Chapter 4 Recording

The Havana Room was a sanctuary for men who had too much money and too few morals. The air was thick with the acrid smoke of Cuban cigars and the murmur of deals being made.

Carly sat in a high-backed leather chair in a semi-private alcove, obscured by a heavy velvet curtain and a decorative screen. She wore a brunette wig and thick-rimmed glasses. She looked like a tired executive assistant waiting for a boss.

Brice walked in. He wasn't alone. He had his arm around Lola, who was wearing a dress Carly recognized. It was a Saint Laurent from last season. It was missing from Carly's closet.

Three other men were with them. Brice's "inner circle."

"Who's the candy, Brice?" one of the men asked, leering at Lola.

Brice laughed, taking a drag from his cigar. "This is Lola. My muse."

"What about the wife?" another asked. "The quiet one?"

Carly pressed the record button on the device hidden in her purse. Her hand was steady, but her stomach churned.

Brice waved his hand dismissively. "Carly? Please. She's a necessary arrangement. You know her family's trust is tied to ours. It was a business merger, plain and simple."

Carly froze. The lie was so audacious, so grotesque, it took the air out of her lungs. He was erasing their history and painting her as a commodity.

"The trauma from her past... it left her damaged goods," Brice continued, his voice smooth with practice. "She's not all there. Mute, docile. Perfect for signing documents when needed, but essentially just a ghost in the house. We have separate wings. I just make sure she's fed and clothed. It's a burden, but the family insisted on the optics."

"So she's basically a high-maintenance signature machine," one of his friends chuckled.

"You're a saint, Brice," Lola cooed, tracing a finger down his chest. "Most men would have found a way to break the contract by now."

"Soon, baby. Soon," Brice kissed her temple. "In this house, you're the only woman who matters. She's just a tenant."

A tenant. A crazy, damaged tenant.

Carly felt the bile rise in her throat. It wasn't just the betrayal; it was the erasure. He had rewritten her entire existence to make himself the hero of his own dirty story.

A waiter approached Carly's table with a water pitcher. Carly held up a hand sharply, slipping a hundred-dollar bill onto his tray. She pressed a finger to her lips.

The waiter nodded and backed away.

The conversation at the next table turned to business, then to lewd jokes about what they were going to do later.

Carly had heard enough. She stopped the recording.

She slipped out the side exit, moving like a ghost. The cold air outside felt like a slap, waking her up from a nightmare.

She drove home in silence. The words echoed in her head. Damaged goods. Tenant.

She walked into the master bedroom. She went straight to the walk-in closet. It was filled with rows of designer gowns, shoes, and bags. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of fabric and leather.

Tenant.

She grabbed a handful of hangers. Silk, chiffon, velvet. She ripped them from the rack and threw them onto the floor.

She grabbed more. And more. It was a frenzy. She wasn't crying. She was purging. She stripped the shelves.

The door opened behind her.

Brice stood there, staring at the mountain of clothes on the floor. He looked confused, then angry.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Carly stood amidst the pile of luxury. She turned to face him. Her face was blank, but her eyes were burning.