massive oak desk that might have been older than the building. She was a small woman, silver haired and sharp eyed, with the kind of posture that suggested she had never slouched in her life.

"Miss Lovelace," she said, gesturing to the chair across from her. "I was sorry to hear about your engagement. The circumstances were unfortunate."

"Unfortunate is a gentle word for it."

"Yes. It is." She folded her hands on the desk. "You asked about flexibility in the marriage clause. I'm afraid there is none. The will is ironclad. You must be legally married before your twenty-fifth birthday, or the entirety of your mother's estate transfers to a trust controlled by Martin Lovelace."

"Martin, my father's creditor."

Marguerite's expression did not flicker, but something in the air between us shifted. "I see you've been doing your research."

"I've been doing my surviving. There's a difference."

She leaned back in her chair and studied me with those sharp eyes. For a long moment she did not speak, and I had the uncomfortable sensation of being measured against some invisible standard.

Finally she said, "Your mother was a dear friend of mine. I have been the executor of her estate for over twenty years, and I have watched Martin and your father and a parade of lesser vultures circle your inheritance like it was already theirs. I tell you this not to frighten you, but to make something very clear."

She leaned forward. "The marriage clause is not a punishment. It is a shield. Your mother knew what would happen if you were left unprotected. She built the deadline into the will because she believed that the right partner when chosen carefully, would be your best defense against the people who want to take everything from you."

I absorbed this slowly. "So the clause was never about controlling me. It was about making sure I had someone in my corner."

"Yes, someone legally bound to protect your interests. A husband, not a boyfriend."

"Ambrose was supposed to be that person."

"Ambrose was a mistake." She said it without malice, just clinical precision. "He was a mistake your mother's will anticipated. The clause requires marriage, but it does not dictate to whom. You still have thirty days to make a better choice."

Thirty days. The number sat between us like a ticking clock. "And if I fail?"

"Martin's trust takes everything. The estate, the company, the liquid assets, all of it. You would retain a small allowance, but control would pass to him permanently. There is no appeal and no second chance."

I felt the cold certainty of it settle into my bones. This was not a negotiation. This was a gauntlet my mother had thrown down from the grave, and I was standing at the starting line with no partner, no plan and no time left to waste.

Marguerite watched me process this. Then she said, very quietly, "There is more to the will than the marriage clause. Additional protections your mother put in place. Things that will become clear when the time is right."

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means your mother was a very thorough woman. She did not trust easily, and she did not leave anything to chance. The marriage deadline is not the only piece of the puzzle. But the rest is for another day."

She stood up and smoothed her jacket, a clear signal that the meeting was ending. "For now, focus on finding a partner you can trust. Someone who will stand beside you when the storm comes."

I rose from my chair, my mind already spinning with questions she clearly had no intention of answering. "Why are you telling me all this? The executor of a will is supposed to be neutral."

"I am neutral about the estate. I am not neutral about you." Marguerite's expression softened by a fraction of a degree. "Your mother would not forgive me if I failed you now. I suggest you do not fail yourself either."

I walked to the door, my hand on the brass handle, when her voice stopped me.

"Miss Lovelace."

I turned back.

"Choose your partner very carefully." Her eyes were dark and unreadable. "Not all poison comes labeled."

I stepped into the corridor and the door clicked shut behind me. The hallway was empty and silent, the old carpet muffling my footsteps as I walked toward the elevator.

My phone felt heavy in my pocket, full of people I could call and none I could trust. I had thought I had chosen carefully. I had thought Ambrose was safe, steady, unremarkable enough to be harmless but he had been a knife waiting for my back the entire time.

The elevator doors slid open and I stepped inside. My reflection stared back at me from the polished brass walls, a woman with thirty days to find a husband and no idea where to start looking. Devin would be at the apartment when I got back, ready with tea and steady reassurance and that unshakeable belief that we would figure this out.

He was the one person I could always count on. The one person who had never lied to me or let me down or asked for anything in return. The one person I could never marry, because he was gay. The idea was impossible and I was not yet desperate enough to ask that of him.

But as I kept turning Marguerite's words over in my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder what other protections my mother had hidden in that will, and what it would cost me to find out.