Chapter 9 - Alden's True Allegiance
A week after the aborted wedding, there was a soft knock at my front door.
I wheeled myself down the hardwood hallway and unlocked the heavy wooden door. Alden stood on the porch, holding a single leather-bound portfolio and a bouquet of white lilies.
“May I come in, Fallon?” he asked quietly, his eyes filled with a mixture of remorse and quiet strength.
I nodded, stepping back to let him enter. We sat in the sunlit living room overlooking the garden.
“I need you to know something,” Alden began, setting the portfolio on the coffee table. “I never knew about the financial fraud. The moment I overheard Althia and Sutton bragging about sabotaging your career and pushing you down those stairs, my eyes were completely opened. I spent the last three years believing Sutton was just spoiled. I didn't realize she was a monster.”
“You didn't have to blow up your entire life to help me, Alden,” I murmured, studying his face.
“Yes, I did,” he replied firmly. “Because standing by and watching injustice happen makes you complicit. I’ve already filed for an absolute annulment of the marriage on the grounds of severe fraud and misrepresentation. And more importantly...” He slid the leather portfolio across the table. “I’ve resigned as managing partner of the Valerio family holding firm. But before I left, I secured the transfer of all remaining legitimate family assets back into your business trust as restitution.”
I opened the portfolio. Inside were legal deeds, stock certificates, and corporate clearances that officially made me the majority shareholder of the very real estate portfolio my father had used to manipulate our family for decades.
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“Why are you giving this to me?” I asked softly.
“Because you earned it,” Alden said with a faint, warm smile. “And because I want to help you rebuild everything they tried to destroy.”
