Five

Kade's POV

I was left alone in the underground garage when the tiny baker ran away, and my only company as Javier's men hauled Benard’s body toward the furnace. The floor was shining wet where they’d scrubbed away the blood. It would all be clean within an hour. Evidence erased. Strike another name off the roster.

Javier walked up, his footsteps hollow in the void. He came to a stop next to me, his arms folded across his chest and that meddlesome little wrinkle between his brows that he always got when he wanted to argue with my decisions but wasn’t sure if he should.

"Boss," he started carefully. "The girl saw everything."

"I'm aware." I removed my grey glasses and placed them into the pocket of my jacket. My eyes felt tired. I hadn’t slept in 36 hours.

"She's a liability now. A witness." Javier turned to look at the missing gap of that exit. “We could stage an accident. Quick. Clean."

I faced him, turned to face him. Javier had been with me ever since we were boys, following my strict upbringing under my father’s regime. He understood the rules as about well as anybody. Witnesses didn't live. It was that simple.

Except this time, it wasn't.

"No," I said.

His eyes widened slightly. "Boss, she could go to the cops. She could talk. Trust me, she’s scared and when people are afraid they often do stupid things.”

"She won't." I walked over to the table where the papers still sat. Two identical folders. Two contracts. I picked up the one she had signed, and thumbing through its pages that she hadn’t hardly taken a look at.

"How can you be sure?" Javier pressed.

I held up the document. “Because she never signed a business partnership agreement.”

Javier frowned, stepping closer. He zapped the file out of my hand and skimmed it. I watched the moment when the realization dawned on him. His jaw went slack.

“Valarie Statham owned by this marriage contract.”

"Yes."

"But how did the baker come by this? We had two files ready. One for the business partnership and one for the marriage arrangement with Valerie. They weren’t even supposed to be in the same room.”

I gave myself the ghost of a smile. "Summer brought both sets down to the source and when I summoned her to view the Bernard caper. She accidentally took both and left them all on the table.”

Javier stared at me. “And so this girl accidentally signed a binding marriage contract that was intended for a completely different woman.

"Accidentally." I spoke the word again, savoring it. "Yes. Let's call it that."

He knew me too well. His eyes narrowed. "You switched them."

I didn't confirm or deny. I, on the other hand, just picked up the file and slipped it under my arm. “What’s important is that she signed. Her name. Her signature. Witnessed by you. Legally binding."

"But why?" Javier scrubbed a hand through his dark hair in frustration. “Why take her as a wife and not Valerie? Valerie is a Chernov heiress. She has contacts, assets and political capital. This baker girl has nothing. She’s deeply in debt, her business is going belly up and she’s haunted by childhood trauma. She's useless to us."

"Is she?" I stepped over toward the elevator, and Javier was right behind me. "Valerie Statham is an ambitious deceiver who's dangerously infatuated with me. Every day, she would work to finesse her way into actual power. She'd be a constant problem."

The lift doors opened and we went into it. I hit the button for my floor, in the office.

"And the baker?" Javier asked.

"The baker is terrified. She just saw me kill a man. She thinks I'm a monster. She'll obey out of fear and you've got control over her. Most importantly, she has no underworld ties — no interest in anything more than saving her grandmother’s business. She’s just what I need right now. Simple. Quiet. Invisible."

There was a silence on the line as Javier took that in. "You're using her."

"I'm using everyone. That's how this works."

The elevator climbed smoothly. I checked my watch. Valerie would be in to sign her contract within the hour. That would be an interesting discussion.

“There is something else,” Javier said lowly. “Damon’s been watching that bakery for months. We still don't know why. What if marrying her makes a target of her? On your back?"

I'd thought about this extensively. “Damon was in there for Raven Statham’s going-out-of-business bakery, and nobody could figure out why.” He didn’t mess around with small balls operations. He engaged in drug and arms trafficking, human trafficking on a grand scale. A local bakery ought not even be on his list to target.

Unless I was missing something.

“That’s why I need her near,” I replied. “If Damon wants something from her, I’ll find out what it is. And I'll take it first."

The lift doors also opened to the executive floor. Summer was standing next to her desk, in the grip of a nervous look.

"Mr. D'Angelo," she said quickly. "Miss Valerie Statham just arrived. She's waiting in your office."

"Perfect timing." I passed the marriage contract to Summer. "File this immediately. Make copies. I want it on file with the family lawyer within the hour."

Summer’s eyes widened when she spotted whose signature was on the paper. "But sir, that isn't Miss Valerie's signature. This is—"

"I know what the signature is. File it."

Clutching the papers, she nodded quickly and scurried off.

Before I could head to my office, Javier touched my arm. “Why are you so sure this’ll work, boss? There is no easy exit once that contract gets filed. Our world is not civilian marriage. The old laws apply. Breaking it would mean—"

"I know what it would mean." I straightened my jacket. “I’ve no intention of smashing it. I'm planning to use it."

I just left him standing and proceeded toward my office. I could look through the frosted glass and see Valerie’s shadow. She'd dressed to impress today. She always did. Haley could practically see the word “calculated” flashing in neon over everything about Valerie Stathum, from her carefully styled blonde hair to her designer clothes that were worth more than half the cars on the street.

I opened the door.

Valerie wheeled, her red mouth into a pro smile. "Kade." She said my name like it was hers to own. "I hope I'm not too early. I was so excited about today, and I couldn’t wait.”

"Valerie." I backed away behind my desk, distancing myself. "We need to talk."

Her smile faltered slightly. She was astute enough to hear the bitterness in my voice. "Is something wrong? Did something go wrong with the contract?"

"The deed's already been done."

She blinked. "Already? But I just got here to sign it.‎”

"Someone else signed it."

The color left her face. A beat of real emotion crossed her face before she shut it down. “You say someone else signed it!? I don't understand. We had an agreement."

“The deal was that I had to be married by my thirty third birthday or forfeit my right to the D’Angelo seat. The bride was one whose name was never be revealed."

Valerie’s hands balled into fists at her sides. "Who?"

"That's not your concern."

"Not my concern?" Her voice got louder, all pretense of charm gone. “I have been training for this for months. I turned down other proposals. I rebuilt my entire life around this relationship. And you’re telling me that you gave my position to someone else?”

I leaned back in my chair and watched her unravel. This was the authentic Valerie, which she had always kept hidden beneath veneers of worldliness. Obsessive. Possessive. Dangerous in her own way.

"I made a strategic judgment," I said coolly. “Better a baker with no connections for my purposes than a Mafia heiress with too many ambitions.”

Her eyes went wide. "A baker? You married a baker, not me?”

"I'm married to someone who is not going to spend at least an hour a day trying to go on the Internet and being sneaky,” she said.

Valerie's laugh was brittle. “You really think a nobody is going to be easier to control than me? You think she’s just going to accept this as her life? Accept you?"

“I feel like she doesn’t have a choice.”

"Thank God for that." Valerie's voice grew suddenly frigid and metallic. "Kade, you've just dug yourself a very big hole."

I stood up, taking all of my stature and my bat-space with me. "Is that a threat?"

She met my stare for a moment and then straightened and smoothed her hands down the dress, stacking composure back together in pieces. "Of course not. I would never threaten you. I just, like, feel that if you marry an imbecile who's not ready for this world it will be more challenging than you think."

"I'll manage."

"I'm sure you will." She grabbed her purse, movements exact and cool. "Congratulations on your wedding, Kade. I hope your baker bride sticks around to see the honeymoon.”

She got up, the heels of her shoes clicking against the floor.

The speckled Javier was in the doorway a moment later. "That went well."

"She'll be a problem."

"Most definitely." He handed me a tablet. "The contract is filed. Legally, you're married. The wedding will take place tomorrow at the mansion. Small gathering. High security. I have already invited the best families.”

I scrolled through the list of invitees, jotting mental notes. My eyes stopped on one name.

Damon D'Angelo.

“He wouldn’t miss this,” Javier said in a low voice.

No, he wouldn't. Damon thrived on any chance he got to undermine me. "Double the security. I need eyes on him every minute."

"Already done."

I set the tablet down. Raven Statham was doubtlessly somewhere in the city, panicking. She had no idea what the fuck she’d gotten herself into.

My phone buzzed. A text, from my security team in the safe house.

Your mamma wants you.

The guilt hit immediately. I hadn't seen her for three days.

“I’m going out,” I said, to Javier. "Handle the final preparations."

It was a forty-minute drive to the safe house. It was buried deep in the forest, with guards in place. It was still and warm inside. My mother was there in her wheelchair, by the window, speechless and immobile since she was poisoned years ago. But her eyes remained sharp, were still filled with love.

I hooked a chair near and squeezed her trembling hand. "Hello, Mama. I have news. I'm getting married tomorrow."

Her eyes widened with surprise.

"Not Valerie. Someone different. Someone unexpected."

I explained Raven, the contract and Damon’s curiosity about the bakery. She weakly squeezed my hand — her silent way of asking if I knew what I was doing.

"Honestly? No. But I’m doing what I have to do.”

I lingered for an hour, reading to her until she grew drowsy. I kissed her forehead as I left.

It was night when I got back to the city. I drove by Raven's apartment, the lights were still on. She may have been with family, attempting to process it all.

She would walk down that aisle tomorrow. Tomorrow she would discover that there were no accidents in my world.

Only consequences.