Chapter 11 - THE MARRIAGE GOES PUBLIC
Daniel and Mallory could not put the secret back.
News outlets picked up the revelation.
“Billionaire restaurateur secretly married to chef.”
“Carter family wedding hidden nearly two years.”
Then darker headlines:
“Underworld-linked businessman’s wife assaulted at flagship restaurant.”
Mallory hated all of them.
Her name disappeared behind Daniel’s.
She became:
mafia wife,
secret bride,
chef spouse.
Then one food critic did something different.
Reviewed Aster No. 9.
No mention of marriage until the final paragraph.
The food mattered first.
Mallory cried reading it.
Then Daniel asked:
“Do you regret the marriage being public?”
“Yes.”
He looked hurt.
She continued:
“I don’t regret being married to you.”
Different.
Then Mallory set conditions.
No security tail inside her kitchen.
No staff reporting her movements to Daniel.
No using restaurant ownership to alter reviews or bookings.
No threatening journalists.
Daniel agreed.
Then she asked the hardest one.
“If Victor ever uses our marriage as leverage again, you tell me immediately.”
“Yes.”
“No protecting me from ugly information.”
Daniel nodded.
May you like
“Yes.”
Privacy would no longer mean one person deciding what the other could handle.
