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After all, my family couldn’t force me to be with Eli. Not like this. Not anymore.
I wanted hope to flourish. If Eli would sign divorce papers, then the future would be my oyster. Axel and I could figure out whatever came our way.
Save the company meeting I was required to attend, I didn’t leave my office for the rest of the day. I called my assistant to bring in lunch and spent the day poring over emails, strategy calls, and team chats. From here on out, I’d show my father that I could exist on my own terms while still preserving the stability of his precious company.
I could be CEOandbe with Axel.
I began researching divorce lawyers. I was done pretending this separation was a long-term solution. Clearly, Eli and I could no longer continue. By the time four o’clock had come and gone, I had reached out to three lawyers, and I was ready to head back to Axel’s. We’d been texting on and off all day: trading sweet words, planning for dinner, figuring out what else I might need for my stay.
One of my assistants knocked on my door. Tatiana poked her head in, her white-blonde hair in an expert messy bun.
“Cora? You got a package.” She sounded excited, which caused me to perk up. “Do you want it now or should I leave it out here?”
“You can bring it in.” I smiled as she walked from the door to my desk. She handed over a white box with a red ribbon around it. I could see why she sounded excited. This looked like a classic surprise-during-the-workday gift. The tag simply readTo my beloved.It had to be Axel.
“I wonder what he sent you,” she murmured, reminding me we weren’t excited about the same person.
“I think I’ll have to open this later.” I patted the red ribbon. “I told myself I’d finish this last email before I moved on to anything else.”
She wilted slightly, which made me wonder how much of a fairy-tale romance they really thought I had with Eli. Or maybe it was less fairy tale and more financial. Either way, I didn’t want to reveal that this gift was most likely from someone who wasn’t my husband.
No, that information needed to leak in a slow and controlled fashion. If it came out any other way, it would explode across the headlines like the Hindenburg. I’d have to manage that myself to avoid the messy alternative.
“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” Tatiana asked as she bounced back toward the door. She sent me another smile before shutting the door behind her.
I took out my phone to send a text to Axel.
CORA: You really didn’t have to send me a gift.
And then I dug in, pulling at the silky ribbon, grinning as childlike excitement came over me. Axel knew how to pick up my spirits. Axel was unfailing. Axel was the man of my dreams.
AXEL: I didn’t send you one…?
My smile dropped, and I pulled open the white lid. Inside, amid white fluffy filler lay a familiar package. I picked it up, confusion slithering through me, and then noticed a handwritten note beneath it.
Thought I’d make you a care package for your romantic getaway with your hillbilly lover. Gonna need this, huh?
It was my birth control. The package I’d left behind. The prescription I’d been hiding from Eli for the past several years.
Eli was playing dirty.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
AXEL
The helicopter was waiting for us when Cora made it back to the penthouse. I planned to surprise her with a dinner we’d discussed via text message during our workdays, but in my Hamptons house. It was time for her to start meeting my properties.
But when she met me on the top floor of the building, in the vestibule just outside the helipad, she didn’t look nearly as enthused as I’d expected. Worry tugged at her features as she came toward me.
“Cora, what’s wrong?”
The helicopter sat silent on the helipad, the pilot awaiting my signal. She stopped in front of me, nibbling on her lip. “Eli was the one who sent me a surprise gift today. And this was it.” She tugged a white plastic sleeve from her purse. I turned it over in my hands, not understanding what I was looking at.
“He’s always wanted to have kids. It’s been part of his business strategy since the beginning,” she said, her throat bobbing. “But I always knew I didn’t want to have his children. So I started sneaking birth control.”
“Sneaking?”
“Yes. If he found out, he’d get upset. I’ve always wanted children...” Her voice faltered. “But I only ever wanted them with you.”
