Novels by Bernice Precious

Sera sat at their dining room table surrounded by papers, the original marriage contract in front of her for the fourth time that night. The clock on the wall read 5:47 AM. Elias had fallen asleep on the couch around two, exhausted from the board meeting and the weight of impossible choices. She kissed his forehead and kept working.There had to be something. Some clause, some technicality, some way to satisfy Mrs. Andersen without destroying what they'd built. The contract was twenty-three pages long, dense with legal language drafted by Preston's attorney eight years ago. She'd read every word multiple times, taking notes, highlighting sections, searching for anything that could help.And then, on page seventeen, in a subsection about contract termination conditions, she found it."Elias." Her voice was sharp with discovery. "Elias, wake up."He stirred on the couch, disoriented. "What time is it?""Dawn. But I found something." She carried the contract over to him, pointing to a sp

The call came at seven AM Tuesday morning, before the emergency board meeting, before Elias had even finished his first coffee. Caroline patched it through to his office where he and Sera had spent the night reviewing damage control strategies that all felt inadequate."Mr. Vance, this is Ingrid Andersen."Her voice was accented, formal, carrying the weight of someone accustomed to being obeyed. Elias put the phone on speaker so Sera could hear."Mrs. Andersen. Thank you for calling.""I am calling because I have been reading disturbing reports in your business publications." She didn't waste time on pleasantries. "Reports about a contract marriage arrangement. Reports that suggest your relationship with your wife began as a business transaction rather than genuine commitment.""Mrs. Andersen, those reports are—" Elias paused, realizing he couldn't say they were false. "They're based on partial information that's been deliberately framed to cause maximum damage.""Are they incorrect?"

The first article appeared Monday morning in Business Insider, buried in the middle of a larger piece about troubled real estate firms. Sera saw it before Elias did, her coffee going cold in her hand as she read the single damning paragraph:"Sources close to Shaw Realty reveal that CEO Elias Vance's marriage to senior analyst Sera Vance originated as a contractual arrangement rather than a romantic relationship. The business transaction, allegedly orchestrated by Sera's father Preston Shaw during a company crisis eight years ago, raises questions about the legitimacy of Shaw Realty's current leadership structure and whether financial motivations rather than genuine merit have driven key personnel decisions."By noon, three more publications had picked up variations of the story. By two PM, the phones at Shaw Realty were ringing constantly with reporters requesting comment. By three PM, Sera was sitting in Elias's office watching the narrative spiral completely out of their control."

Sera looked up at him, the weight of the past hour's conversation still heavy between them. Her hand remained on the desk, the ring catching the last of the evening light."But if you need me to take it off," she said quietly, "if it's costing us the merger…""No." Elias's voice was sharp, immediate. He caught her hand before she could move it toward the ring. "Don't finish that sentence.""Elias, Shaw Realty has two weeks left. Mrs. Andersen is our only option. If removing this ring, if dissolving the marriage legally while we continue as we are privately, if that's what saves three hundred jobs….""I'm not asking you to choose between your freedom and my company." He held her hand firmly, his thumb over the ring, preventing her from touching it. "That's not a choice I'll ever ask you to make.""But it might be the choice we have to make anyway." Sera's voice was steady despite the tears threatening. "We can keep our truth and lose everything. Or we can perform whatever Mrs. Anderse

The executive team had left hours ago, the sun setting over the city skyline, casting long shadows through Elias's office windows. They'd told Caroline their decision—no annulment, no performance, and they'd accept the consequences. She'd nodded, resigned, and promised to communicate their position to Sentinel Global in the morning.Now it was just the two of them in his office, the weight of what they'd chosen settling over them like dust after an explosion. Sera sat in the chair across from his desk, her left hand spread flat on its polished surface, staring at the platinum band on her finger.Elias watched her from behind his desk, seeing her trace the ring's edges with her right hand, the gesture so familiar he'd stopped noticing it years ago. But now, in the quiet of the evening with their marriage on trial and their company's survival sacrificed, he couldn't stop noticing."Why do you still wear it?" he asked, the question coming out before he'd fully decided to voice it.Sera l

The lawyers had been presenting options for twenty minutes—clinical, methodical, treating their marriage like any other business problem that needed solving. Caroline walked them through the mechanics of annulment versus divorce, the timeline for each, how the documentation would affect the Sentinel merger."An annulment would be cleanest," their attorney James Chen explained, pulling up relevant statutes on the screen. "Given the contractual nature of the original arrangement, we can argue the marriage was never entered into with genuine intent. It's technically a business contract rather than a true marriage in the eyes of the court.""How long would it take?" Walter asked."With the right judge and proper documentation? Three weeks. Maybe four." James advanced to the next slide. "Fast enough to satisfy Mrs. Andersen's timeline. We could have preliminary documents filed by Monday, final dissolution before the merger closes.""And it would be quiet?" Susan Chen leaned forward. "No pu