Theirs to Corrupt (Titans Captivated #5)

Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Two Days Later

Tessa

My pulse is racing as I exit the elevator and walk toward the offices of Fallon and Associates.

Of course, Torin and Mira are right behind me, their presence a constant reminder of the life I’m no longer sure I want.

When I am in front of the double doors marked with an engraved brass sign, I stop.

“Would you like us to come in?” Mira asks. “Or wait in the hallway?”

“Here. Please.”

She nods sharply.

In a way, I’m shocked I’m even here. I wouldn’t have put it past Link to try to stop me from leaving the house…for my own safety.

Pax is somewhat more reasonable. Though he wouldn’t let me drive alone, he gave the Hawkeye agents instructions to let me go wherever I wanted.

I’m smart enough to realize he’s probably tracking me and reporting my whereabouts to Link. But I’m free from his clutches for a few hours at least, and I took the time to grab a coffee on the way. Amazing how things I once took for granted now make me feel as if I’m getting away with something.

After squaring my shoulders, my heart thundering in a way that I can’t control, I pull open the door.

A blond receptionist greets me with a polite smile, but I barely notice as I take in the decor. Everything about this place exudes confidence and success.

Before I can second-guess my decision to come here, a tall, striking woman in a tailored business suit emerges from an office and strides toward me.

She smiles, and she seems warm and inviting. I’m a little surprised because Drake Griffin, the attorney Link recommended I talk to, had called her a barracuda.

“Mrs. Merritt. I’m Celeste. Delighted to meet you.”

As we shake hands, I catch a glint of bright green emeralds on her finger. I look a little more closely and recognize the owl design. Just how far does the Zeta society reach?

Celeste leads me into her office, gesturing toward a cozy seating area with a plush couch and two armchairs. “Let’s sit here,” she suggests. “It’s more comfortable for conversation.”

I perch on the edge of the couch, feeling small and out of place. Celeste hands me a bottle of water before taking a seat across from me. Her sharp eyes miss nothing as she studies me.

“Congratulations on your marriage,” she says, her tone warm but neutral.

I try to smile, but my lips refuse to cooperate.

Celeste’s expression softens with sympathy.

“Do we have attorney/client confidentiality?”

She nods. “Anything you say here?—”

“Won’t be immediately shared with Link?”

“Absolutely not. This is a private, privileged conversation.” She’s no nonsense, reassuring. “What is said between us remains between us for all time. Unless you waive your privilege.”

Exhaling, I loosen the grip on my purse.

“What can I do for you?”

Her kindness undoes me. Before I know it, I’m pouring out everything I’ve been holding back—my brother’s betrayal, running away from Chicago, Link and Pax’s intervention, the whirlwind wedding, the fact I have two husbands, and the text messages that shattered my fragile sense of security.

Celeste listens intently, her face a mask of professional concern.

“I’m tired of feeling like a pawn.”

She nods as if she understands completely, though there’s no way that’s true. “You didn’t know about the inheritance your brother mentioned?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t even know if it’s real.”

“Would you like me to find out?”

I appreciate that she hasn’t just decided to handle it without being asked.

“Yes. Please.”

She jots a note, her pen scratching against a yellow legal pad.

“And I have no idea how my brother got my phone number,” I add.

Celeste notes that as well. “And your marriage?” she prompts gently. “How do you feel about that?”

I close my eyes as memories of Las Vegas rush back. The honeymoon was amazing, and there were moments when I forgot about everything else. But reality was always there, lurking in the background.

And now, after everything I’ve learned…

When I don’t answer, she goes on. “Are you happy?”

“Happy?” My voice is sharp. And I shake my head. “I have no idea what that means.” I’ve been overwhelmed: mentally, physically, emotionally. Everything has happened so fast that I’ve barely had time to think.

“Was there a prenuptial agreement?” she asks.

Her question catches me off guard. “No,” I reply, shocked that Link never asked for one.

A small smile plays at the corners of Celeste’s mouth, and for a moment, I catch a glimpse of the barracuda beneath her caring exterior.

“Which reminds me. I have a credit card, so I can pay your fee.”

Celeste waves a hand dismissively. “This is a complimentary meeting. We’ll go from there.”

“But—” I start to protest.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Merritt?—”

“Tessa, please,” I interject.

She nods. “Tessa. Your husband will pay any bill I have.”

I blink in surprise. “How can you be sure of that?”

“He’s a reasonable man.”

Reasonable? She must be talking about someone other than the person I married.

“To start with, I recommend we verify the existence of any inheritance, along with any details you might need. Then we’ll look into how your brother obtained your number. Anything else?”

“I want to know the truth about Axel. Is he going to be murdered?”

“I’ll look into it.”

Part of me wants to believe Axel is trying to scare me. But I’ve learned the mob is real. So no doubt the consequences of not paying them back are as well.

Celeste is quiet, waiting for me to go on.

After taking a deep breath, I do. “And my marriage?”

“Legally, you have options, of course. Separation. Divorce. Potentially annulment.”

My cheeks flood with heat. Isn’t it too late for that?

“But I sense that’s not what you’re really asking,” she guesses.

Celeste is right, and tears sting my eyes.

Am I ready to end this?

Since the question scares me, I shove it aside.

One thing is certain; I can’t go on being manipulated, treated as if I don’t have an opinion or the opportunity to make my own choices.

“Tessa,” Celeste says gently, “this will come down to only one thing. What do you want?”

I open my mouth to respond, but no words come out.

What do I want?

The safety and security Link and Pax offer? The passion and connection I felt with them in Vegas? Or the freedom to make my own choices, free from manipulation and secrets?

Or maybe the one thing that matters more than any other. The one thing Link is incapable of offering.

Link

Jesus. For the first time in my life, I don’t know what the fuck to do.

My thoughts racing, I pace the length of my office.

With Tessa, I’m out of my element.

Ever since she received the text from her asshole brother, she’s been emotionally distant.

After pulling herself away from me in our Vegas suite, she went into her bedroom, then closed and locked the door behind her.

The sound of running water reached me, so I guessed she took a bath. Then…I heard nothing else.

The next morning, she didn’t emerge until Pax knocked on her door to let her know that we were getting ready to head home.

Though she sat with us on the plane, she angled her body to look out the window, grabbed a book, then slid in earbuds that she’d picked up at the airport.

Except for responding to questions in a cursory way, she’d been totally silent.

Once we were back home, she returned to the bedroom I’d given her the first night she arrived at my house.

Arrived? My conscience taunts me.

More like she was taken there without her agreement.

But if the situation replayed itself? I’d make the same decision all over again.

A knock on my door pierces the storm clouds gathering fury in my head. I stop pacing long enough to scowl.

Without waiting for an invitation, Pax enters. “Boss.” He closes us in and drops into a chair in front of my desk.

“Where is she?” I demand.

For a moment, he is silent. “She’s in a meeting.”

I scowl. “Who with? Griffin?”

Drake Griffin is the hotshot attorney I recommended when she demanded the name of a lawyer. He’s a cutthroat as well as a friend. I would have expected him to give me a heads-up about the consultation. Maybe we should have a discussion about loyalty.

“Celeste Fallon.”

Pax’s words fall into the silence. “Celeste?” I couldn’t possibly have heard right. “The fuck?”

Celeste Fallon is a fellow Titan, and she’s on the organization’s steering committee. To most of the world, she appears to run Fallon and Associates, a PR firm that’s been in her family for over a hundred fifty years. But the truth is, her specialty is crisis management. The ruthlessly intelligent attorney makes any problem go away—but the cost is astronomical.

Pax shrugs. “As we’re finding out, our wife has a mind of her own.”

“How the hell did she find Celeste?” If Griffin gave her the recommendation, I’ll fire his ass. “Goddamn it.”

“Mira and Torin are with her.”

I glare. He knows this is about more than her physical safety. If I could, I’d keep her locked up in the house, at least until I’ve dispensed with her brother.

The problem is, that wouldn’t help.

Tessa is turning out to be a problem I can’t solve with money or influence. Our relationship isn’t a hostile takeover I can strategize my way through.

She’s left me feeling more powerless than I’ve ever been.

Harnessing my anger and frustration, I cross the room to drop into my chair. The leather creaks as I scrub a hand over my face. “She’s going to file for divorce.” The words burn like acid in my mouth.

“We don’t know that,” Pax counters. Though he’s calm and thoughtful as ever, there’s a hint of doubt in his voice.

“What the fuck else is she meeting with Celeste about?” The edge in my voice is sharper than I intend. “She’s barely spoken to us since Vegas.”

Vegas. Christ. When we were there, I’d caught a glimpse of the future I wanted. The three of us, happy. A real family, unlike the one I’d grown up with.

The memory of Tessa’s laughter, the sight of her walking down the aisle to pledge herself to me, the way she looked at us both with trust and desire, the image of her on her knees, in our arms… Now I have nothing left but memories and a dream, and even that is slipping away faster than I can hold onto it.

“Might be about Axel,” Pax says.

“Something we are handling.”

“By ourselves. Without her input.”

I clench my jaw so I don’t fire back and kick him out of my office.

Pax stays silent for a long time, and the tension grows and thickens between us. And I’m going mad wondering what the hell she’s discussing with Celeste.

Finally Pax leans forward. “You need to talk to her, Boss. Really talk. Open up.”

I turn my chair to face the windows.

This office is a testament to my ambition and success. My empire. But what the hell good is any of that right now?

“She was right in what she said.” His words are slow and deliberate. “About being a pawn.”

I jerk my gaze back to him.

“She needs to know why we’ve been controlling this.”

“The fuck you talking about?”

Pax unflinchingly meets my fury. He’s the only person who would say any of these things to me.

“You’re becoming him, Link.”

The mention of Warren Merritt, my father, jolts me with hot, familiar anger.

“The man you swore you’d never be.”

His words are a grotesque blow.

I’ve spent my whole life fighting my father’s ghost, only to end up exactly where I never wanted to be. Controlling. Distant. Unemotional.

And just like him, I’ve driven away the only woman I’ve ever cared about. “I just want to keep her safe.”

“At what cost?”

I want to rage, tell him to fuck off.

But I can’t argue. The memory of my mother walking out, turning her back on me because she was unable to bear my father’s suffocating control any longer, lances through my mind.

Pax’s phone buzzes. He checks it, then flicks his gaze back up. “Tessa just left Celeste’s office building.”

“Is she going home?”

“It doesn’t appear so.”