Vivian gathered everyone in the formal salon overlooking the river.
Ethan entered in his wheelchair, pale but alert.
The nurse stood behind him.
Jason waited near the fireplace with a stack of documents.
My father sat beside the windows, twisting his hands.
I carried two folders.
Jason began before Ethan had settled.
“This woman admitted she entered the marriage under financial pressure.
She had never met Ethan.
She confessed that she did not want him.”
“I did,” I said.
My father stared at me in horror.
Jason smiled.
“Thank you.”
“I also said Ethan did not consent.
Neither did I, not freely.”
Vivian’s expression remained still, but her fingers tightened around the head of her cane.
Jason turned toward Ethan.
“You were exploited by your grandmother, by this woman, and by her father.
The marriage should be voided, and company control should remain where it has been for nine months.”
“With you,” Ethan said.
His voice was weak, but the room went silent.
Jason softened his expression.
“Until you are fully recovered.”
Ethan studied him.
“You visited my room on June third.”
Jason’s face changed slightly.
“You stood beside my bed,” Ethan continued, pausing for breath, “and said the company would finally be yours when I missed the trust deadline.”
Jason looked toward Vivian.
“He was unconscious.
His memory is unreliable.”
The nurse spoke from behind the wheelchair.
“His heart rate rose sharply during several of your visits.
We documented the responses.”
“That proves nothing.”
“No,” Ethan said.
“Your reaction does.”
Jason’s control cracked.
“I ran your company while everyone pretended you might wake up.
I made the decisions.
I kept the board together.
You expect me to step aside because a desperate stranger whispered beside your bed?”
The moment the words left him, he seemed to realize what he had admitted.
Ethan had not told Jason whose voice woke him.
Only the people in the bedroom knew.
Vivian’s gaze turned cold.
“How did you know she whispered to him?”
Jason opened his mouth, then closed it.
He had been outside the door that afternoon.
Listening.
Waiting to learn whether Ethan would wake before the trust deadline.
Jason recovered quickly.
“The nurse told me.”
“No,” the nurse said.
“I did not.”
He looked around the room and found no ally.
