Chapter 11

When the screen turned on, what started booming through the speakers was Serena's shameful voice, but a man's voice instead. "I signed a contract with Eli's mom for a ten-year sham marriage, with plans for a divorce afterward. After the wedding, however, she tore the contract up and tried to go back on her word. She even drugged me—that's how Eli came to be. "When the ten years were up, I still chose to divorce Adeline. She used Eli as an excuse to refuse, so we never publicly announced the separation. It wasn't until two years later that I reunited with your mother and found out she'd been widowed for years. "Your mother was never the mistress. I'd only kept quiet because I didn't want this to affect Eli, especially after Adeline's death." The man's weary voice was crystal clear as it resonated across the hall. Just like Elliot had intended, everyone in the room heard it. It turned out that Karen wasn't a mistress. In actuality, it was Elliot's mother who had clung on. She was t