His face changed.
Not guilt.
Recognition.
“You remember that?”
“Yes.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“I was helping with a possible acquisition.”
“What acquisition?”
“Old infrastructure software.”
“And?”
“I knew your dad had worked in that field.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
I searched his face.
Maybe I wanted to believe him.
Maybe I wanted not to.
Both possibilities frightened me.
“Can you prove that?”
He looked hurt.
Then he nodded.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I still have the project files.”
I exhaled.
“Okay.”
He stepped closer but stopped before touching me.
“Valerie, whatever happens between us, I need you to know something.”
I waited.
“My mother’s rules were wrong.”
“That’s new.”
“I know.”
He swallowed.
“I should have understood it before tonight.”
“Why didn’t you?”
His answer came quietly.
“Because I grew up thinking love meant agreeing with the person who was most certain.”
I looked at him.
He glanced through the glass toward his mother.
“She was always certain.”
For the first time, I saw what it might have been like growing up in that house.
Not as an excuse.
Just an explanation.
Marcus looked back at me.
“I don’t want to live like that anymore.”
“Then don’t.”
His eyes lifted.
“You make that sound simple.”
“It isn’t.”
“No.”
“But it is still your choice.”
He nodded.
After a moment, he asked, “Is the wedding over?”
I looked at the ring visible through the glass, still sitting on the table where I had left it.
“The Monday signing is.”
He closed his eyes.
Then opened them.
“Okay.”
“I don’t know what happens after that.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t ask me tonight.”
“I won’t.”
Something about that answer made me trust him slightly more than I had five minutes earlier.
We stood beside each other without touching.
The city lights reflected across the water.
Inside, the banquet continued in a quieter form.
Eventually, Marcus said, “There’s something you should know.”
My body tightened.
“What now?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“This afternoon, before the banquet, someone from legal contacted me.”
My heartbeat changed.
“Sterling legal?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They asked whether I knew Daniel Hart.”
I stared at him.
“What did you say?”
“I said he was my future father-in-law.”
“What else?”
“They asked whether you had ever discussed an entity called Hart-Lowell.”
Cold moved through me.
“You said you didn’t know what that was.”
“I didn’t.”
“I believe you.”
He looked surprised.
I almost was too.
“What happened next?”
“They thanked me and ended the call.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought it was routine compliance.”
I stared at him.
“That does not sound routine.”
“I know that now.”
Something occurred to me.
“What time?”
“What?”
“What time did they call?”
He checked his phone.
“Four seventeen.”
I looked toward the ballroom.
Richard had said he received the report ten minutes ago.
But Sterling legal had been asking questions hours earlier.
Which meant somebody already knew the review might lead to my family.
“Who called you?”
Marcus opened his call history.
