Chapter 73: Remedy Plans

Maya’s POV

"Kelvin!"

I ran toward the door as soon as I heard it close behind him.

I didn’t even think about what I was doing. One moment I was standing in the living room, and the next I was rushing into the hallway with tears streaming down my face.

"Kelvin, wait!"

I reached the elevator just as the doors were closing. I pressed the button repeatedly, but it was already too late.

Through the narrowing gap, I caught one last glimpse of him before the doors finally shut.

"Kelvin!"

My hand remained against the elevator door for several seconds. Then I stepped back. The indicator above it showed that the elevator was descending.

He was actually leaving. My chest tightened.

I had expected him to be angry. I had expected him to shout at me, accuse me, perhaps even refuse to speak to me for a few hours.

But I had not expected him to call off our wedding.

I couldn’t accept that, especially after everything we had been through and the sacrifices I made to reach this point.

I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hand and returned to the apartment, but my legs felt weak.

The moment I stepped inside, my eyes landed on the picture of the jewellery I had been showing Kelvin earlier.

I just stared at it.

Only a few hours ago, I had been excitedly discussing which pieces I wanted for the wedding. Now I couldn’t even look at them without feeling sick.

What was I supposed to tell everyone?

What would those bitches, Claire and Laura, say?

The thought of them finding out made my stomach twist.

They would laugh at me. They would talk about me behind my back and probably wonder how I could have been so confident about snatching and marrying Kelvin only for him to walk away.

But even as those thoughts filled my head, my anger found its way back to the same person.

Emerald.

This was her fault.

I didn’t care what anyone said. Everything had somehow worked out perfectly for her.

First, she filed lawsuits, then she went after Mercer. Then she had her lawyers dig into everything surrounding her framing.

And now Kelvin had discovered what I had done.

It was too convenient.

I refused to believe that Emerald was simply fighting for Mercer anymore. She wanted to destroy everything I had with Kelvin, and somehow, she had managed to put herself in the perfect position to do exactly that.

I grabbed my phone from the sofa and immediately called Kelvin. He didn’t answer, so I called again. Still, there was nothing.

I waited a few seconds before calling again. Still nothing.

"Please pick up," I whispered.

The fourth call went unanswered too. I stared at his name on my screen before pressing it again.

The fifth call went directly to voicemail. My heart sank. He was avoiding me.

I held the phone against my chest and closed my eyes. No. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t simply decide that our wedding was over and walk away.

I opened the voicemail option and pressed it.

"Kelvin..." My voice broke. I swallowed and tried again. "Please call me back. We need to talk."

I ended the call before I could say anything else.

For several seconds, I stood there staring at my phone. There was no call, no message.

I sat down slowly. The tears returned, but this time there was anger underneath them.

Kelvin could be disappointed in me. He could be furious with me. I could even understand why he was struggling to trust me after finding out what I had done.

But I wasn’t going to accept that this was the end. We had come too far.

There had to be a way to change his mind before he made anything public.

If Kelvin announced that our wedding was cancelled, there would be no taking it back without making the entire situation worse.

I needed to stop him before that happened.

I picked up my phone again. There was only one person I could think of who might be able to help me think clearly.

I dialled the number. It rang twice before the call was answered.

"Maya?"

"Mom, I need your help."

There was a brief silence on the other end, then she asked, "What happened?"

I looked down at my hands. "Kelvin wants to cancel the wedding."

"What?"

"He found out about what I did to Emerald."

My mother’s voice became more serious. "What exactly did he find out?"

I took a breath and started with the explanation.

"Emerald sued us both. Then the Hugo lawyers traced the people involved in the framing back to me. The payments were made from Kelvin’s account, and the evidence is strong enough that Emerald is now demanding three per cent of Mercer Technologies in exchange for dropping the lawsuits."

There was another silence.

"I denied everything when Kelvin confronted me," I continued. "But he already knew the truth. He wasn’t fooled."

"And now?"

"He said he doesn’t think he can continue with the wedding." My voice cracked again. "I need you to help me."

"What do you want?"

"I don’t know yet. That’s why I’m calling you." I wiped my tears. "I need a plan. Something that will change his mind. I need Kelvin to look at me differently again before he makes this public."

My mother didn’t immediately respond. Then she asked, "And what about Mercer?"

I froze briefly. "That’s still part of the problem."

"We have always known that getting into Mercer would be easier once you were officially married to Kelvin," she reminded.

I lowered my voice. "I know."

The wedding had never been the only thing at stake.

There were plans beyond it. Plans my family and I had discussed carefully. Once I became Kelvin’s wife, gaining greater access and influence within Mercer would have been much easier.

We had intended to secure our position gradually, acquire shares where possible and eventually have a much stronger hand in the company.

Now all of that was at risk.

"If the wedding is cancelled," I said, "everything changes."

"I understand."

"Mum, I can’t let that happen."

My mother sighed. "Then calm yourself first. We will think about what can be done."

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. "I don’t have much time."

"Don’t make another mistake because you’re afraid."

Her words made me pause. I knew she was right. I had acted on my own once already, and Kelvin had just told me exactly what he thought about that.

"I won’t," I said quietly.

"Come home if you need to."

"I may," I said, then ended the call and remained seated, staring at the phone in my hand.

I had no idea how I was going to make Kelvin change his mind, but I knew one thing...

I was not prepared to lose him.

And I was certainly not prepared to watch Emerald take everything from me.