Chapter 2 Husband on the Headlines

Emily POV

Rowan Blackwood was hiding something.

I knew it from the way his expression changed when he read the message on my phone. The man who had barely reacted when I threatened to leave now looked as though someone had placed a loaded gun on the table.

“Who sent this?” he asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

He read the message again.

Don't marry Rowan Blackwood. Ask him what happened to Daniel Carter.

“My father,” I said quietly. “What do you know about him?”

Rowan placed my phone on the table.

“I've seen his name in company records.”

“What kind of records?”

“An old financial investigation connected to Blackwood Holdings.”

My chest tightened.

“My father was accused of financial misconduct years ago. He lost his job, and people who used to respect him stopped taking his calls. We struggled for years afterward.” I swallowed. “Are you telling me your family was involved?”

“I'm telling you I need to investigate before I give you an answer.”

“That sounds convenient.”

“I understand why you think that.”

“No, Mr. Blackwood. You don't.”

He fell silent.

I wanted to believe there was an innocent explanation. I also knew how quickly powerful people could turn a family's suffering into a footnote in a corporate report.

My father had spent years insisting he hadn't done what they accused him of. I had believed him, even when everyone else stopped listening.

Now I was sitting across from a billionaire whose family name had appeared in the same story.

And somehow, I was supposed to marry him.

“I'm leaving,” I said.

Rowan didn't stop me.

Instead, he reached for his phone.

“Knox, come in.”

The door opened almost immediately.

The man who entered looked to be in his early thirties. He wore a charcoal suit and carried himself with the calm efficiency of someone who had spent years cleaning up other people's problems.

“Sir?”

“Find out who sent this message. Preserve the original records concerning Daniel Carter. No one is to alter or remove anything from the archive.”

Knox glanced at my phone.

“Understood.”

“And contact independent legal counsel. Both of us need separate advice before anything proceeds.”

That surprised me.

“You're actually willing to let me investigate your family?”

Rowan met my eyes.

“If my family is connected to what happened to your father, you deserve to know.”

It wasn't an apology.

But it was the first answer that sounded remotely human.

I picked up my handbag.

“I'm still not agreeing to marry you.”

“I haven't asked you to.”

“Good.”

I walked toward the door, determined not to look back.

Then Knox spoke.

“Mr. Blackwood, there's another problem.”

Rowan turned.

“What is it?”

“The press.”

He handed Rowan a tablet.

A photograph filled the screen.

It showed Rowan entering the hotel through a private entrance earlier that morning. Another photograph showed me arriving separately, wearing the dress I'd borrowed from a friend.

The headline beneath them made my stomach drop.

ROWAN BLACKWOOD'S SECRET BRIDE? BILLIONAIRE TYCOON CAUGHT IN MYSTERIOUS WEDDING ARRANGEMENT.

I stared at the screen.

“That's impossible. Nobody was supposed to know about this.”

“Someone knew,” Rowan said.

“Who?”

“That's what we're going to find out.”

I scrolled down.

The article described a private ceremony scheduled for that morning. It mentioned a marriage agreement, a substantial settlement, and an unidentified woman allegedly connected to a financial scandal involving Blackwood Holdings.

My name hadn't been published yet.

But it was only a matter of time.

“They're going to find me,” I whispered.

Rowan took the tablet from me.

“Not if we move quickly.”

I looked at him sharply.

“I don't need you to rescue me.”

“I'm not asking you to depend on me. I'm telling you that someone has deliberately exposed both of us.”

“And you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?”

His expression hardened.

“No. I expect you to question everything until we have proof.”

For some reason, that answer unsettled me more than a denial would have.

He turned to Knox.

“Get the car ready. No public entrance.”

Then he looked at me.

“Emily, you have two choices. You can leave alone and hope the press doesn't discover where you live, or you can leave with us while your lawyer arranges a safer option.”

I hated that he was making sense.

“I'm calling my own lawyer first.”

“Of course.”

“And I'm not going anywhere without telling Cathy.”

“Who is Cathy?”

“My best friend. The person who will probably kill me if she discovers I've been keeping secrets from her.”

For the first time, Rowan almost smiled.

“Then I suggest you call her.”

I stepped aside and made the call.

Cathy answered on the second ring.

“Emily? Please tell me you have good news. Did the mysterious rich person actually show up?”

I closed my eyes.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“It's complicated.”

“Complicated good or complicated bad?”

I glanced at Rowan, who was already speaking quietly with Knox.

“Both.”

There was a pause.

“Emily Carter, what have you done?”

“I might have accidentally agreed to marry Rowan Blackwood.”

Silence.

Then Cathy screamed so loudly I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

“You did WHAT?”

“I said might have. We haven't finished anything.”

“Rowan Blackwood? The Rowan Blackwood? The billionaire who fired an entire executive team during a board meeting?”

“I don't know about that.”

“Of course you don't! You spend your life pretending business news is a personal attack.”

Despite everything, a laugh escaped me.

It disappeared when I noticed Rowan watching me.

Not impatiently.

Curiously.

As if he wanted to know what could make me laugh when the world was falling apart.

Cathy's voice softened.

“Listen to me. Don't sign anything you don't understand. And don't let some handsome billionaire convince you that money makes him trustworthy.”

I looked at Rowan's unreadable face.

“Trust me. That's not happening.”

“Good. Send me your location, and I'll meet you.”

After ending the call, I turned back to Rowan.

“My lawyer will contact yours. Until then, I want every document connected to this arrangement.”

“You'll have access to the relevant documents through your lawyer.”

“And I want to know what you discover about my father.”

“You will.”

I studied him for another moment.

“Why do I get the feeling this marriage would be a terrible idea?”

“Because it probably would be.”

At least he was honest about that.

Knox returned with the car keys.

“The vehicle is ready. The press is gathering outside the main entrance.”

Rowan picked up the folder containing the marriage agreement.

He looked at me once more.

“We can still walk away.”

I thought about my father's ruined reputation. The anonymous message. The photographs taken before either of us had made a decision.

Someone had planned this.

And if I walked away now, I might never discover why.

“Not yet,” I said. “First, we find out who arranged the meeting.”

Rowan nodded.

“Agreed.”

We left through a private corridor and entered the elevator. Neither of us spoke during the descent.

When the doors opened in the underground garage, a black car waited beside the wall.

Rowan opened the rear door for me.

I hesitated.

“I can open my own door.”

“I noticed.”

I climbed inside.

He followed, leaving enough space between us that I could have sat on the opposite end of the seat.

The car pulled away.

For a few minutes, I watched Manhattan pass through the tinted window. I was trying to decide whether I'd made the biggest mistake of my life when my phone vibrated again.

This time, it was a news alert.

My photograph appeared beneath a new headline.

IDENTITY REVEALED: EMILY CARTER, DAUGHTER OF DISGRACED FINANCIAL INVESTIGATOR, LINKED TO ROWAN BLACKWOOD'S SECRET MARRIAGE.

My fingers went cold.

“They found my name.”

Rowan leaned forward to read the screen.

His face changed.

“Knox,” he said into the car's intercom. “Find out who released her identity. Immediately.”

I scrolled through the article, my pulse pounding.

Then I saw the final paragraph.

Sources claim the marriage may be connected to a confidential agreement involving Blackwood Holdings and the late Daniel Carter.

I turned slowly toward Rowan.