For nearly ten seconds, nobody in the executive room moved.

Gerald Morton still had one hand raised toward the door.

Sabina stood frozen in the hallway.

And Noah Kensington sat at the head of the table as though he hadn’t just detonated a bomb inside his own company.

She stared at him.

“My wife?”

Noah calmly closed the folder in front of him.

“Yes.”

Gerald swallowed.

“President Kensington… I didn’t know.”

“That was obvious.”

The man’s face turned even paler.

She wanted the floor to open beneath her.

Instead, Noah looked at the empty chair beside him.

“Since you’re already here, sit down.”

Absolutely not.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”

Several directors immediately looked between them.

Noah raised an eyebrow.

“A misunderstanding about our marriage?”

Someone coughed.

Sabina almost dropped her notebook again.

She clenched her teeth.

“Noah.”

It was the first time she had ever called him by his first name inside the company.

The entire room seemed to stop breathing.

His expression softened almost imperceptibly.

“Yes?”

“Outside.”

Now.

He studied her for two seconds, then stood.

“Five-minute recess.”

Nobody argued.

The moment the conference-room door closed behind them, she turned on him.

“What are you doing?”

Noah adjusted his cuff.

“Saving you from being fired.”

“Gerald wasn’t going to fire me.”

“He was shouting at you in front of twelve executives.”

“And now twelve executives think I’m the president’s wife!”

“You are.”

“For a few more weeks!”

That made him go silent.

She lowered her voice.

“You said your lawyer was preparing the divorce.”

“He is.”

“Then why expose us now?”

Noah looked through the glass wall toward the executives pretending not to watch them.

“Because Morton crossed a line.”

She almost laughed.

“So you destroyed a secret marriage because my manager was rude?”

“No.”

His answer came too quickly.

Something was wrong.

She stared at him.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Before Noah could answer, Sabina appeared at the end of the corridor.

Her expression was somewhere between terror and excitement.

“Um… should I disappear?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“No,” Noah said at the same time.

Sabina stopped.

Noah looked at her.

“Ms. Ward, please inform HR that any discussion concerning my wife’s position, salary, performance reviews, or promotion history is to be preserved immediately.”

She froze.

“Preserved?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

Noah’s voice became colder.

“An internal investigation.”

Now even she was confused.

“What investigation?”

Noah finally looked at her.

“Your manager has rejected three promotion recommendations concerning you during the past year.”

She blinked.

“What?”

“He also reduced your performance rating twice.”

“That can’t be right.”

“I checked.”

Her stomach tightened.

Gerald had repeatedly told her that senior management considered her too inexperienced for promotion.

She had believed him.

Noah continued.

“And last month, he recommended another employee for the project-lead position.”

“I know. Melissa.”

“No.”

He pulled out his phone and showed her an internal report.

The original recommendation had contained her name.

AVA KENSINGTON.

Later amended to:

MELISSA GRANT.

Authorization:

GERALD MORTON.

She stared at the screen.

“Why would he do that?”

“That is what I intend to find out.”

Suddenly the meeting-room door opened.

Gerald stepped out.

“President Kensington.”

He looked nervous.

“May I speak with you privately?”

Noah didn’t move.

“Speak.”

Gerald glanced at her.

“It concerns Mrs. Kensington.”

“Then she stays.”

Gerald’s expression shifted.

Finally, he said:

“The board wasn’t supposed to know she worked here.”

She frowned.

“What does that mean?”

Gerald immediately realized he’d said too much.

Noah’s eyes became dangerously calm.

“Continue.”

“I misspoke.”

“No.”

Noah took one step closer.

“You said the board wasn’t supposed to know.”

Gerald looked toward the conference room.

Then toward the elevators.

As if calculating whether he could escape.

Finally, he whispered:

“Someone instructed me to keep her at entry level.”

Her blood ran cold.

“Who?”

Gerald said nothing.

Noah’s jaw tightened.

“Who gave the instruction?”

Before he could answer, one of the directors rushed from the meeting room holding a tablet.

“President Kensington, you need to see this.”

A document had just been distributed to every member of the board.

Subject:

KENSINGTON SUCCESSION AND MARITAL AGREEMENT.

She stared at the title.

“What is that?”

Noah didn’t answer.

The director opened the attachment.

Her name appeared on the first page.

Then Noah’s.

And beneath them was a clause she had never seen before.

If Noah Kensington remained legally married for twelve consecutive months, voting control over a fifteen-percent family shareholding would transfer permanently to him.

Her heart stopped.

Their first anniversary was today.

Exactly today.

She slowly turned toward Noah.

“You knew?”

His face gave nothing away.

“Listen to me.”

“You told me this marriage lasted one year because that was the contract.”

“It was.”

“But you never told me what happened after the year ended.”

Noah remained silent.

That silence hurt more than any explanation could have.

She stepped backward.

“So that’s why you married me.”

“No.”

“Then explain the document.”

Before he could answer, the elevator opened.

An elderly man walked out surrounded by lawyers.

Noah’s grandfather.

The same cheerful man who had called her that morning complaining about an online chess game.

Except he wasn’t smiling now.

He looked at Noah.

Then at her.

Finally, he said:

“You two have a bigger problem than divorce.”

One of the lawyers handed her another document.

She read the first paragraph.

Her hands went cold.

Because the fifteen-percent share transfer wasn’t the only condition connected to their marriage.

There was another.

One Noah apparently hadn’t known about either.

His grandfather spoke quietly.

“If the two of you divorce after reaching the one-year requirement…”

He paused.

“…the controlling shares don’t return to the Kensington family.”

Everyone looked at him.

“They transfer to her.”

She stared at the document.

Then at Noah.

And for the first time since the secret marriage began, the president of Kensington Group looked genuinely shocked.