Page 81 of Vows In Corruption

Something is on her mind and wants to talk about it. That much I know for sure. I may have only known this woman for a few weeks, but I’m already learning all her tells. Like the way she plays with her fingers when she’s nervous, or how she stutters when she is lying.

This morning was a prime example of that. Not only did she stutter she also slammed closed her laptop as if she didn’t want to get caught doing something. My new bride is hiding something, I just don’t know what.

I through her a nod. “More than okay.”

She gives me a smile and makes her way out of the elevator with me following closely behind her.

Part of me hopes that she is staying to tell me what she is hiding, but given what just happened in the broad meeting, she may have questions, and I’m more than willing to answer them.

The second both of us are in the safety of my office, I close the door behind us and lock it.

I don’t need anyone barging in and hearing our conversation.

As soon as the door is closed, that when fully hits me.

I’m officially the CEO of Lane Enterprises.

All my damn work has finally paid off. I can’t express how fucking good it feels. For the first time in a long time, I feel this joy inside of me that I can’t explain.

Apparently Ella is feeling the same way, because the smile that is currently on her face its so bright, it could light up the whole damn building.

Her smile is so infectious, that I want to take out my phone and take a picture just so I can look at it whenever I want and remember this moment.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your mother’s board seat?” She asks, her smile still big and bright.

A part of me thinks I’m curating my wife beyond repair but given her smile, she’s more than okay with that.

I send a shrug her way and get rid of my suit jacket. “I didn’t think that I was going to need it, but when you told me that the vote was going to be tied, I pulled it out. It was a hail marry that I had just in case shit went south.”

When I first read my parents will at eighteen, I never thought that the fact that my mother leaving her voting seat to her future daughter-in-law would have been beneficial to me. Especially since in my search for my brother, a Mexican wedding certificate popped up. One that was dated a few months before Elliot was born.

I knew it was legit because the same name that was in the marriage certificate, was on all the kids’ birth certificate. Marisela Serrano.

In my head, if Robert came back then the seat would go to her and that would be the end of it.

That is until I looked into it last week. I had my suspicions that Peter was going to flip someone to his side and take a vote from me. So I went back to my mother’s will and I asked a lawyer for some advice.

As it turns out, since my brother can’t be found and we don’t have proof that he is dead or alive, and the same could be said about his wife, the seat would fall to my wife.

And thank fuck it did.

Without, Ella, I wouldn’t have been able to get what I wanted. She doesn’t know this, but I will be forever in her debt.

“Were you ever going to tell me about that small little detail?” Her smile disappears and by the way she bites down on her lips, I know what she is truly asking. If I going to keep secrets from her.

There are a few things that I will keep from her, but this was not one of them.

I roll up my sleeves and close the distance between us.

“Yes,” I answer truthfully. “I was going to tell you. It’s part of my wedding gift.”

“How romantic. A closet full of clothes and a board seat at your company. What more can a girl ask for.” Her sarcasm bleeds through and I can’t help but to smile down at her.

“She can ask for a lot of things and since she helped get what I wanted, she would get it.”

A small blush creeps up her neck. I wonder if other parts of her look pretty in that shade of pink.

“You would have figured out a way to get it done. You didn’t need me.” I don’t now if she notices but her body comes closer to mine when she speaks.

---