Chapter 3 The paper that broke us

There's a specific kind of fear that comes when you realize the truth might hurt more than the lie ever did.

I thought I was ready for answers.

Until I opened that envelope.

---

The envelope feels heavier than it should.

Cosmas stands across from me on the balcony, his eyes unreadable, fists clenched at his sides like he's bracing for impact. Maybe he is.

Maybe we both are.

I slide a finger beneath the seal and tear it open. Inside, there's a set of contracts official, legal. Verdane Corporation. My eyes skim over lines and signatures that feel like ghosts from a past I thought I understood.

But I don't.

I read the words again.

"Conditional Merger Agreement... forfeiture of voting rights... temporary transfer of control to Isabelle Moretti... nullification upon dissolution of marriage..."

My hand trembles.

"What the hell is this?" I breathe.

Cosmas doesn't speak for a moment. When he does, his voice is low and careful.

"That's what I signed the day after our wedding. Isabelle drew it up. She offered me a short-term merger with Verdane Corp that would ensure a billion-dollar expansion on the condition that I married and then divorced you within three months."

I look up, stunned.

"You agreed to that?"

His jaw tightens. "I didn't sign it for the money. I signed it to keep the company from going under. Verdane had patents we needed, tech that would've crushed Moretti Global if it went to our competitors. Isabelle backed me into a corner."

I want to scream.

He married me knowing he was going to divorce me. Worse, he signed a contract agreeing to it. My marriage had a timer on it from the start.

"And you never thought to tell me?" I ask, voice cracking.

"You were innocent," he says. "You didn't belong in that world of deals and blackmail and threats. I thought the cleanest cut would hurt you less."

"You were wrong," I whisper.

The paper crinkles in my hand as I clench it. My entire body shakes rage, heartbreak, betrayal surging through me like wildfire.

"You could've trusted me," I continued. "You could've let me in. But instead, you signed my name away like a business term."

"I didn't mean for it to happen like that," he says, stepping forward.

I recoil. "Don't. Don't act like this was accidental. You chose money. You chose control. And you sacrificed me."

He runs a hand over his face. "I tried to fix it. I tried to pull out of the deal after I realized I couldn't lose you."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because Isabelle threatened your mother's clinic," he snaps, eyes blazing. "She knew your weaknesses, Rita. She knew exactly how to corner me. And she did."

I still go.

"My mother?" I whisper.

He nods once. "Isabelle paid off the foundation that funded her treatments. She told me if I didn't file the divorce quietly, she'd pull the plug. Literally."

My mouth goes dry.

I remember that month how my mother's care had nearly doubled, and then, like a miracle, her treatments were suddenly extended, all expenses covered.

I thought it was fate. Grace.

But it was blood money.

"My mother doesn't know, does she?" I murmur.

"No. And she never will. That's the one thing I'll take to my grave."

For a moment, I can't breathe.

Everything I believed about our marriage, about its end, was never the whole truth.

He didn't just throw me away.

He sacrificed me.

But somehow, that hurts even more.

Because part of me wishes he'd just been cruel.

Cruelty is clean.

But love twisted into obligation? That's messy.

And far more dangerous.

"I should hate you," I say, voice barely above a whisper. "I built my entire life around hating you."

He swallows hard. "I know."

"And now..." I close the envelope and look away, "I don't even know what to feel."

He steps closer. "Then feel this."

His hand brushes mine, soft but electric. I look up.

His voice lowers, hoarse. "I never stopped loving you, Rita. Even when I knew I had to let you go."

His eyes say everything his mouth didn't five years ago. Regret. Pain. Hunger.

I shake my head slowly. "You don't get to say that. Not after the way you broke me."

"I'm not asking for forgiveness," he says. "Just a chance. One conversation. One hour where we stop pretending we're enemies."

I stare at him. My heart wants to say yes.

But my mind?

My mind remembers tears on silk pillows, empty beds, and unsigned letters I never had the courage to send.

"I'll think about it," I say coldly, stepping back.

Because I'm not that girl anymore.

And I won't be playing again.

---

As I turn to leave, my phone buzzes again.

This time, it's not blocked.

From: Eli Kingston.

You need to see what I found. Verdane wasn't working alone. Check your office. Now.

I freeze.

Because if Verdane wasn't working alone...

Then maybe Isabelle wasn't the only one pulling strings.

And someone close to me might be the one who sold me out.