CHAPTER 4
THE SECRET BEHIND THE MARRIAGE
The first thing Victor did after losing his position was search for answers.
Not because he was sorry.
Not because he finally understood the pain he caused.
Because he needed someone to blame.
People like Victor Hayes did not wake up one morning and suddenly accept responsibility.
They searched for the person who ruined their illusion.
And in his mind...
that person was me.
For seven years, Victor believed he knew everything about me.
My habits.
My fears.
My weaknesses.
My limits.
He believed he understood the woman he married.
But now he discovered something terrifying.
He had spent seven years studying a person who never existed.
The morning after the board meeting, Victor arrived at the penthouse before sunrise.
The security guard at the entrance looked uncomfortable when he saw him.
A week ago, the guard would have opened the door immediately.
He would have smiled.
He would have called Victor "Mr. Hayes."
Now he hesitated.
That hesitation was a wound deeper than Victor expected.
Because suddenly, everyone treated him differently.
And he hated it.
"I live here," Victor said.
The guard looked down at his screen.
"I'm sorry, sir."
That word.
Sir.
Not Mr. Hayes.
Not executive.
Not boss.
Just sir.
"You are no longer listed as an authorized resident."
Victor stared.
"What?"
"The ownership information has been updated."
A pause.
"The apartment belongs to Hartwell Properties."
Victor felt the blood leave his face.
Hartwell.
The name that kept appearing everywhere.
The name behind every door he thought he opened himself.
He pushed past the guard.
He needed to see it.
He needed to prove everyone was wrong.
But when he reached the apartment...
his key did not work.
The same key he had used every day for seven years.
The same key he carried like a symbol of success.
Was useless.
He stood there for a long time.
Then he laughed.
A quiet, broken laugh.
Because suddenly he remembered every time he told me:
"Do you know how many people would kill for this life?"
He remembered saying:
"I gave you everything."
The truth was unbearable.
He had given me nothing.
He had only lived inside something I already had.
The door opened.
Not because of him.
Because I allowed it.
I stood on the other side.
No expensive clothes.
No jewelry.
No attempt to impress him.
Just Olivia.
The woman he thought he knew.
Victor looked at me.
For the first time in seven years...
he looked at me without superiority.
Only confusion.
"How long?"
I knew what he meant.
"How long did I know?"
He nodded.
I stepped aside.
"Come in."
He hesitated.
Almost like he was entering a stranger's home.
Because he was.
The apartment looked different.
Not because anything changed.
Because he finally saw it.
The paintings.
The furniture.
The architecture.
Everything had always been connected to Hartwell.
Everything except me.
Victor turned toward me.
"Why?"
I looked at him.
"Why what?"
"Why pretend?"
I was quiet.
Because the answer was not simple.
Seven years ago, I did not marry Victor because I wanted to trick him.
I married him because I wanted one person to see me.
Not my surname.
Not my inheritance.
Not my father's company.
Me.
"I wanted to know what people were like when they believed I had nothing."
Victor stared.
"And you picked me?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
His face changed.
Not anger.
Something worse.
Realization.
"You tested me."
The accusation came quickly.
I almost smiled.
Because even now...
he made himself the victim.
"No."
I shook my head.
"I gave you a choice."
"A choice?"
"Every day."
I stepped closer.
"Every day you chose how to treat me."
Victor looked away.
"You could have told me."
"Would it have changed anything?"
He opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
Because we both knew the answer.
If I had told him on our first date...
that I was Arthur Hartwell's daughter...
would he have loved me?
Maybe.
But would I ever know if he loved Olivia?
No.
Victor sat down.
For the first time, he looked tired.
"I loved you."
The words were quiet.
And once...
they would have meant everything.
Now they meant nothing.
"Did you?"
He looked at me.
"What?"
I asked softly:
"Did you love me?"
A pause.
"Or did you love the version of me who needed you?"
Victor had no answer.
And that silence was his answer.
Meanwhile, across town, Eleanor Hayes was having her own crisis.
She sat in her perfectly decorated home in Oak Brook.
Pearls around her neck.
Coffee in her hand.
Watching the news.
The headline was everywhere.
MERIDIAN EXECUTIVE VICTOR HAYES REMOVED AFTER INTERNAL INVESTIGATION
Eleanor refused to believe it.
"This is impossible."
She called Victor immediately.
He answered after several rings.
"Mother."
Her voice was sharp.
"What happened?"
Victor was silent.
Then:
"Olivia."
Eleanor froze.
"What about her?"
Victor laughed bitterly.
"She's a Hartwell."
The cup in Eleanor's hand slipped.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then:
"No."
Victor closed his eyes.
"Yes."
Eleanor remembered every conversation.
Every insult.
Every time she called Olivia plain.
Every time she treated her like someone lucky to be accepted.
Suddenly, every memory became humiliating.
Because the woman she looked down on...
was the woman whose family could buy everything Eleanor owned.
"Victor..."
Her voice changed.
"What did you do?"
That question hurt him.
Because it was the first time someone asked.
Not:
What happened?
Not:
How do we fix this?
What did you do?
That evening, I met my father in the garden.
The rain had stopped.
The world looked cleaner.
Arthur walked beside me.
"You saw him."
It was not a question.
I nodded.
"Yes."
"And?"
I thought about it.
"I expected him to be angry."
"What was he?"
I looked toward the trees.
"Lost."
My father was quiet.
Then he said:
"Good."
I looked at him.
"Dad."
"He needs to understand."
I knew what he meant.
For seven years, Victor believed power belonged to him.
Now he needed to learn what happened when power disappeared.
But there was something my father did not know.
Something I had not told anyone.
The reason I stayed with Victor for so long was not only because of my experiment.
There was another reason.
A secret I had kept even from my father.
The night before Victor and I married...
my mother left me a letter.
A letter she wrote before she died.
One sentence had stayed with me.
"Never marry someone who loves what you can give them. Find someone who loves what remains when everything else is gone."
I spent seven years trying to find out if Victor was that person.
Now I knew.
He was not.
But the story was not over.
Because Victor Hayes had lost his position.
He had lost his money.
He had lost his image.
But he still had one thing left.
His pride.
And pride was the most dangerous thing to take from a man who had nothing else.
The next morning...
Victor would make the mistake that would change everything.
He would decide that if he could not control Olivia...
May you like
he would destroy her.
End of Chapter 4
