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00:00No! Please forgive me! Mom and Dad!
00:04They don't know I reborn.
00:07This time, I'll make this two bastards call me Mommy.
00:10In my last life, Vivian had no patience for her husband's needs while pregnant.
00:15So she found her husband a mistress herself.
00:18Thirty maids knelt in the front of the grand entrance, each balancing a crystal bowl on their head.
00:24Inside each bowl coiled a small snake.
00:26Move even a fraction and it drops down your collar.
00:29My knees ached against the cold stone.
00:32One snake slithered over the rim and into my sleeve.
00:35I bit my lip bloody and didn't flinch.
00:37One by one the others gave up.
00:39I didn't. I was the last one standing.
00:43That night they sent me to Ethan's room.
00:46A few months later, Vivian delivered twins, a boy and a girl.
00:50I was two months pregnant myself.
00:52Will Ethan like this child?
00:54I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful.
00:56Ethan, I have a good news.
00:59I never got the words out.
01:01His assistant shoved me into the swimming pool.
01:05I struggled under the surface.
01:07Through the water I saw Ethan's face.
01:09His eyes flat and cold.
01:11Vivian has been nothing but devoted to me.
01:14I'm not letting some whore use a pregnancy to climb her way up.
01:17The assistant held me under until I stopped moving.
01:21After that, the two of them remained the picture of a perfect couple.
01:25Everyone admired them.
01:27No one asked about me or the child I was carrying.
01:31Then I opened my eyes.
01:34I was back.
01:36Before any of it happened.
01:38Before Vivian had ever assigned me to Ethan.
01:41This time I would rewrite everything.
01:43I knew his father Marcus Hargrove, the CEO, had been alone since his wife died years ago.
01:49No girlfriend.
01:50No mistress in his private residence.
01:53I would find a way to get close to him.
01:55Once I was his, not even Ethan and Vivian could touch me.
01:59By then, I was afraid they'll all start calling me mommy.
02:09Mr. Marcus will be back tomorrow.
02:12Vivian lit up when she heard.
02:13That's great.
02:15I'll tell Ethan right away.
02:17Marcus was Ethan's adoptive father.
02:20Ethan's biological parents had both worked under Marcus.
02:23His father died on an Oberspace deal gone wrong.
02:26His mother didn't survive the grief.
02:28Ethan was only a child.
02:31Marcus took him in, gave him a home and a title within the company, raised him as his own.
02:35But Marcus had never named Ethan as his formal successor.
02:38If I could become Marcus's woman, no one, not Vivian, not Ethan, could move against me.
02:44Vivian was already instructing her personal maid Sophie to help her prepare to welcome Marcus home.
02:49Once you give him a grandson, he'll finally get Ethan named official heir.
02:53You'll be a billionaire's wife.
02:55Untouchable.
02:56Vivian smiled and rested a hand on her stomach.
02:59I said nothing.
03:00I'm afraid she was going to be disappointed.
03:02In my past life, Marcus had gone straight to a dinner with the business partners the night he returned.
03:08Vivian waited all evening for nothing.
03:10This time was going to be different, but the outcome for her would be the same.
03:14I spent the rest of the day quietly.
03:16I had been saving for three years.
03:19I used every bit of it to find out which route Marcus's car would take back to the estate.
03:26After dark, I stood in the corridor he would pass through, wearing the thinnest blouse I owned.
03:31When a draft came through, I shivered.
03:33My nerve was failing me.
03:35Marcus Hargrove had turned down women from every level of society.
03:39There were rumors.
03:40Women had staged encounters before.
03:43All of them were let go.
03:45And they would probably never find a job in their lifetime.
03:48I honestly didn't know what my chances of success are, but I had to do this.
03:52No other choice.
03:54I heard footsteps.
03:56He came around the corner and the moonlight caught him.
03:59Mid-thirties, built like someone who could break a man in a second.
04:03He walked like he owned every inch of space he occupied.
04:06This had to be him.
04:07I steadied myself, picked up the small lamp I was holding, and walked toward him.
04:12I let myself stumble.
04:13I fell against his chest.
04:15He was solid.
04:17It hurt.
04:18I made a small involuntary sound, and my eyes watered.
04:22He looked down at me.
04:24Who are you?
04:28I bit my lip, looked up at him with wet eyes, and said,
04:32Who are you?
04:33Let go of me.
04:35Then I made myself squirm.
04:38My blouse was already thin.
04:40The struggle made it worse.
04:42He looked at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable.
04:45Then the corner of his mouth moved.
04:48Brave girl.
04:52Do you think you can play me?
04:54I was built for seducing.
04:56I had spent months with Ethan in my past life.
04:59I knew exactly what men responded to.
05:03I had downed two glasses of plum wine before coming.
05:08I let the wine do its work.
05:10Let the fear look like desire.
05:12Turned three parts drunk into something that looked like seven.
05:18He didn't take me back to his room.
05:21He took me somewhere smaller.
05:22A guest suite on the far side of the estate.
05:28I didn't sleep until almost dawn.
05:31I slipped out before he woke and went straight to Vivian's wing to begin my morning duties.
05:36Ethan had stayed the night.
05:37The two of them were still in bed when I arrived, laughing softly, her head against his shoulder.
05:43Since her pregnancy, he had barely visited.
05:45Something had shifted between them, overnight.
05:48I noticed it immediately.
05:49The way Ethan looked at me had changed.
05:52Hotter.
05:53More urgent.
05:54When I helped him with his jacket, he caught my hand for just a moment.
05:58He smiled at me.
06:01It meant nothing good.
06:02Vivian watched from across the room, her fingers tightening around a handkerchief.
06:06Mr. Marcus is coming back.
06:08You carry a bowl of hot soup to him with me.
06:11The bowl was crystal, part of a set Marcus had been gifted by his friend.
06:16If I dropped it, no salary in the world would cover the cost.
06:20The handle was burning, but I didn't show it on my face.
06:26Halfway down the hall, Sophie turned on me.
06:29Look at you, walking around like that.
06:33Your blouse is practically indecent.
06:36You think we don't see what you're doing?
06:40Vivian told her to stop.
06:42Gently, sweetly, with a freak smile, I kept my face down.
06:47Sophie's right to correct me.
06:48I'm grateful for it.
06:50Vivian's smile deepened.
06:52Sophie kept muttering.
06:53Then Sophie slapped me across the face.
06:55My head snapped sideways.
06:57The soup sloshed.
06:58A wave of it hit the back of my hand.
07:00I stood completely still, while my skin went red and then white.
07:03I did not put the bowl down.
07:05When we reached Marcus's wing, there were security staff stationed outside.
07:08As we entered the room, I heard Mr. Hayes, Marcus' friend, speaking inside.
07:11Any progress finding her?
07:12My hand almost slipped on the bowl.
07:13Before anyone could answer, Mr. Hayes saw us and came out smiling.
07:16Mrs. Hogarth, right this way.
07:18I hadn't expected Marcus to still be home.
07:20In my past life, he had left early that morning.
07:22My heart mummered.
07:24I kept my eyes down and followed Vivian inside.
07:26The moment I crossed the threshold, I felt it.
07:28A heavy, focused gaze, targeted.
07:31I placed the bowl on the table and began to step back.
07:37Stop.
07:37I looked up.
07:39Marcus was staring at me.
07:41Expression unreadable.
07:42Eyes steady.
07:43I had left before he woke up.
07:45He hadn't asked my name that night, and I hadn't told him who I really was.
07:48As far as he knew, I was some impulsive nobody who had stumbled into him and vanished.
07:51I dropped to my knees immediately, let the shock register naturally on my face, and said
07:54in a shaking voice,
07:55Mr. Hargrid, I'm so sorry.
07:57I kept my head down and my shoulders trembling.
08:00Vivian frowned at me.
08:01What is this about?
08:02Is something wrong, Marcus?
08:04Marcus stood.
08:06He walked toward me slowly.
08:08He stopped in front of me and said in front of everyone,
08:10So it's you.
08:14It's nothing.
08:16Marcus said.
08:17Look at her hand.
08:19She take a burn.
08:20He glanced at Mr. Hayes.
08:22Mr. Hayes nodded and called someone in to bandage me.
08:26I followed the staff member out.
08:28Sophie stared after me with pure hate.
08:31Vivian's expression was composed, but her eyes were cold.
08:35Once my hand was wrapped, I followed Vivian back to her wing without a word from anyone.
08:39All the way back, my pulse was hammering.
08:42That night, Sophie hit me again.
08:45You are nothing.
08:46Marcus had said he would have had you removed from the estate if not for Vivian's presence.
08:50I knelt on the floor with my hand over my cheek.
08:54I was heartbroken.
08:56He wasn't going to keep me.
08:57I had failed.
08:58Was I really going to end up in Ethan's bed after all this?
09:01Sophie made me kneel for two hours.
09:04It was Vivian who eventually stopped her, concerned that obvious marks would make Ethan think poorly of her management.
09:10She even had Sophie apply something to the swelling on my face and hand.
09:14By evening, my face had cleared up.
09:16Ethan arrived for dinner.
09:18I served alongside Sophie while Vivian and Ethan ate dinner.
09:22Ethan's eyes kept finding me across the table.
09:25The hunger in them turned my stomach.
09:28Vivian smiled throughout the meal.
09:30Sophie glared at me every time Ethan looked my way.
09:33I stood with cold sweat on my palms and waited for it to be over.
09:38Finally, Ethan set down his tableware and took Vivian's hand.
09:41What more could a man want with a wife like this?
09:45Vivian leaned into him and laughed.
09:47I watched the two of them perform their devotion and felt nothing but cold clarity.
09:51In my past life, I had mistaken that warmth for real.
09:54I had thought Vivian genuinely liked me.
09:57I had thought her graciousness was protection.
09:59The smile she wore tonight was the same one she wore when she watched me carry that burning bowl.
10:04It was the same one she wore at the bottom of the pool.
10:06Ethan grew restless after about 15 minutes.
10:12His eyes drifted back to me, that look, urgent and adhesive.
10:16Vivian noticed.
10:17She set down her glass, squeezed his hand, and said sweetly,
10:20I wasn't feeling well tonight, but I had made sure the guest suite next door was prepared for you, darling.
10:26Ethan's face brightened.
10:28He looked at her with exaggerated tendness and said,
10:31Oh, you are always so thoughtful.
10:33Vivian glanced at me.
10:34Lily, show Ethan to the suite.
10:36I walked out ahead of Ethan, moving towards the east wing.
10:39We were almost at the door when he launched forward and pulled me hard against him.
10:42What are you doing? Let go!
10:44I went sturded.
10:44My voice came out high and cracked.
10:47Vivian gave you to me. You're mine tonight. Stop fighting.
10:50He pressed his face close.
10:51His breath was hot on my cheek.
10:52I shoved against him.
10:53I shouted the only thing I could think of.
10:55No way! I already belong to Marcus Hargorth!
10:57The guest suite and Vivian's room shared a courtyard.
10:59Sound carried.
11:00Vivian had not expected Ethan to make a move on me before even getting inside.
11:03She was already irritated.
11:05She heard what I said.
11:06It came through the open window, sharp and clear.
11:09She came out moments later with Sophie behind her.
11:12Ethan went still.
11:14He released me.
11:17I stepped aside and smoothed my clothes, keeping my face wide with panic as I looked between him and Vivian.
11:21Ethan's expression shifted to something dangerous.
11:23He looked at Vivian.
11:24Vivian raised her hand and slapped me not in real anger.
11:27What on earth you are saying? How dare you spout such nonsense?
11:30Sophie jumped in immediately.
11:32She told Ethan about that morning.
11:33How I had apparently thrown myself at Marcus and been disciplined for it.
11:36Her voice dripped with contempt.
11:40Ethan's face cooled.
11:41He looked at me like I was something he had nearly stepped in.
11:44Vivian slowly released the handkerchief she had been crushing.
11:47With Sophie's version of events on the table, the story wrote itself neatly.
11:51Vivian was the gracious wife.
11:53I was the grasping maid who had already tried to seduce the CEO and failed.
11:56Then tried to lie my way out of being handed to Ethan.
12:00Nothing to do with Vivian at all.
12:01Ethan wasn't Marcus's biological son.
12:04Marcus had never formally named him successor in the company charter.
12:08That had been a wound in Ethan for years.
12:10In my past life, after I died, he and Vivian had sat in their room and talked about getting rid
12:16of Marcus entirely.
12:18They resented him.
12:19They called him ungrateful.
12:21They called him a man with no loyalty who expected theirs.
12:24Now Ethan heard that I had apparently tried to climb into Marcus's bed.
12:28And something dark rose in him.
12:31He hit me across the face.
12:33I hit the floor.
12:35He told his staff to tie me up and lock me in a room.
12:38The staff moved toward me.
12:39I looked at Sophie's smirk.
12:41I looked at the ice behind Vivian's smile.
12:44In my last life, I went quietly.
12:46Not this time.
12:49I pulled free and threw myself onto my knees in front of Vivian.
12:52I looked up at her and let everything out.
12:54Please!
12:55Talk to him!
12:56You love him!
12:57You didn't want him near other women, so you tried to use me to manage it!
13:00You sent me to Marcus because you saw that he'd already noticed me and you wanted me gone.
13:05I know that!
13:06I'm already his now!
13:08I won't be in your way anymore!
13:10Please!
13:11Let me go!
13:12The words landed exactly where I aimed them.
13:15Ethan's expression darkened.
13:17He looked at Vivian.
13:18Vivian's face went white.
13:20She started to speak.
13:21By then, Mr. Hayes opened the gate.
13:24I had come on Marcus's instruction.
13:26He was there to collect lilies.
13:28I exhaled and let myself go soft.
13:30My legs barely held me.
13:32I kept my head down to hide how relieved I was.
13:34I had gambled everything on one move and it had paid off.
13:38The night before had been worth every sleepless hour.
13:41The staff member who had banded my hand that morning was Hannah, Mr. Hayes' daughter.
13:46I had let something slip to her casually while she worked.
13:49Just enough.
13:50The right words.
13:52By evening, Mr. Hayes knew that Vivian had planned to pass me to Ethan as a personal arrangement.
13:58Ethan's prize had been pulled out of his hands.
14:00And his wife had played him.
14:03That splinter would never fully leave.
14:05You really are lucky, Lily.
14:07As I walked out, Vivian looked at me one last time.
14:10I straightened my back.
14:12I kept my voice quiet.
14:13I owe it all to you, Mrs. Hargriff.
14:16Sophie spat on the ground.
14:18The venom on her face was almost satisfying.
14:20I moved into Marcus's wing of the estate that evening.
14:23Hannah was assigned to look after me.
14:25Marcus had left on urgent business and would be gone for several days.
14:29I had the quiet to myself.
14:31I used it.
14:32I learned his kitchen.
14:33I practiced the dishes he reportedly liked, going through three failed attempts at a black
14:38truffle broth before getting it right.
14:39I read everything I could find about him.
14:42Not the press profiles.
14:43The patterns.
14:44What he valued.
14:45What he ignored.
14:46When he returned, I brought soup to his private office.
14:50He looked at the bowl.
14:51And then at me.
14:52His expression was the same one he'd had the night we met.
14:55Measuring.
14:58He drank it without speaking.
15:00Then he asked if I was bored here.
15:02I shook my head.
15:04I told him that when I wasn't cooking, I spent my time counting down the days until he came
15:09back.
15:12I looked at him like he was the only fixed point in the room.
15:15He raised an eyebrow.
15:16I added, I had also been reading.
15:18Doing research into what he liked.
15:20He took my hand.
15:22His palm was rough with old calluses.
15:23It scratched against my skin.
15:26I looked down at our hands and arranged my face into something shy.
15:30He said my cooking had improved.
15:33I told him I had always admired him.
15:36That the chance to take care of him personally felt like something I had spent years working
15:40toward without knowing it.
15:41That every bowl of soup I made felt like a privilege.
15:44He looked at me for a moment.
15:46Then he picked me up and carried me to the inner room.
15:49His heart was steady under my ear.
15:51His arms were very solid.
15:53I closed my eyes.
15:55That night was not gentle.
15:57The next morning, I spent the entire day in bed.
16:01Marcus was not a man who cared much about romance.
16:04He didn't keep women.
16:06He didn't pursue them.
16:08He came home from deals that would have destroyed lesser men and he ate alone and slept alone
16:12and went back out.
16:14Now that he had discovered there was something worth coming back to, he came back more often.
16:18But I was still just a household companion.
16:22Unofficial.
16:23Known within the estate.
16:25Not acknowledged outside it.
16:27There were others who tried to replicate what I had done.
16:30Word gets around in a place like this.
16:33Two women staged their own encounters.
16:36Marcus had them both escorted out with their NDAs and their luggage the same day.
16:42Two months passed.
16:43The East Wing where Ethan and Vivian lived was getting louder.
16:46The performance of a happy marriage had collapsed.
16:49Marcus' indifference to naming Ethan as his official accessor had always been a source of bitterness.
16:54Now the bitterness had company.
16:55Ethan had stopped going to Vivian's room.
16:58He spent his nights with Sophie instead.
17:01Sophie had been elevated.
17:02She had her own room in the East Wing.
17:04She had a new title.
17:06Sophie found out she was pregnant before I did in this life.
17:09She told Vivian immediately.
17:11Still loyal even after everything.
17:13It was the last loyal thing she ever did.
17:16Vivian gave her something in a water.
17:20Sophie lost the baby and nearly her life in the same afternoon.
17:23By evening, Vivian had her removed from the estate.
17:26Even an elevated mistress is still staff.
17:29A principal's wife can terminate a contract for cause.
17:32The staff heard Sophie screaming and begging as she was escorted out.
17:35Ethan came home to an empty room and assigned removal notice.
17:39He had a screaming fight with Vivian.
17:46Vivian went into early distress and almost lost the pregnancy.
17:50After that, Ethan started bringing other women into the estate.
17:55One after another.
17:57He stopped trying to keep it subtle.
17:59Two months after I arrived, my private doctor confirmed I was pregnant.
18:04Marcus didn't care much about an heir.
18:06But he acknowledged it.
18:08He gave me a formal household title.
18:10An allowance.
18:11And a suite of my own.
18:13He bought me things.
18:14The moment the news reached the East Wing, the temperature dropped.
18:17If I carried this to term, Ethan would no longer be Marcus's only child in the household.
18:21If it was a boy, even a child without a formal succession claim, it changed the math entirely.
18:26A blood heir, however informal, standing next to an adopted VP.
18:29Ethan went to Vivian's room that night.
18:31They fought.
18:33He hit her.
18:35She went into distress again and spent the next week in bed recovering.
18:39Once she was on her feet, she came to see me.
18:42She was thinner.
18:43Her face was powdered heavily and it still wasn't enough.
18:46She smiled the whole time.
18:48She told me she had always known I was lucky.
18:51I smiled back and said I owed it all to her.
18:55She had one of her staff bring in a gift bag, designer items, supplements, a bracelet, cream-colored resin set
19:01in gold, described as a calming piece, something to wear close to the skin.
19:06She didn't stay long.
19:07Her eyes kept going to my stomach.
19:09After she left, I told Hannah to throw everything out.
19:12I had seen that bracelet before.
19:14In my past life, Vivian gave it to me when I became Ethan's companion.
19:19I wore it for months.
19:21It was only after it broke that I was able to conceive.
19:32Later, I understood what it was.
19:38The resin had been soaked in a compound that interfered with pregnancy.
19:42Worn consistently, it prevented conception.
19:45In someone already pregnant, it could cause a loss.
19:49She had come here to finish what the fight couldn't.
19:52I threw it all away.
19:53The supplements too.
19:54My pregnancy continued without incident.
19:59Five months in, Vivian went into labor.
20:01One of Ethan's newer companions, a woman he had brought in from a club with no understanding of how houses
20:06like this operated,
20:07started a conflict with Vivian in the corridor.
20:09The stress sent Vivian into early labor.
20:11She was in the delivery suite for a day and a night.
20:14She came out with a daughter.
20:15The boy did not survive.
20:17Vivian collapsed.
20:19She was taken to her room and didn't come out again.
20:22Ethan did not visit.
20:23When I was five months along, my doctor told Marcus he believed the baby was a boy.
20:28Marcus was pleased.
20:29In the restrained way, he was pleased by most things.
20:32He was not a man who had spent years dreaming about fatherhood.
20:36But when he sat with me that evening, he pulled my hand into his and said that if it was
20:40a boy, he didn't want me raising him soft.
20:42He wanted a son who could handle real pressure, real stakes, the kind Ethan had never been willing to face.
20:50I leaned against his arm and nodded.
20:53If my son grew up to be even a fraction of what Marcus was, I would consider my life well
20:57spent.
20:58Marcus laughed.
20:59It was a real one, not the controlled half-smile he used in meetings.
21:06Then he got quiet for a moment.
21:08He said I should know that he had no intention of naming any child of his as his formal successor
21:12in the company charter.
21:13The position had too much visibility.
21:16Too much danger.
21:17Everyone who had ever been Natgear that had spent their lives as Azardarch, he would not do that to a
21:20child.
21:21I sat with that for a moment.
21:23In my past life, that was the reason.
21:25Not cruelty.
21:26Not indifference to Ethan.
21:28He genuinely believed the designation was a liability, not a gift.
21:32I told him I understood.
21:34I told him I would follow his lead.
21:35He looked at my stomach and said he would give the boy everything he could teach him.
21:40What the boy did with it was his own affair.
21:43He wouldn't be writing his father's name.
21:46I pressed my hand over his and agreed.
21:49Some people could not accept this.
21:51The next day, Ethan came to Marcus' office.
21:54I was bringing soup.
21:55I heard them through the door before I could knock.
21:59You're keeping the succession for your real son.
22:02That's what this is.
22:03My father gave his life working for you.
22:05My mother followed him.
22:06I was a child with nothing and you took me in.
22:09And now you're going to push me aside for a companion's baby?
22:12You don't have a grateful bone in you.
22:14A sharp sound.
22:15A slap.
22:16Ethan came out of the office with a red mark spreading across his jaw.
22:19He stopped when he saw me standing in the courtyard with the suit.
22:22His face twisted.
22:23You.
22:25You scheming little nobody.
22:28If you had just gone along with things, none of this would have happened.
22:32Your son is never going to be heir to anything.
22:36Dream on!
22:38He came at me.
22:40I stepped back and looked toward the door.
22:42Marcus was already there.
22:44He moved between us before Ethan reached me, planted one foot against Ethan's chest, and put him on the ground.
22:49Ethan hit the courtyard stone hard.
22:51The security fast that was always nearby pinned him before he could get back up.
22:55Ethan throsted and screamed.
22:57His eyes found me and Marcus standing together and the hatred in them was absolute.
23:00Marcus's face was iron.
23:02He told the staff to confine Ethan to the east wing.
23:05No visitors.
23:05No access to the company offices.
23:07No exit from the property without his explicit approval.
23:10I watched Ethan being dragged away.
23:13I thought about the pool.
23:14About the hand pressing me down.
23:16About how certain he had been that I didn't matter.
23:22A few months later I gave birth to a boy.
23:25Marcus named him James.
23:27James did not look like his father.
23:29He had my face.
23:30My coloring.
23:31My eyes.
23:32He was a beautiful child.
23:34Every time Marcus held him there was a slight confusion in his expression.
23:38Like he wasn't sure how something this small could be so completely composed.
23:42James grew up fast and hard.
23:44By three he was already trailing Marcus around the estate.
23:46By the time Marcus began formally teaching him at five.
23:49James had already absorbed more about pressure and resilience than most adults I knew.
23:52He never complained.
23:53Never asked for less.
23:54That made Marcus proud in a way he had no vocabulary for.
23:57Ethan was kept under restriction for over five years.
24:00Near the end of it he appeared broken.
24:03He wept in front of the security staff.
24:05He asked to see Marcus.
24:07He said he was sorry.
24:08I remembered what he had planned.
24:11In my past life he hadn't stopped at words.
24:19He was not sorry.
24:21But Marcus had never been able to fully let go of the boy he had raised.
24:25He agreed to see him.
24:28I watched Marcus leave for that meeting and thought about what came next.
24:32I needed one more move.
24:34Marcus set up a dinner.
24:36Private.
24:37Just the two of them.
24:38He wanted to talk it through.
24:40He ordered the good bottles opened.
24:45Halfway through the meal, two men came through the service entrance with knives.
24:49They went straight for Marcus.
24:51I threw myself between them.
24:54The blade went into my side.
24:56I folded against Marcus.
24:58And he caught me.
24:59His arms were shaking slightly.
25:01His face when I looked up at it had something in it I had never seen before.
25:05Something unguarded.
25:06I thought through the fog of it that it had finally worked.
25:10The old man actually felt something.
25:12Then everything went dark.
25:17I was unconscious for three days.
25:19When I opened my eyes Marcus was sitting next to the bed.
25:22He hadn't shaved.
25:23He looked like something rough and exhausted that had been guarding a door for 72 hours without relief.
25:28He took my hand the moment I stirred.
25:31Lily.
25:32I won't waste what you just did for me.
25:34I had performed devotion for years.
25:37All of it calculated.
25:38None of it real.
25:40But his hand was shaking slightly around mine.
25:43That was real.
25:46I thought, it counts for something.
25:48Even if the feeling that earned it was a performance.
25:54The investigation concluded quickly.
25:57The men had been hired by Ethan.
25:59His plan.
26:08If Marcus died that night with no name successor and only a companion's informal child on record.
26:13Was that the estate and the company would require a managing heir.
26:16Ethan was still the only person in the household with a formal VP designation.
26:20He had been waiting years for this.
26:21The charges were serious.
26:24Conspiracy to commit murder.
26:25Marcus declined to intervene.
26:27Ethan was arrested and handed to the legal system.
26:29The sentencing was scheduled for the fall.
26:36After the attempt on his life.
26:38Marcus changed.
26:40Not dramatically.
26:43He wasn't a man who changed dramatically.
26:47But when he came home, he came to find me.
26:51We ate together.
26:54We put James to bed together.
26:57When he had difficult calls, he sometimes sat in the same room as me while he made them.
27:02Not speaking.
27:03Just present.
27:05He still didn't marry me.
27:08I remained a household partner.
27:11Officially acknowledged.
27:13Given everything practical a wife would have but not the title.
27:16I made my peace with it.
27:18He was gone often.
27:19International operations.
27:21The work never stopped.
27:23When he was home I gave him soup.
27:25And I listened.
27:26And I let him sit with me in the evenings.
27:28Without performing anything.
27:30The years moved quietly.
27:34Marcus was 48 when the overseas operation finally broke him.
27:38He had gone personally because no one else could close it.
27:41The deal succeeded.
27:42The opposition folded.
27:44He came home on a private flight with internal bleeding.
27:46And a prognosis his medical team delivered in careful, gentle language.
27:51He was in bed when I came in.
27:53His face was the color of old paper.
27:56He had one hand on top of the blanket and the other somewhere I couldn't see.
28:00He said my name once.
28:06I sat beside him and took his hand.
28:10His eyes were going.
28:11Not quite focused.
28:13He said he had already contacted the board.
28:15He had formally requested that the successor designation be dissolved from the charter entirely.
28:20No heir.
28:21No title to pass on.
28:22Let it end with him.
28:24I felt something sting in my eyes.
28:27He said he was sorry.
28:29I had given him years and he had kept me as a companion the whole time.
28:34He knew that wasn't right.
28:36I felt something sting in my eyes.
28:39He said he was sorry.
28:41I had given him years and he had kept me as a companion the whole time.
28:46He knew that wasn't right.
28:48I told him being his companion was the best thing that had ever happened to me.
28:54He exhaled.
28:55Almost a laugh.
28:57He looked at me for a while without speaking.
29:00Then he said,
29:02I know you didn't love me.
29:04Not really.
29:05I didn't answer that.
29:08He squeezed my hand once.
29:10He said it didn't matter.
29:12He had been looked after.
29:14He had been given a son.
29:15He had come home to something real for the last years of his life.
29:19That was more than he had expected.
29:21I held his hand and didn't let go.
29:24Until the room went still.
29:28I was 32 years old and I was free.
29:31The board honored Marcus's legacy.
29:33The successor designation was dissolved as requested.
29:37The estate and a significant share of the company assets passed to me.
29:40On James's behalf, since he was still a minor.
29:44I was given a formal title by the industry council.
29:47A recognition of Marcus's contribution.
29:50And a seat at the table until James came of age.
29:53James was paired by a mutual family connection with a girl.
29:56From a well-regarded family.
29:58Low-profile government adjacent.
30:00She was not from the industry.
30:02By the terms of the match.
30:04James could not take an executive role.
30:06In any company related to Marcus's sector.
30:08The first time I explained this to James.
30:10He thought about it for a long time.
30:12And then shrugged.
30:14He said he didn't want to run a company anyway.
30:19He and the girl fell genuinely.
30:21Unexpectedly in love.
30:22They announced within 6 months of the arrangement that they were going to travel.
30:26Backpacks.
30:26No itinerary.
30:27They wanted to see everything.
30:29They left.
30:30They sent back long messages from places I had never heard of.
30:34Every few months there was also a short message.
30:37Asking if I could wire them money.
30:39Because they had spent everything.
30:42I always did.
30:47Luna.
30:48The daughter I had taken in.
30:49Had married and had children of her own.
30:51She visited often.
30:53She brought her grandchildren.
30:56I was 32 and somehow I was already a great grandmother.
31:00I had not expect Teth's second half of my life to be this easy or this long.
31:04I made it to 80 without particularly trying.
31:07Near the end I was sleeping more than I was waking.
31:10Sometimes for 2 or 3 days at a stretch.
31:13When I slept I dreamed about Marcus.
31:16He was always irritated with me.
31:19He would cross his arms and tell me he had been waiting over 40 years and I still hadn't bothered
31:23to come find him.
31:25He called me a liar.
31:28He said I had spent years telling him was the most important thing in my life and then left him
31:32waiting indefinitely.
31:34I had no defense.
31:36He was right.
31:39I woke one last time to a room full of people.
31:42Luna was there, middle aged now, holding a grandchild in her lap.
31:46James and his wife had long since stopped traveling.
31:48Their son was 25.
31:50He had his grandfather's build, his grandfather's silence, his grandfather's complete inability to do anything at half measure.
31:56James and his wife had handed the boy to me at birth and gone back to wandering.
32:00He had grown up in my kitchen and my study and under my occasional supervision.
32:04He was sitting next to my bed now with his enormous hands wrapped around mine, eyes swollen.
32:09I smiled at him and told him he looked like his grandfather but cried like his father.
32:15He laughed through it.
32:16He told me he had been talking to some people.
32:20There was a situation overseas.
32:22The kind that needed someone with his particular set of skills.
32:25And he thought he was going to go.
32:28He wanted my blessing.
32:30I told him to go.
32:32I told him not to make himself indispensable to anyone powerful.
32:36I told him to come back when it was finished and go enjoy his life.
32:40And not to forget that living costs money so to make sure he got paid.
32:45He nodded hard, gripping my hand.
32:48I told him to be safe.
32:51Then I closed my eyes.
32:53The room was warm.
32:54My hand was held.
32:57I had been exactly as calculating and exactly as lucky as I needed to be.
33:01And it had turned out to be enough.
33:04Somewhere Marcus was pacing and grumbling.
33:06I supposed I had kept him waiting long enough.
33:09I had kept him waiting long enough.
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