Chapter 9
I canceled the engagement reception.
Not the engagement.
Not yet.
That confused everyone.
Good.
I needed clarity before decisions.
Guests left.
No announcement.
No spectacle.
Celia remained because I asked whether she wanted to.
Her choice.
She said yes.
Vivienne sat across from me in the library after midnight.
No Gideon.
No Marcus.
Just us.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the watch?”
She cried.
“I thought I could solve it first.”
There.
The disease.
Everyone protecting me through concealment.
My mother.
Marcus.
Vivienne.
Different motives.
Same result.
“What did you think you were solving?”
She believed if the watch captured Marcus confessing to hiding evidence, she could bring me the complete truth after the wedding.
Clean.
Contained.
No family explosion.
I stared.
“You wanted to marry me first.”
Her eyes dropped.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought if you learned everything before…”
She stopped.
“Before what?”
“Before you were legally—”
She caught herself.
Not legal focus.
Good.
“Before you were fully committed to me.”
There.
Fear.
She thought truth might make me leave.
So she wanted the relationship secured first.
Not love.
Control around love.
That hurt.
Then I asked:
“Why Celia?”
Vivienne cried harder.
“Because I was afraid to test it on myself.”
Simple.
Ugly.
True.
No excuse.
“And her mother’s house?”
“I panicked.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You leveraged it.”
She nodded.
Finally.
“Yes.”
Silence.
I looked at the engagement ring.
She followed my eyes.
“What happens now?”
“I don’t know.”
That frightened her.
Good.
Not punishment.
Reality.
Then she removed the ring herself.
Placed it between us.
“I’m not asking you to decide tonight.”
First intelligent choice.
I left it there.
Love remained.
May you like
Trust did not.
Different problems.
