Chapter 4 - THE MARRIAGE LICENSE
The word wife hung in the air, heavy and impossible.
I stared at the thick manila envelope on Sebastian's desk as if it were a live grenade.
"You're out of your mind," I whispered, stepping back.
Sebastian didn't flinch. He leaned against the edge of the mahogany desk, crossing his arms.
"I am offering you absolute protection, Mara."
"You're offering me a mafia marriage to escape a manipulative husband!" I argued, my voice rising. "I don't even know you. Three hours ago, I was sitting in your chair by accident, and now you want me to sign a legal document binding me to a crime boss?"
Daniel, standing near the door, shifted uncomfortably, clearly unaccustomed to anyone speaking to Sebastian this way.
Sebastian raised a hand, silencing his security chief.
"You aren't binding yourself to me," Sebastian clarified, his voice calm, rational, and completely infuriating. "The marriage will be strictly on paper. It immediately invalidates Graham's emergency injunction. A husband cannot claim conservatorship over a woman he is no longer married to. And once my name is on your legal documents, Graham Tate ceases to be a threat. He becomes a ghost."
I looked at Chloe, who was still huddled in her chair, watching the exchange with wide, terrified eyes.
"And what happens when this is all over?" I demanded. "When Graham is in prison?"
"We quietly file for divorce," Sebastian answered effortlessly. "You take your half of the architectural firm, you rebuild your life, and you never see me again."
It sounded too simple. Too clean.
"Why?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Why would you go to this length for a stranger? It's not just because of your mother. Nobody marries a stranger just out of empathy."
Sebastian’s dark eyes hardened. The relaxed posture vanished, replaced by the lethal predator I had seen earlier.
He walked toward me, stopping just inches away. I had to tilt my head back to look at his face.
"You're right," Sebastian said softly. "It's not just empathy."
He reached past me and picked up a heavy, leather-bound folder from a side table. He opened it and laid a photograph on the desk.
"Look at this."
I hesitated, then looked down.
It was a surveillance photograph of Graham, sitting in a dark booth at a high-end bar. He was handing a thick envelope to a man across the table.
The man had a jagged scar across his jaw and wore a heavy gold chain.
"That," Sebastian said, pointing a tattooed finger at the scarred man, "is Marcus Vance. He runs the North Side distribution rings. He's also the man who ordered a hit on my younger brother three years ago."
My blood ran cold.
"Graham is doing business with him?"
"Graham is washing his money," Sebastian corrected. "The money he's embezzling from the stadium project? He's using it to buy construction materials at highly inflated prices from shell companies owned by Marcus Vance. Graham cleans the stolen money, and Vance takes a fifty percent cut."
Sebastian closed the folder, the sound like a gunshot in the quiet room.
"I have been trying to dismantle Marcus Vance’s operation for three years. But he hides his money too well. Until today."
Sebastian looked at me, his eyes burning with cold vengeance.
"If I destroy Graham Tate's firm tomorrow morning, Vance loses his money launderer. He panics. He makes a mistake. And I finally get to finish what he started."
I felt the room spin slightly. I wasn't just a victim in a domestic dispute anymore. I had accidentally stumbled into a war between two rival crime syndicates.
"So, I'm bait," I whispered.
"No," Sebastian said fiercely. "You are the key. Graham is the bait."
He picked up the manila envelope and held it out to me.
"Sign the annulment. Sign the marriage license. Let me destroy the man who poisoned you, so I can destroy the man who tried to kill my family."
I looked at the envelope.
I thought about the locked bedroom door. The fifty-milligram pills. The eleven months of wondering if I was truly losing my mind.
I thought about the sweet, patient smile Graham gave me right before he handed me a glass of water and a pill that was meant to erase me.
I took the envelope from Sebastian's hand.
"Do you have a pen?" I asked.
Sebastian didn't smile, but the tension in his shoulders dropped. He handed me a heavy gold fountain pen.
I sat at his desk, my hands shaking, and signed my name on the annulment papers, citing fraud and attempted bodily harm. Then, I signed the marriage license.
"There," I said, dropping the pen. "I'm a Romano."
Sebastian picked up the papers, inspecting the signatures carefully.
"Daniel," Sebastian ordered. "Take these to Judge Harrison immediately. Wake him up if you have to. Have them filed and stamped before sunrise."
"Yes, Boss." Daniel took the papers and hurried out of the office.
Sebastian turned back to me. He looked at my oversized blue cardigan and my bare feet.
"We need to get you clothes," Sebastian said. "And a safe place to sleep."
"I can't go back to the house," I panicked.
"You're coming to my compound," Sebastian stated, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Nobody gets through those gates without my permission."
He walked over to the closet and pulled out a thick, expensive black overcoat. He draped it over my shoulders, replacing the blue cardigan. It smelled of cedar and expensive cologne. It swallowed me whole, but it was incredibly warm.
"What about them?" I asked, pointing to Chloe and Louise, who were still sitting in terrified silence.
Sebastian looked at the two women.
"Louise goes home," Sebastian decided coldly. "But Daniel’s men will be watching her house. If she tries to contact Graham, we will know."
He turned his gaze to Chloe.
"You," Sebastian said, his voice softening just a fraction, "are carrying leverage. Graham doesn't want that baby, but if the press finds out the 'family-man' CEO has a pregnant mistress, his public image is ruined."
Chloe sniffled. "What do you want me to do?"
"You're going to a private hotel suite," Sebastian said. "You will stay there until the audit committee meets tomorrow. Then, you are going to tell them exactly what you told me."
Sebastian offered me his arm.
I hesitated for only a second before slipping my hand through it.
We walked out of the back office and into the main restaurant. The security guards had cleared the dining room entirely.
As we reached the front doors, a loud, violent pounding echoed against the thick glass.
I jumped, my heart leaping into my throat.
Through the rain-streaked glass, illuminated by the streetlights, was Graham.
He was soaking wet, his face twisted in absolute, furious rage. He wasn't wearing his charming smile anymore. The mask was completely gone.
He pounded on the glass again, shouting something I couldn't hear.
In his hand, gripped tightly, was a piece of paper. A court order.
"He got the injunction," I whispered, terrified. "He's here to take me."
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Sebastian didn't flinch. He didn't step back.
He simply reached out, placed his hand on the deadbolt, and unlocked the door.
