Chapter 4
Six men in black suits filed in, each one broader and taller than the last. Their shoes alone cost more than the Carter family's lawyer made in a month.
Behind them, a silver-haired woman in a charcoal coat stepped forward. Her posture was immaculate, her gaze sweeping the room with cool authority.
"Miss Graves." She inclined her head to me. "Your grandfather sent us. The car is waiting."
Nathan shot to his feet. "Who the hell are you people? This is a private meeting."
The woman didn't spare him a glance. Her attention remained on me, patient and deferential—the posture of someone addressing a superior, not a stranger.
"Miss Graves?" Victoria's voice wavered. She looked at me, then at the suited entourage, then back at me. "Your name is Carter."
"No." I picked up the signed papers and tucked them into my bag. "It never was."
I turned to the silver-haired woman. "Margaret. Tell my grandfather I'm fine. I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Of course, Miss Graves."
Sophia's voice pierced the silence. "Graves? As in... Graves International?"
No one answered her. No one needed to.
Graves International. The conglomerate that owned 40 percent of the Eastern Seaboard's commercial real estate. The firm whose subsidiary holdings included the bank that financed Carter Group's last three projects. The empire that could purchase the Carter family ten times over and still have change.
Victoria's face went grey. Her lips moved soundlessly.
Nathan stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. "That's impossible. You're—you were a nobody. You had nothing when we married."
"I had everything when we married," I corrected him. "I simply never told you."
Why would I have? In my first life, I'd believed love meant surrender. I'd hidden my family name to prove I wanted Nathan for himself, not for a business alliance. I'd thought that selflessness would earn me loyalty.
It earned me a cold death on a park bench.
"Elena." Nathan stepped toward me, his voice shifting, softening in that way I once found irresistible. "Let's not be hasty. We just signed papers—papers can be torn up. If there's been a misunderstanding—"
"A misunderstanding?" My voice was ice.
"You slept with another woman for two years. She pretended to be pregnant to frame me. Your mother called me an ungrateful wretch ten minutes ago." I tilted my head. "Which part was the misunderstanding?"
Victoria moved. She actually moved toward me with something approaching a smile. "Sweetheart. We were emotional. Family arguments get heated—"
"We are not family," I said. "We never were."
I looked at Nathan one last time.
"In another life, I would have begged you to stay. I would have degraded myself so completely that you could have scraped me off your shoe." My voice didn't waver. "That woman is dead. Don't come looking for her."
I walked through the door, flanked by security, and didn't look back.
Behind me, I heard Victoria's voice crack: "Nathan. Nathan, do something. If she's really a Graves—if she tells her family what we—Nathan!"
His silence was answer enough.
The elevator doors closed, and their world shrank to a pinpoint of light, then vanished.
---
Behind them, a silver-haired woman in a charcoal coat stepped forward. Her posture was immaculate, her gaze sweeping the room with cool authority.
"Miss Graves." She inclined her head to me. "Your grandfather sent us. The car is waiting."
Nathan shot to his feet. "Who the hell are you people? This is a private meeting."
The woman didn't spare him a glance. Her attention remained on me, patient and deferential—the posture of someone addressing a superior, not a stranger.
"Miss Graves?" Victoria's voice wavered. She looked at me, then at the suited entourage, then back at me. "Your name is Carter."
"No." I picked up the signed papers and tucked them into my bag. "It never was."
I turned to the silver-haired woman. "Margaret. Tell my grandfather I'm fine. I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Of course, Miss Graves."
Sophia's voice pierced the silence. "Graves? As in... Graves International?"
No one answered her. No one needed to.
Graves International. The conglomerate that owned 40 percent of the Eastern Seaboard's commercial real estate. The firm whose subsidiary holdings included the bank that financed Carter Group's last three projects. The empire that could purchase the Carter family ten times over and still have change.
Victoria's face went grey. Her lips moved soundlessly.
Nathan stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. "That's impossible. You're—you were a nobody. You had nothing when we married."
"I had everything when we married," I corrected him. "I simply never told you."
Why would I have? In my first life, I'd believed love meant surrender. I'd hidden my family name to prove I wanted Nathan for himself, not for a business alliance. I'd thought that selflessness would earn me loyalty.
It earned me a cold death on a park bench.
"Elena." Nathan stepped toward me, his voice shifting, softening in that way I once found irresistible. "Let's not be hasty. We just signed papers—papers can be torn up. If there's been a misunderstanding—"
"A misunderstanding?" My voice was ice.
"You slept with another woman for two years. She pretended to be pregnant to frame me. Your mother called me an ungrateful wretch ten minutes ago." I tilted my head. "Which part was the misunderstanding?"
Victoria moved. She actually moved toward me with something approaching a smile. "Sweetheart. We were emotional. Family arguments get heated—"
"We are not family," I said. "We never were."
I looked at Nathan one last time.
"In another life, I would have begged you to stay. I would have degraded myself so completely that you could have scraped me off your shoe." My voice didn't waver. "That woman is dead. Don't come looking for her."
I walked through the door, flanked by security, and didn't look back.
Behind me, I heard Victoria's voice crack: "Nathan. Nathan, do something. If she's really a Graves—if she tells her family what we—Nathan!"
His silence was answer enough.
The elevator doors closed, and their world shrank to a pinpoint of light, then vanished.
---