In what?
The first man checked his watch.
“We’ll give you forty-eight hours,” he said. “After that, this moves forward—with or without your cooperation.”
Rick didn’t respond.
They turned to leave.
But Elena paused at the door.
She looked back at me one last time.
“You married for security,” she said.
Not a question.
A statement.
Then—
“Let’s see how long that lasts.”
And just like that, they were gone.
—
The house felt quieter after they left.
Not peaceful.
Empty in a different way.
I looked at Rick.
“You want to start explaining now?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he walked to the cabinet, poured himself a drink, and took a slow sip.
That told me everything.
This wasn’t simple.
“This family,” he said finally, “built something together a long time ago.”
“What kind of something?”
“A company,” he replied. “An empire, depending on who you ask.”
“And the problem?”
He looked at me again.
