Victor’s POV
The folder hit my desk with more force than I intended.
I stared at the words written across the page, reading them over and over again, hoping somehow they would change.
They didn’t.
“This can’t be real,” I said out loud, my voice tight with anger.
Miriam was losing everything.
In a divorce that had supposedly just started, she was being stripped of every asset, every penny, everything she’d worked for.
Williams was taking it all.
The investigator I’d hired stood quietly across from my desk, waiting for my reaction.
“Is this information confirmed?” I asked, already knowing the answer but needing to hear it anyway.
“One hundred percent accurate, sir,” he said firmly.
“Every detail checks out.”
I leaned back in my chair, pressing my palms together.
My jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth might crack.
That bastard.
That absolute bastard.
Miriam didn’t deserve this.
She was brilliant and beautiful and strong, and she didn’t deserve to be destroyed by a man like Williams Castellano.
I blamed myself.
I should have moved faster.
I should have approached her sooner.
I should have gotten to her before he had the chance to hurt her.
She must be suffering right now.
And this was the moment she needed me most.
This was when I had to be there for her.
“You can go,” I said to the investigator, waving him toward the door.
He started to leave, but I stopped him.
“Wait.”
He turned back, standing in the doorway.
“If you find anything else…anything at all…I want to know immediately. Don’t tell anyone else. Come directly to me,” I instructed.
“Of course, sir,” he replied, and then he was gone.
I sat alone in my office, images of Miriam playing through my mind.
Her smile.
The way she’d looked at me in the boardroom when I’d given her the CEO position.
And then that other expression- the pain she’d been trying so hard to hide.
A knock interrupted my thoughts.
Karen walked in without waiting for permission, holding a thick folder.
“Sir, everything is ready for the wedding,” she said, taking a seat across from me.
“I’ve contacted the best wedding planners in the city. Here are their proposals, their designs, their ideas for decorations and themes. We can do a large wedding or something more intimate. It’s all here.”
She opened the folder and started pointing out different options, different color schemes, different venue ideas.
I tried to listen.
I really did.
But my mind kept going back to Miriam.
To the fact that she was being destroyed by the man she’d married.
To the fact that she was probably alone and terrified and had nowhere to turn except to me.
“Sir, are you listening?” Karen looked up, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m listening,” I said automatically, not even sure what she’d just said.
She smirked.
“So what was the last thing I said?”
I had no idea.
I massaged my temples, trying to focus, but nothing stuck.
Karen sighed.
“Something is wrong with you. You’re not yourself. What’s going on?”
“Everything is fine,” I said, cutting her off before she could ask more questions.
“Just leave those files with me. I’ll discuss the wedding plans with Miriam, and we’ll decide together what we want. There’s no point in me making these decisions without her input.”
Karen didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue.
“Alright, sir. Just remember that the planners need our decisions soon so they can move forward. It’s important we finalize things quickly.”
She stood and headed for the door, but before she could even open it, someone else was opening it from the other side.
Miriam.
She stepped into my office, and immediately I could see it.
The sadness written all over her face.
The pain she was trying to hide.
But even with all that darkness surrounding her, she was still beautiful.
Like sunlight breaking through storm clouds.
“Good afternoon, Victor,” she greeted softly, her confidence completely gone.
“Miriam, how are you?” I asked, studying her face carefully.
She looked down, fighting back tears.
“I’m…I’m fine,” she said with a fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
I knew everything about what had happened.
I’d already heard every detail from my investigator.
But I wanted to hear it from her.
I wanted her to trust me enough to tell me herself.
She was nervous, stroking her hair behind her ear over and over, a habit I’d noticed she did when she was anxious or upset.
My heart ached watching her like this.
She looked so broken, so shattered, despite how hard she was trying to hold herself together.
I wanted to tell her that I already knew everything, that I had people looking into William’s activities, that I was going to make sure he paid for what he’d done.
But I held back.
Maybe she came here to tell me herself.
“Go ahead,” I said gently.
“Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“You have a meeting at three o’clock with the Smith company,” she said, her voice quiet.
That wasn’t what I expected at all.
“Send that to my email,” I replied, disappointed.
“I’ll do that right away,” she said, standing up to leave.
No.
She couldn’t just walk out of here without talking about what had really happened.
“Miriam,” I called, and she stopped, turning back to look at me.
“Sit down,” I ordered.
She obeyed immediately, sitting back in the chair across from me.
“What about your husband?” I asked, watching her face carefully.
“Or should I say your ex-husband?”
Her jaw dropped.
She gasped, her eyes widening with shock.
“How did you know?” she whispered.
“Surprised?” I asked, leaning forward in my chair.
“You’re going to be my wife soon, Miriam. It’s my responsibility to know everything about you. Don’t even try to hide anything from me because I already know it all. Everything about William. Everything about what happened. Everything.”
I watched her exhale deeply, her shoulders sagging with relief or resignation- I wasn’t sure which.
“How did you find out?” she asked, her voice barely audible.
“That’s not what matters right now,” I said calmly.
I stood up and walked around my desk, leaning against it so I was closer to her.
“What matters is that you tell me the truth. Tell me what William did. Tell me what you’re facing. Tell me everything so I can help you.”
Miriam looked at me, and I could see the conflict in her eyes.
She wanted to tell me.
She wanted to trust me.
But she was afraid.
“I signed everything over,” she finally said.
“The money. The properties. My parents’ inheritance. All of it. He forced me to sign it all away.”
“He forced you?” I repeated, anger flashing through me.
“He had help,” she continued, her voice shaking.
“My sister. My lawyer. They all conspired together. They had photographs. They made threats. They said if I didn’t sign, they would destroy me publicly. So I signed.”
I moved closer to her, and she looked up at me with tears streaming down her face now.
“He also took my car keys. He threw me out onto the street with nothing but the clothes I was wearing,” she said, her voice breaking.
“And then he said something about my parents’ accident. Like he knew something about how they died. Like he was threatening to expose something if I didn’t cooperate.”
That was new information.
That was something my investigator hadn’t reported yet.
Williams Castellano knew something about her parents’ deaths, and he was using it as leverage.
This was far worse than I’d thought.
“Listen to me,” I said, my voice firm and calm.
“You are not going to worry about any of this anymore. Not Logan. Not your sister. Not your lawyer. None of it. You have me now, and I’m going to take care of everything.”
She looked at me with those tear-filled eyes, and I could see the moment she decided to trust me.
The moment she realized that I was her only way out of this nightmare.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked quietly.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Just trust me. Sign the marriage papers. Become my wife. Let me handle the rest.”
She nodded slowly, and I knew in that moment that Miriam was completely mine now.
She was trapped, whether she realized it or not.
She had nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to.
And I was going to use that to my advantage.
The game had changed.
And I was going to win.