Chapter 2 Two

CARRIE

A few weeks later, I stood at the tall windows of my eleventh-floor office, the glass cool beneath my fingertips as I gazed out over the gray sprawl of downtown Chicago. It was immediately after lunch break. Below me, traffic inched along the rain-slicked streets in the usual tiny, predictable ways.

Unlike my life.

I couldn't even find the right word to describe what I was going through. A storm had been gathering in my chest for two days, pressing down on my lungs like a weight I couldn't shake off. My arms were crossed tightly, fingers digging into the soft sleeves of my navy-blue power suit. My nails bit into my skin, sharp little reminders that pain could sometimes help me think.

I was at a crossroads. A dilemma that refused to solve itself.

I turned and looked at the plastic folder lying open on my desk like a ticking bomb. I didn't need to open it again, its contents were etched into my memory now. Pages of financial analysis, emails, internal memos. I had read them over and over for two days straight.

Buried in the data was the truth: SharpLens Media was a sinking ship, and the proposed merger would drag Blackwood Marketing straight to the bottom with it. It wasn't incompetence on our part that no one had caught it. No, it was sabotage, wrapped in sleek branding and smooth-talking executives.

And the mastermind behind it?

Nathaniel Blackwood.

Shane's embittered uncle.

And Shane had no idea. He had trusted the legal department to do their jobs thoroughly. But somehow they didn't find out the truth. And I can't totally blame them, I knew what Nathaniel was capable of doing.

Nathaniel had always believed he deserved to be CEO despite the fact that he had merely been an employee at Blackwood Marketing, while Shane's father had built it from the ground up. It had been Kendrick Blackwood's life work. Shane had inherited it as it should be. He had been modeled right from childhood to take over from his father.

I started having doubts about the merger because Nathaniel was showing too much enthusiasm. He had never supported anything Shane did, not since the day Shane took over. So why now?

I had trusted my gut and reached out to my private investigator, someone I only ever called when the stakes were too high for guesswork. What he uncovered wasn't just alarming; it was infuriating. Everything I feared had been confirmed by the report he sent back to me.

I turned away from the window, heels whispering against the polished wood floors, and walked back to my desk. Dropping into my chair, I picked up the folder and flipped through the pages again for what felt like the hundredth time. Every number screamed the same message. If this merger went through, Blackwood Marketing would be buried under the weight of SharpLens's debt within six months.

"Damn it," I muttered, slamming the folder shut.

I could stay quiet.

Let the merger go through.

Let Shane lose everything.

Let him know what it felt like to be blindsided... to be vulnerable... to be ruined.

Wouldn't that be justice?

God knew I'd swallowed my pride enough times in the seven months we'd been married. From the very first day; on our wedding when he looked me straight in the eyes and told me Cathy Holloway had always been his childhood sweetheart and she would always be the love of his life. That he had only married me to fulfill his mother's wish and protect his father's company.

Not only that, Shane refused to acknowledge my worth even though others see it. I had endured the humiliation. The emotional neglect all because I made a promise to his mother.

He'd only touched me four times in our entire marriage. But he had no issue running to Cathy almost every night.

His mother had never approved of Cathy. That was why, when she became sick and knew her time was almost up, she made sure Shane married someone she considered worthy.

That someone was me.

"It would be so easy," I said aloud to the empty office.

He wouldn't even blame me, I thought bitterly. He'd never know that I had the truth in my hands and said nothing.

I could picture it so clearly: Shane sitting in the boardroom, stone-faced and arrogant, completely blindsided as the deal imploded around him. The company collapsing. His legacy crumbling.

And me? I'd be untouched. Just another executive shaking her head in sympathy, pretending I didn't see it coming. I could walk away with my reputation intact. I am a damn good marketer. I could get hired anywhere. In fact, several companies had been trying to lure me away from Blackwood Marketing for months.

I could finally file for divorce. Be free; because there won't be any company to protect anymore. No more pretending. No more pain.

I smiled at the thought, let it linger.

But the satisfaction never came. The relief I expected to spread through my chest like sunlight on a cold day... it never happened.

Instead, a voice rose softly in my head, curling into my ears with unsettling clarity.

Eleanor Blackwood's voice.

"Carrie, please make sure Shane does not fail. Make sure Blackwood Marketing keeps standing."

Those had been her last words to me before she died. Just three months after our wedding. She had specifically begged me to fight against Nathaniel alongside Shane.

I had sat beside her hospital bed, holding her frail hand. Eleanor had always been a force to reckon with; unassuming, calculating, sometimes cold, but loving. In those final weeks, she had drummed it in my ears that I am now the new Blackwood matriarch.

She believed in me. She believed I could help Shane consolidate the empire his father built.

Eleanor had seen something in me, not just a convenient wife for her son, but someone capable. Someone who could protect the legacy she and her husband had poured their lives into. This wasn't just Shane's company. It had been Eleanor's too. And now, it was in my hands... even if no one knew it.

I stood abruptly, pulse hammering in my throat. I clenched the folder in my hand and began pacing.

That whisper in my heart grew louder.

'No, Shane deserved whatever is coming for him.' I said out loudly into the room. And picked up my phone.