MY MAFIA FIANCÉ THREATENED TO MARRY HIS RICH EX IF I REFUSED TO OBEY HIM

By Monday morning, half of Grayport knew my engagement was over.

By noon, nearly everyone had an opinion.

Some people thought I'd been brave.

Others thought I'd been reckless.

A few suggested I should have apologized privately and protected Gideon's reputation, as though protecting a powerful man's feelings was more important than protecting people whose lives were about to be destroyed.

But the most interesting rumors concerned Brooke Halston.

According to one prominent society columnist, Brooke had been seen leaving Vaughn House shortly after midnight.

Alone.

According to another, Gideon had canceled a meeting with her family the following morning.

The gossip was unpleasant, but it wasn't my priority.

I had thirty-one employees to protect.

And somewhere in the city was a person who knew enough about Harbor Shield Logistics to send me a photograph of a document carrying Gideon's signature.

At eight fifteen, Evelyn arrived at the Foster office with our forensic accountant, Nathan Bell.

Nathan was forty-six, meticulous, and almost aggressively unimpressed by powerful people.

He'd worked with my grandfather for years.

The first thing he did was examine the photograph on my phone.

"Interesting," he murmured.

"Is it genuine?" I asked.

"A photograph isn't sufficient to establish authenticity."

"I know."

"But the formatting matches documents we've seen from Harbor Shield."

He enlarged the authorization section.

"Notice this?"

I leaned closer.

Beneath Gideon's name was a sequence of numbers.

"An internal transaction code?"

"Possibly. But it doesn't match the numbering system used by your warehouse companies."

Evelyn folded her arms.

"Could it identify another company?"

Nathan nodded.

"Or a separate ledger."

He pulled out a notebook.

"I want the original invoices, the vendor registration file, bank confirmations, and every approval email your offices received."

"How long?"

"Long enough to do it properly."

I appreciated that answer.

Nathan never promised conclusions before seeing the evidence.

While he began working, I called Thomas Dane.

Thomas was fifty-two, a father of three, and the supervisor of a refrigerated storage facility on Pier Six.

He answered on the fourth ring.

"Miss Foster?"

"Thomas, I'd like to speak with you about Victor."

His breathing changed.

"I've already told the council everything I know."

"I'm not calling to accuse you."

A pause.

"Then why?"

"Because you reported your cousin's suspicious activity. Yet the proposed punishment would destroy your employment alongside his."

He said nothing.

"Thomas?"

"My oldest daughter starts nursing school in January."

The words came out quietly.

"Her tuition deposit is paid. If they cancel the warehouse contract, I lose the position that covers our health insurance. We live in company housing. My youngest has asthma."

I closed my eyes.

I'd read those details.

But hearing him say them made the injustice feel even more immediate.

"I voted against the proposal," I told him.

"I heard."

"Until this is resolved, my family's warehouses will honor existing employment protections wherever our contracts allow it."

His voice caught.

"Thank you."

"There's something else. Did Victor ever mention Harbor Shield Logistics?"

Silence.

Then Thomas asked, "Who told you that name?"

My pulse quickened.

"Why?"

"Because the week before Victor was arrested, he came to my office looking terrified."

"What did he say?"

"He said he'd gotten involved with people who weren't supposed to exist on paper."

I reached for a pen.

"Did he identify anyone?"

"No. But he told me to stay away from the security contractor and keep copies of every inventory report."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Where are they?"

"Somewhere safe."

I understood his hesitation.

"Thomas, I won't ask you to surrender anything without legal protection. But those records may help prove you weren't involved."

He breathed heavily.

"Miss Foster, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Is it true you've broken off your engagement?"

I looked at the bare place on my left hand.

"Yes."

He was quiet for several seconds.

Then he said, "I hope it wasn't because of people like us."

The question hurt more than I expected.

"It was because of a choice Gideon made," I answered. "You didn't cause it."

After we disconnected, I sat staring at the harbor through my office window.

I thought about Thomas's children.

About his youngest son's asthma.

About the possibility of a family being forced out of its home because someone wanted to make an example of a guilty man's surname.

Then I thought about Gideon telling me Brooke understood loyalty.

For the first time, I wondered what loyalty meant to the people surrounding him.

At eleven, my assistant informed me that Brooke Halston had arrived.

I nearly refused to see her.

Then curiosity won.

"Send her in."

Brooke entered wearing a cream-colored coat and carrying a designer handbag that probably cost more than my first car.

She glanced around my office.

"So this is where you work."

"Usually."

She smiled thinly.

"Very charming."

I gestured toward the chair opposite my desk.

"Why are you here?"

She remained standing.

"To clear up a misunderstanding."

"Which one?"

"The dinner."

I waited.

"People are saying Gideon and I were involved while he was engaged to you."

"Were you?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"That's an insulting question."

"It's a straightforward one."

"We were friends."

"Friends who allowed him to use you as a threat?"

Her expression changed.

"I didn't know about that conversation."

I studied her.

For the first time, she seemed genuinely uncomfortable.

"What did he tell you?"

"That you were having difficulties."

"What kind of difficulties?"

"He said you were struggling with the responsibilities of becoming his wife."

I laughed once.

Not because it was funny.

Because Gideon had apparently described my refusal to surrender an independent council vote as a romantic adjustment problem.

"And you believed him?"

"He said you were reconsidering the wedding."

"Did he tell you why?"

"No."

I leaned back.

"Then perhaps you should have asked."

Brooke looked toward the windows.

"You're enjoying this."

"No, Brooke. I'm not."

She turned.

"I didn't come here to fight."

"Then tell me why you came."

She opened her handbag.

And placed an envelope on my desk.

It was thick, cream-colored, and embossed with the Halston family crest.

"My father received this yesterday."

I didn't touch it.

"What is it?"

"A proposed marriage agreement."

The words landed between us.

For several seconds, I couldn't speak.

Brooke looked away.

"Apparently, Gideon discussed the possibility with him before the dinner."

I stared at the envelope.

"Before?"

She nodded.

"Two days before."

I felt the last fragile pieces of my faith in Gideon collapse.

He hadn't improvised that humiliation in a moment of anger.

He had planned it.

He had contacted another woman's family while our engagement remained intact.

He'd moved her beside him at dinner.

And he'd expected me to witness the beginning of my own replacement.

Brooke watched my face.

"I thought you knew."

"Clearly."

"Madeline—"

"What did your father say?"

"He was pleased."

"And you?"

She hesitated.

"I thought Gideon and I could be good together."

I looked at her.

"Do you love him?"

Her answer took too long.

"Love isn't the only reason people marry."

"No. But it should probably be somewhere on the list."

Her jaw tightened.

"You make everything sound so simple."

"Nothing about this is simple."

Brooke reached for the envelope, then stopped.

"There's something else."

I waited.

"My father has been pressuring me to attend meetings at Vaughn Tower."

"Business meetings?"

"Yes."

"Concerning what?"

"Shipping contracts. Investment arrangements. A company called Harbor Shield."

Every muscle in my body went still.

I kept my expression neutral.

"What about Harbor Shield?"

She shook her head.

"I don't understand most of it. Daniel handles the details."

"Daniel Ross?"

"Yes."

"How often?"

"Several meetings over the past four months."

My thoughts raced.

"What does your father own in the company?"

"I don't know."

"Brooke."

"I really don't."

For the first time, she sounded frightened.

I leaned forward.

"Why are you telling me this?"

She looked down at her hands.

"Because last night I heard him arguing on the phone."

"With whom?"

"I couldn't tell."

"What did he say?"

She swallowed.

"He said Gideon needed to stop asking questions before everything collapsed."

Silence filled the office.

I forced myself to breathe normally.

"Did he mention Victor Dane?"

Brooke's head lifted sharply.

"Yes."

I felt a chill move through me.

"What did he say?"

"That Victor was supposed to take responsibility, not leave a trail."

I looked at Evelyn, who had quietly entered through the connecting office door.

Her face told me she'd heard enough.

Brooke followed my gaze.

"Who is that?"

"My attorney."

She immediately stood.

"I shouldn't have come."

"Brooke, sit down."

"No. My father would be furious if he knew I was here."

"Then why did you come?"

Her eyes filled.

"Because I started wondering whether Gideon was marrying me for the same reason he stopped wanting you."

I frowned.

"What reason?"

"Control."

For several seconds, I couldn't answer.

Brooke looked embarrassed by her own confession.

"I know you think I'm awful."

"I think you've made some awful decisions."

She flinched.

"But I don't think you deserve to be used."

She exhaled shakily.

Then she said something I hadn't expected.

"I don't think Daniel wants Gideon to marry me because he cares about either of us."

"What do you think he wants?"

"I think my father's company is in trouble. And marrying me to Gideon would make it harder for anyone to investigate."

Evelyn stepped forward.

"Brooke, are you willing to give a formal statement about what you've heard?"

Brooke stared at her.

"Would my father know?"

"We'd explain the legal options before asking you to sign anything."

She shook her head.

"I need to think."

I nodded.

"Then think carefully."

Brooke collected her handbag.

At the door, she paused.

"Madeline?"

"Yes?"

"For what it's worth, he didn't look happy after you left."

I met her eyes.

"Neither did I."

She nodded once and departed.

The moment the door closed, Evelyn turned toward me.

"That changes everything."

"Not yet."

"Madeline, she practically confirmed Daniel is connected to the Halstons."

"She repeated things she overheard. We need records."

Evelyn sat across from me.

"Do you believe Gideon knew?"

I looked at the engagement photograph on the bookshelf.

Gideon had his arms around me.

I was laughing.

He was looking down at me with an expression I'd once believed meant forever.

"I don't know."

That uncertainty frightened me more than a clear answer would have.

Because if Gideon knew, he'd helped create a scheme that threatened innocent families.

And if he didn't know, the most powerful man in Grayport was being manipulated by people standing directly beside him.

At three that afternoon, Nathan called.

"I found something."

Evelyn and I hurried into the conference room.

Nathan had spread invoices across the table.

"Harbor Shield billed your warehouses for multiple security projects," he explained. "But the payment destinations changed repeatedly."

"To where?"

"An intermediary called East Harbor Administrative Services."

"Who owns it?"

"On paper, a holding company registered in Delaware."

"And behind that?"

Nathan looked at us.

"That's what I need to establish."

He placed another document on the table.

"But there's an additional problem."

I leaned closer.

"This is a duplicate authorization attached to one of the larger payments."

Gideon's name appeared again.

My stomach tightened.

Nathan tapped the signature.

"Compare the two."

I examined them.

At first, they looked identical.

Then I noticed something.

The final stroke of the surname.

It was exactly the same.

Not merely similar.

Identical.

"Someone copied it," I whispered.

Nathan nodded.

"Possibly. The signatures appear mechanically reproduced. We need originals to know whether they're forgeries, authorized electronic signatures, or something else."

Relief hit me so abruptly that I had to grip the table.

I hadn't realized how desperately I'd wanted Gideon to be innocent.

Then shame followed.

Because innocent of financial fraud didn't mean innocent of what he'd done to me.

Nathan continued.

"There's also a document reference to an approval meeting held on September fourteenth."

I frowned.

"What's unusual about that?"

Evelyn answered before he could.

"September fourteenth was the day Gideon flew to Chicago for the hospital foundation fundraiser."

I remembered it.

He'd called me from the airport.

We'd spent twenty minutes discussing wedding invitations.

Nathan nodded.

"The records place him in Grayport authorizing a transaction at eleven forty-two that morning."

I stared at the document.

"Could he have approved it remotely?"

"Certainly. But the approval notes explicitly identify an in-person signature."

Someone had either written inaccurate records or used Gideon's authority without his knowledge.

Both possibilities were serious.

Before we could discuss them further, my phone rang.

Gideon.

I hesitated.

Then answered.

"What?"

His voice was tight.

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"Harbor Shield."

My heart accelerated.

"Why?"

"Because I just discovered someone has been using my authorization codes."

I looked at Evelyn.

She mouthed, Careful.

I moved toward the window.

"How did you discover that?"

"I received copies of transactions I never approved."

"From whom?"

A pause.

"An anonymous source."

My blood chilled.

"The same source contacted me."

Silence.

Then Gideon asked, "What did they send you?"

"Enough to know something is wrong."

"Madeline, don't discuss this with anyone."

I closed my eyes.

There it was again.

An instruction.

A command.

I opened them.

"You don't get to tell me what to do."

"This isn't about us."

"Then stop speaking as though my judgment belongs to you."

He exhaled.

"You're in danger."

I went still.

"What?"

"Daniel has been asking which records your accountant requested."

I looked toward Nathan.

"How does he know we're investigating?"

"I don't know."

"Gideon."

"Listen to me. I need to see you tonight."

"No."

"Madeline, please."

The word surprised me.

Gideon rarely said please when he was frightened.

I gripped the phone.

"Send any documents you believe are forged to my attorney. If you think a crime occurred, preserve the evidence and contact independent investigators."

"I can't trust anyone inside the Compact."

"Then perhaps you should ask yourself why."

He was silent.

When he finally spoke, his voice had changed.

"I didn't know about the marriage proposal."

I stared out at the harbor.

"What proposal?"

"The one Daniel sent Brooke's father."

I shut my eyes.

Another lie had apparently been uncovered.

But it didn't erase the truth.

"You threatened to marry her."