Marcus's Move

It was a lie. But a beautiful one.

Marcus sat in the chair opposite Elena, holding a bouquet of white peonies. He wasn't handcuffed. He wasn't in jail. He was in Silas Vane's office, looking immaculate in a charcoal suit, the picture of a concerned husband.

"I don't know what you mean, Silas," Marcus said, his voice calm, reasonable. "Bigamy? It's absurd. Seraphina and I... we're close. We grew up in a difficult environment. Trauma bonds people."

" Trauma bonds people," Silas repeated, leaning back in his leather chair. "Marriage licenses bond people legally. And if you're still married to Seraphina, your marriage to Elena is void."

"I was never married to Seraphina," Marcus said. "That Vegas trip? We were twenty-one. We got drunk. We bought a license as a joke. We never filed it."

He looked at Elena. His eyes were soft, pleading.

"Elena, darling. Please. You're spiraling. First the baby, now this? You need help. You need rest."

He held out the flowers.

"Come home. Let me take care of you. We can put all this ugliness behind us."

Elena looked at the flowers. Peonies. Her favorite. He remembered.

Or he had checked her file.

"Where is Leo?" she asked.

"He's with the nanny," Marcus said. "Safe. Happy. Waiting for his mother."

"I am his mother," Elena said.

"Of course you are," Marcus said soothingly. "And Seraphina is his aunt. And I'm his father. We're a family, Elena. Families have secrets. Families have... complications. But we survive them."

He stood up. He walked over to her. He knelt beside her chair, taking her hand. His skin was warm. His grip was gentle.

"I love you," he whispered. "I've always loved you. Seraphina... she's my sister. But you? You're my wife. My partner. My future."

Elena looked into his eyes. They were the same eyes she had fallen in love with five years ago. Blue. Earnest. Full of promises.

For a second, just a second, she wanted to believe him. She wanted to go back to the way it was. To the illusion of safety. To the comfort of being cherished.

"What about the money?" she asked. "The loans? The fraud?"

"Mistakes," Marcus said. "Desperation. I was trying to save the estate. For us. For our children."

He kissed her hand.

"I can fix it, Elena. I can pay it back. But I need you. I need your trust. I need you to sign the release forms for the embryos. So we can give Leo a sibling. A real family."

The embryos.

That was the tell.

He didn't want her. He didn't want a family. He wanted the genetic material. He wanted the heir.

Elena pulled her hand away.

"You're lying," she said.

Marcus didn't flinch. He didn't get angry. He just looked sad.

"I'm trying to save you, Elena," he said. "From yourself. From this... paranoia."

He stood up. He placed the flowers on the desk.

"Think about it," he said to Silas. "There is no marriage license. There is no proof. Just the ravings of a woman who kidnapped her own child."

He walked to the door. He paused.

"I'll be waiting," he said to Elena. "At home. Where you belong."

He left.

Silas watched the door close. He picked up the flowers and dropped them into the trash can.

"He's good," Silas said. "I'll give him that."

"He's a sociopath," Elena said, her voice shaking.

"He's confident," Silas corrected. "Because he knows the Vegas records are gone. The clerk's office had a fire in 2009. Most of the paper files were destroyed."

"So we can't prove it?"

"Not through official channels," Silas said. "But like I said... there's a blackmailer in Queens."

"What does he have?"

"Copies," Silas said. "He worked in the clerk's office. He made copies of the... interesting ones. Celebrities. Politicians. Hawthornes."

"And he just kept them?"

"He sells them back to the people who want them buried," Silas said. "Or to the people who want them dug up."

"How much?" Elena asked.

"Fifty thousand," Silas said. "Cash. Tonight."

"I don't have fifty thousand dollars," Elena said. "Marcus froze my accounts."

"I know," Silas said. "But you have something else."

He pointed to her wrist.

The bracelet. The diamond tennis bracelet Marcus had given her as an apology. The one she had seen the receipt for.

"That's worth sixty," Silas said. "If the diamonds are real."

Elena took it off. She looked at it. It glittered in the office light, cold and hard.

"It's real," she said. "He bought two. One for me. One for Seraphina."

She handed it to Silas.

"Get the cash," she said.

"And you?"

"I'm going to Queens," Elena said. "I want to see the paper myself. I want to see his signature next to hers."

Silas nodded. "I'll drive you."

They left the office. They got into Silas's car.

As they merged onto the bridge, heading toward the city lights, Elena looked out the window.

A black SUV was two cars behind them.

It wasn't following. It was escorting.

"Silas," she said. "We have a tail."

"I know," Silas said, checking the mirror. "It's been there since we left the office."

"Is it Marcus?"

"No," Silas said. "It's Seraphina."

He accelerated, weaving through traffic.

"She knows about the blackmailer," Silas said. "She's going to try to buy him off. Or kill him."

"Can we beat her?"

"We have to," Silas said. "Because if she gets that license, you don't just lose the case, Elena. You lose your freedom. Forever."