He had married me.

And as the primary heir, I held a quarter of Ludlow Shipyard outright and, more importantly, the swing vote on the development of the deepwater port land my grandfather had spent his life protecting.

“He married you for the shares,” Rhys said.

“And the vote.

His family has wanted that port for fifteen years, and you were the last lock on the door.”

“And he needed my death to look like nothing at all,” I said.