Chapter 14
Alexander
The truth was revealed on a Tuesday morning.
By nine o’clock, every major business outlet was reporting on the Vale family.
By ten, my lawyers were already on the phone.
My board was calling for an emergency meeting at 11.
And by midday, Vivian Hart's name was everywhere.
I looked at the evidence that was spread all over my desk.
Bank transfers.
False papers.
Personal messages.
Conversations.
Six years of deception, cleverly hidden beneath layers of money and influence.
Vivian had been working with one of the executives who wanted to take control of Vale Industries. She'd helped divert business dollars, leak secret information, and create circumstances to keep me preoccupied and suspicious.
But the money wasn't the worst thing.
Clara.
Messages about her were exchanged.
She is expecting.
Her motion.
Noah.
Even the house on the lake.
My hands balled into fists.
Someone had been observing my family while I was too blind to see what was going on.
My phone rang once more.
“Alexander,” said my chief legal officer, “we have to act fast. If we slack off, the company's going to suffer."
“How large?”
“Potentially huge.”
I gazed through the glass wall of my office.
Below me the city stretched.
The business I had built my whole adult life on was now in a precarious position.
What if we don’t let that out?
A silence.
“Vivian walks away with a defence that she was used by someone else. We could hold the scandal in.”
Hold on.
Defence of the family name.
Defence the company.
To defend myself.
The way I always had.
And exactly what had ruined my marriage.
I shut my eyes.
For six years I had believed silence would protect me.
I had threats that I kept from Clara.
I kept my sentiments in.
Kept my anxieties inside.
Concealed the truth.
And all the while I believed I was protecting her, I'd abandoned her in a marriage she didn't understand.
Never again.
I told her to let it all out.
My lawyer went quiet.
"All?
"All of it.
“Alexander, once this is out there, there is no taking it back.”
"I know.
“And your marriage”
“My marriage is over already.
The words were slashed.
But they were real.
“I am not going to save my reputation by destroying the truth one more time.
Two hours later I entered the Vale Industries press conference.
The cameras snapped.
Reporters screamed their queries.
My board members sat behind me, their faces a spectrum from indignant to afraid.
I went to the microphone.
Six years ago, I decided on something that would affect more than just my firm.
The room was silent.
I married Clara Whitmore when I learned she was carrying our son. “I thought I was doing the right thing at the time.”
A reporter yelled, “So you didn’t love your wife?”
My jaw stiffened.
“Nope.
"They gave an immediate answer.
“I am saying that I didn’t make her feel loved.
Another reporter asked about Vivien.
One asked about the financial scandal.
“Did Clara know?” enquired another.
I waited for the commotion to die down.
“My wife didn’t know the whole story. She was not a party to the scheme. She was not involved in my decision-making."
I swallowed.
“And I won’t blame my business, my family, Vivian Hart, or anyone else for the failure of my marriage.
The cameras clicked quicker and faster.
“I let my wife down.
There.
I said it.
Publicly
Not a single if, and, or 'but'.
No carefully crafted statement.
No lawyer on my side to soften the remarks.
Only the truth.
I assumed that would be enough to provide for Clara. I believed sheltering her and not telling the truth was enough. I was mistaken.
My voice cracked.
She deserved the truth. She needed love. She deserved a husband who showed up.”
Now there was absolute silence in the room.
And I wasn't that kind of guy."
By evening, the stock's price was down.
Three investors were threatening to walk away.
Two board members resign.
My last name was all over the news channels.”
But for the first time in my life I didn't care.
Because Clara knew.
And I had finally chosen her, and selecting her had really cost me something.
That night I drove over to her flat.
I didn't bring flowers.
I didn't have jewellery.
I had no lawyers with me.
I didn’t take a contract with me.
I brought myself.
Clara cracked the door open.
She was lovely.
Weary.
“Cautious.
But gorgeous.
Her gaze studied my face.
I watched the press conference.
“I know.
“You shouldn’t have,” she said.
“Yes,” I answered softly. "I did."
She crossed her arms.
“You might lose the company.”
I may.
“Your board hates you.
“They’ll get there.”
A little smile hovered on her lips.
“Your mother called me three times.
I was tempted to laugh.
"When she's mad, she's scary.
She was blaming herself.
“She shouldn't.
Clara’s smile fell away.
“You really believed what you said?”
I drew in nearer.
“I meant every word I said.
For once I didn’t try to dissuade her.
I didn’t say that she has to forgive me.
I never asked her to come home.
I just looked at the woman who I had loved poorly for six years and loved deeply for all the wrong reasons.
"I can't take back what I did," I said. I cannot return to you the nights that you spent alone. I can't return the games I missed to Noah.
Tears welled in her eyes.
“But I can spend the rest of my life ensuring you never have to wonder where I am again.”
She glanced down.
In her hand.
Where her wedding band had been, there was an empty area.
Then she looked back to me.
I breathed slowly once.
"May I not earn in the rest of my life what I should have freely given you?"
She didn’t respond.
My heart sank.
Maybe this moment was the point I had to recognise that loving her didn’t entail getting her back.
Clara then stepped forward.
She took hold of my shirt in front.
And kissed me.
Not even close.
Not careful.
Six years of rage, heartache, longing, and love had at last breached the wall between us.
For half a second, I froze.
Then I threw my arms around her.
She kissed me more.
She finally pulled away, and her forehead was against mine.
Still no word.
But she did not walk away.
That was enough, for the first time.
At least tonight.