The CEO’s Masked Secret Wife

Fiona's POV

I had been carrying these secrets for so long, they felt like stones in my chest. Now, sitting in this room with Liam looking at me with those earnest eyes, I knew the time had come to speak the truth.

"Liam, what I'm about to tell you will shock you," I began, my voice trembling slightly. "I discovered years ago that Bianca and Clairemont have been having an affair. For nearly a decade, they've been sneaking around behind everyone's backs."

I watched Liam's face transform, his jaw going slack with disbelief. The color drained from his cheeks as my words sank in.

"I stumbled upon them one afternoon in the fire escape stairwell. They were locked in an embrace, completely oblivious to the world around them. It disgusted me, honestly. Both of them married, both pretending to be respectable people in front of everyone else. But I'm just the woman who brings coffee around the office. People like me become invisible, don't we? We see everything, but nobody thinks we matter enough to notice what we witness."

"You matter to me, Fiona," Liam said, reaching across to squeeze my hand. "You've always mattered to Damian and Evelyn too. You know that."

His touch brought warmth to my old heart. "I know, sweetheart. I practically raised you, changing your diapers when your parents brought you to the office as a baby." A smile crossed my face at the memory. "Hazel and Owen have always treated me with kindness too. Your parents were exceptional people, Liam. They showed me nothing but respect and consideration throughout all those years. They didn't deserve what happened to them in that terrible accident."

I paused, knowing what I was about to say would shatter something inside him.

"I never could understand why you chose to shut down the investigation into their deaths. You were suffering terribly, that much was clear, but it always puzzled me why you wouldn't want answers about what really happened that night."

The change in Liam was immediate and dramatic. His entire body went rigid, as if someone had turned him to stone. His eyes widened with a mixture of confusion and growing horror. The silence stretched between us until Damian jumped in.

"What do you mean Liam paid to close the investigation?" Damian's voice cut through the tension like a blade.

"Oh, boys, I'm so sorry to bring up such painful memories," I said, suddenly regretting opening this can of worms. "This has been eating at me for years, but I never had the courage to ask you directly. You were in such agony back then."

"Tell me exactly what you saw and heard, Fiona." Liam's voice came out broken, barely above a whisper.

I took a deep breath, knowing there was no turning back now.

"It was about a month after your parents died. I had brought coffee to Damian's office and was cleaning up in Owen's office afterward, collecting cups and straightening up. That's when I heard a man's voice in the outer area, speaking to Bianca. He identified himself as the police officer handling your parents' case and said he needed to speak with you urgently."

The memory came flooding back with crystal clarity.

"Bianca put on that sickeningly sweet voice she uses when she's being manipulative. She told him you had delegated the matter to someone you trusted completely, and that she would contact them immediately. I assumed she meant Damian, but instead she called Clairemont. She told him to come upstairs right away because the officer would be waiting in the break room."

I watched Liam's face crumble as the implications began to hit him.

"I waited until Bianca escorted the man to the break room, then I slipped into the kitchen through the back entrance. I do that often, you know, staying out of the way until someone needs something. Bianca had just closed the door connecting the kitchen to the break room when I entered. I thought she had simply gotten refreshments for the officer."

My hands shook slightly as I continued.

"Then Clairemont arrived. Through the door, I could hear him telling the officer that you wanted the investigation terminated because the grief was destroying you. He claimed you wanted to put the whole nightmare behind you. The officer protested, saying that wasn't proper procedure. But Clairemont kept pushing, insisting you were prepared to provide substantial compensation for this favor."

"You never mentioned any of this to me, Fiona," Bianca said, her face pale with shock.

"My dear, it hadn't crossed my mind again until this very moment," I replied, though that wasn't entirely true. The memory had haunted me for years.

"What else did you overhear?" Liam asked, tears now streaming down his face.

"The officer eventually agreed and left. A few days later, I caught Clairemont and Bianca together in the stairwell again, but this time they weren't being romantic. They were discussing how the officer had successfully closed the case, and how expensive the whole arrangement had been."

Liam buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking with sobs. The sound broke my heart.

"Dear God," he whispered. "Could my parents' deaths have been orchestrated?"

"There's more, Liam," I said gently. "In the weeks leading up to the accident, your father had been arriving at the office much earlier than usual. He would come in with stacks of documents, clearly under enormous stress. I often heard him muttering to himself about Clairemont being a sly fox who had made a fool of him. He was absolutely furious with Clairemont."

I could see the pieces clicking together in Liam's mind.

"The Friday before the accident, I stayed late waiting for my husband to pick me up. I always wait inside the building for safety, and I use the office internet to watch my programs. That evening, I heard raised voices coming from the presidential reception area. Your father was having a heated confrontation with Clairemont. He terminated Clairemont on the spot, calling him a traitor. He said he would have the official termination papers processed first thing Monday morning."

The room fell silent except for Liam's quiet weeping.

"They had a vicious argument. I heard your father mention something about having evidence stored in a safe location."

Allen leaned forward, his expression grave. "Given everything Fiona has told us, Liam, there's a very real possibility that your parents' deaths weren't accidental. I'll coordinate with your security team to track down information about this police officer. I have contacts who might prove useful in reopening this investigation."

"Do whatever it takes, Allen," Liam said, his voice hollow. "I want every detail uncovered, no matter how deep we have to dig."

He turned back to me with desperate eyes. "Is there anything else, Fiona? Any detail, no matter how small, could be crucial now."