Chapter 2 - The Woman in My Robe
Marcus stepped away from the cameras and pressed the phone harder against his ear.
"You cannot call a board vote without me."
His voice was low, but anger sharpened every word.
Isabella watched from beneath the awning while Lydia shifted beside him in the silk robe she had stolen from the private suite upstairs.
The sight should have humiliated Isabella.
Instead, it clarified everything.
Lydia was not wearing a victory.
She was wearing evidence.
Victor Hale's voice was faint through Marcus's phone.
"The meeting was called by the controlling shareholder."
Marcus looked at Isabella.
"There is no controlling shareholder."
Victor said something else.
Marcus's eyes moved toward Evelyn.
"Rafael is a lender."
Another pause.
"No."
His voice weakened.
"No, that isn't possible."
Lydia touched his arm.
"Marcus?"
He shrugged her off.
"Send me the cap table."
Victor apparently refused.
Marcus's face flushed.
"I am the chief executive officer."
The answer came through the speaker loudly enough for Isabella to hear one sentence.
"For the moment."
Marcus ended the call.
He stared at the phone as though it had betrayed him.
Then he turned on Isabella.
"Inside."
"No."
"We are not discussing private company matters on the sidewalk."
"You made our marriage public when you had security throw me through those doors."
"I did not throw you anywhere."
Daniel Cho looked down.
Isabella saw the shame on his face.
Marcus saw it too.
"Daniel, go back to your post."
Daniel did not move.
"I have orders to secure the executive floor."
"From me."
"No, sir."
Marcus stepped toward him.
"I hired you."
"The property company pays my contract."
The words landed hard.
Marcus had always treated payroll as proof of ownership.
He had never noticed which entity actually issued the checks.
"Who gave the order?"
Daniel glanced at Isabella.
Marcus followed his eyes.
Something dark moved across his face.
"You?"
"Not me," Isabella said.
"Then who?"
Evelyn answered.
"Bellamy Asset Holdings."
Marcus laughed.
"That shell?"
"That shell owns the hotel."
"Mercer Hospitality owns Bellamy Asset Holdings."
"No."
Evelyn's tone did not change.
"Mercer Hospitality has a management agreement with Bellamy Asset Holdings."
Marcus opened his mouth, then closed it.
Isabella knew exactly what he was remembering.
Eleven years ago, while they were still newlyweds, he had signed a stack of formation documents at Rafael's library table.
He had complained that family lawyers made everything unnecessarily complicated.
He had flipped through pages while answering emails.
Isabella had asked him twice if he wanted to review the ownership diagrams.
He had kissed her forehead and told her he trusted her.
Then he had signed.
Trust had meant convenience to Marcus.
Now it meant consequences.
Lydia crossed her arms.
"This is ridiculous."
Evelyn looked at her.
"Ms. Cross, please remove Mrs. Mercer's property."
Lydia's chin lifted.
"It was a gift."
"From someone who did not own it."
"Marcus said it was his."
"Marcus says many things are his."
Isabella almost smiled.
Lydia's hand rose to the sapphire again.
"I'm not taking it off in the street."
"Then Daniel will accompany you to a private room."
"You can't order me around."
Evelyn opened the portfolio once more.
"You are an employee of Mercer Hospitality standing on Bellamy Asset Holdings property while in possession of an item reported as family property by its beneficiary."
Lydia looked at Marcus.
"Do something."
He did not answer.
The imbalance between them became visible all at once.
Lydia had believed she was protected by his power.
Marcus had believed his power was protected by ownership.
Neither belief had survived the last fifteen minutes.
A cluster of guests gathered behind the glass.
Someone was filming.
Marcus noticed.
He forced a smile onto his face and stepped closer to Isabella.
"Fine."
His voice softened.
"Come upstairs."
She studied him.
"Why?"
"Because whatever Rafael told you, we can fix it."
"We?"
"We're married."
The audacity of the word nearly took her breath away.
"You remembered that quickly."
Marcus lowered his voice further.
"This is business."
"You put your mistress in my robe."
"Lydia has nothing to do with the company."
Lydia's face changed.
She had heard him.
Marcus did not look at her.
"Isabella, think about what you're doing."
"I am."
"Thousands of people depend on this company."
"And you depended on me."
"Don't make this emotional."
She stared at him.
That had always been his favorite weapon.
Whenever she objected to a reckless acquisition, she was emotional.
Whenever she questioned a loan, she was emotional.
Whenever she asked why he was gone until three in the morning, she was emotional.
Now, after humiliating her in public, he wanted to hide behind professionalism.
"You are right," she said.
"This is business."
Marcus relaxed slightly.
"Good."
"Which is why I am not discussing it as your wife."
His relief disappeared.
"I am discussing it as the beneficiary of the trust that owns the majority of your operating assets."
Lydia took one step backward.
Marcus said nothing.
Isabella continued.
"And as that beneficiary, I am requesting an immediate audit of every intercompany transfer you authorized in the last twenty-four months."
Marcus's face went blank.
It lasted less than a second.
But Isabella saw it.
So did Evelyn.
There was something in those transfers he did not want examined.
"Why?" Isabella asked softly.
Marcus recovered.
"Why what?"
"Why did that scare you?"
"It didn't."
"You stopped breathing."
"Don't be dramatic."
Evelyn made another note.
Marcus noticed and snapped.
"Stop writing things down."
"I bill by the hour."
Even Daniel looked as if he might smile.
Marcus turned away.
"This is insane."
He began pacing near the entrance.
"I took a dying boutique hotel and turned it into a global brand."
"You did not do it alone," Isabella said.
"I was the one in the meetings."
"Because I was at home rewriting the projections you presented as yours."
"I raised the money."
"My father's guarantees raised the money."
"I found the properties."
"I negotiated the first three purchases."
Marcus stopped.
That fact had never appeared in a magazine profile.
Neither had the fact that Isabella wrote the expansion model that saved the company during its second year.
Neither had the fact that the first resort's land was purchased through a trust created by her mother.
Marcus had not erased Isabella in one night.
He had been erasing her for years.
Tonight was simply the first time he had done it in front of her face.
Lydia turned toward the doors.
"I'm going upstairs."
Daniel blocked her path gently.
"Ms. Cross, your access has been suspended."
"Excuse me?"
"Your staff credentials were disabled at eleven thirty-four."
She looked at Marcus.
"You fired me?"
"I didn't."
"Then who did?"
Evelyn answered without looking up.
"No one fired you."
"Then why is my access disabled?"
"Because the executive floor contains records under preservation order."
Marcus spun around.
"What records?"
"All of them."
For the first time, fear broke completely through his anger.
He reached into his pocket and took out his master key card.
Then he moved toward the elevator bank inside the lobby.
Daniel stepped in front of him.
"Sir."
"Move."
"I cannot let you access the executive floor."
"Move."
"Please don't make this harder."
Marcus looked past him at the elevators.
Then he looked at Isabella.
She understood.
There was something upstairs.
Something he needed before the audit team found it.
"Daniel," she said.
"Yes, Mrs. Mercer?"
"Lock down the executive offices."
Marcus's head snapped toward her.
"You cannot do that."
"Apparently I can."
"Isabella."
"No one enters until Evelyn's team arrives."
Daniel touched his radio.
"Understood."
Marcus lunged forward and grabbed Isabella's wrist.
The movement was so sudden that the cameras outside erupted.
Daniel caught Marcus's arm.
Evelyn stepped between them.
Lydia gasped.
Marcus released Isabella immediately, but it was too late.
Every reporter had captured it.
Isabella looked down at the red marks on her wrist.
Marcus stared at them too.
"You just made this worse," she said.
His breathing became uneven.
"You don't know what you're doing."
"Then tell me what's upstairs."
He said nothing.
"Tell me, Marcus."
Silence.
Then an alarm sounded from inside the hotel.
Not a fire alarm.
A security alarm.
Daniel's radio crackled.
A guard spoke quickly from the executive floor.
"Director Cho, we have movement inside the chairman's office."
Daniel frowned.
"Who?"
Static filled the radio.
Then the guard answered.
"Someone was already up here before the lockdown."
Marcus went completely still.
Isabella felt Evelyn turn beside her.
"Who is it?" Daniel demanded.
The reply came after a long pause.
"CFO Adrian Shaw."
May you like
Marcus closed his eyes.
And Isabella knew the night had just become much larger than an affair.
