Chapter 5 - What Happened at the Cabin
Richard Sullivan did not answer his son.
He looked at Ava instead.
“You always were dramatic.”
Ava stared at the file.
“That belonged to my father.”
“It belongs to no one.”
“Give it to me.”
Richard smiled.
“No.”
Adrien moved down one step.
Richard’s smile disappeared.
“You stay out of family business, Moretti.”
Adrien’s voice was quiet.
“She is not your family anymore.”
Daniel flinched.
Ava noticed.
Richard did too.
“You think she’s yours now?” Richard asked.
Adrien did not take the bait.
Ava did.
“I’m not anyone’s property.”
Richard looked at her.
“Still self-righteous.”
“My father died four years ago. Why do you have his medical records?”
Daniel spoke.
“Because Dad paid someone to remove them.”
Richard turned sharply.
“Enough.”
“No,” Daniel said.
Something had changed in him.
Fear had cracked his loyalty.
Perhaps he realized his father would sacrifice him too.
“You told me it was necessary,” Daniel said.
Ava’s hands went cold.
“What was necessary?”
Richard walked toward the exit.
Adrien stepped into his path.
No threat.
No weapon.
Just a man refusing to move.
Richard stopped.
“You don’t want to do this here.”
Adrien said, “Neither do you.”
Court security voices echoed above them.
Richard looked at Daniel.
“You idiot.”
Then he shoved the medical file into Daniel’s chest and walked out.
Ava reached for it.
Daniel pulled back.
“Not until you promise something.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
Ava raised one hand.
“What?”
“Protection.”
Ava stared.
“From your father?”
“Yes.”
“You abandoned your wife and newborn in the snow, and now you want me to protect you?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
For once, genuinely ashamed.
“I know what I did.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I was wrong.”
“That’s a very small word.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
His eyes dropped.
“I thought if I pushed you out, you would panic and come back.”
Ava felt sick.
“You wanted me desperate.”
“Yes.”
“Because of the trust.”
“Yes.”
“And Lily being a girl?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“My father…”
“Stop blaming your father for words that came out of your mouth.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I wanted a son.”
The honesty hurt.
“I let him convince me that a daughter meant the family line ended.”
Ava’s voice broke.
“She was three minutes old.”
“I know.”
“You looked at your daughter when she was three minutes old and decided she had failed you.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I know.”
“No. You know now because everything is collapsing.”
He had no answer.
Elena entered the stairwell with security.
“We need to return.”
Daniel held up the file.
“I’ll testify.”
Elena froze.
“About what?”
“My father.”
“Be specific.”
Daniel looked at Ava.
“The insurance policy. The forged documents. Michael’s death.”
Ava gripped the railing.
“You know what happened?”
Daniel nodded.
“I wasn’t at the cabin to ask your father permission to marry you.”
The world seemed to tilt.
“Why were you there?”
“My father sent me.”
“For what?”
“To convince Michael to sell.”
Ava’s breathing became shallow.
Daniel continued.
“Your father refused. They argued over the phone. Dad told me not to leave until Michael signed.”
“What happened?”
“He got angry.”
“My father?”
“Yes. He told me to get out.”
Daniel’s voice shook.
“I was twenty-nine. I wanted Dad’s approval. I wanted the position at Sullivan Capital. I thought if I closed the deal, he would finally trust me.”
“What happened?”
“I put something in Michael’s whiskey.”
Ava stopped moving.
Adrien stepped forward.
Daniel quickly said, “It wasn’t poison.”
“What was it?”
“A sedative.”
Ava’s face drained.
“You drugged my father.”
“I was told it would make him sleepy. I planned to put the documents in front of him later, wake him enough to sign—”
“You drugged him so you could steal his property.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He collapsed.”
Ava could barely hear.
“I called Dad.”
“Not an ambulance?”
“Dad first.”
Her stomach twisted.
Daniel whispered, “He told me to wait.”
“How long?”
“Twenty-six minutes.”
Ava’s knees weakened.
Adrien reached for her elbow.
She let him.
“Twenty-six minutes?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Dad called an ambulance anonymously from another phone.”
“Why?”
“So no one would know I’d been there.”
“But you said you found him.”
“That story came later.”
Ava felt like screaming.
“Was my father alive during those twenty-six minutes?”
Daniel started crying.
That was the answer.
“You killed him.”
“No.”
“You killed him.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“You watched him die because you were afraid your father would be angry.”
Daniel covered his face.
Ava wanted to hit him.
She did not.
She stepped backward.
“Give Elena the file.”
Daniel did.
The documents showed that Michael’s blood work at the hospital contained a sedative inconsistent with his prescriptions.
The result had been removed from the final report.
A physician who later moved overseas had signed the altered paperwork.
Sullivan Capital paid that physician’s consulting company two hundred thousand dollars three weeks later.
It was enough to reopen the investigation.
It was not enough to prove murder.
Not yet.
Daniel agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
In return, he asked for protective custody.
Richard Sullivan disappeared before authorities could question him.
The next four days became a storm of subpoenas, interviews, reporters, and financial discoveries.
Ava stopped reading headlines.
She focused on Lily.
And, unexpectedly, Adrien.
One evening, he returned late.
His knuckles were bruised.
Ava noticed immediately.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“It’s handled.”
“What does that mean?”
He looked at her.
“It means I don’t want to lie to you.”
“Then don’t.”
Adrien walked to the sink.
“A man connected to Vale approached one of my employees.”
“And?”
“I had a conversation with him.”
“With your fist?”
“Eventually.”
Ava crossed her arms.
“I don’t want violence around Lily.”
“There won’t be.”
“How can you promise that?”
“Because no one comes into this building without permission.”
“That man came into St. Catherine’s.”
“This is not St. Catherine’s.”
“That isn’t enough.”
Adrien dried his hands.
“What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
His eyes held hers.
“The truth is that Marcus Vale believes Daniel owes him money. The funds routed through accounts in your name were collateral for a larger arrangement.”
“What arrangement?”
“Vale financed Sullivan Capital when it was close to collapse.”
Ava stared.
“Sullivan Capital is failing?”
“It has been for years.”
“Daniel always said they were expanding.”
“They were borrowing.”
“How much?”
“Over one hundred million.”
Ava sat down.
“And my trust?”
“Could save them.”
There it was.
The true scale.
Forty-three million was not greed alone.
It was survival.
Richard Sullivan needed Lily’s trust to keep his empire alive.
And if Ava died while still legally married to Daniel, Daniel could control it.
“Does Vale want me dead too?”
Adrien’s face tightened.
“I don’t know.”
“That means maybe.”
“Yes.”
Ava looked toward the nursery.
“I hate this.”
“I know.”
“I hate that Lily was born into this.”
“She was born into you.”
Ava looked up.
Adrien continued.
“That matters more.”
The words struck somewhere deep.
“You really believe that?”
“Yes.”
“My own husband didn’t.”
“Daniel is an idiot.”
She laughed despite herself.
Adrien smiled.
The tension shifted.
For several seconds, neither looked away.
Ava became suddenly aware of the space between them.
Of how tired she was.
Of how safe she had begun to feel near a man whose name once frightened her.
Adrien took one step closer.
Then stopped.
Ava whispered, “Why did you stop?”
“Because you’re vulnerable.”
“I’m not asking you to rescue me.”
“I know.”
“Then stop deciding what I can handle.”
His eyes darkened.
“Ava.”
She took the final step.
Their kiss was brief.
Careful.
No urgency.
No ownership.
When they separated, Adrien rested his forehead lightly against hers.
“This is a bad idea.”
“Probably.”
“You just had a baby.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’re divorcing a man who may be connected to your father’s death.”
“I’m also aware.”
“I have enemies.”
“You mention that frequently.”
He almost laughed.
Then the elevator alarm sounded.
Adrien instantly pulled away.
Security rushed past the hallway.
Ava’s heart began pounding.
“What?”
One of the guards entered.
“We have a problem.”
“What problem?”
“The nursery camera went offline.”
Ava ran.
Lily’s room was empty.
The crib blanket lay on the floor.
The window was locked.
The door showed no damage.
Ava screamed her daughter’s name.
Then Adrien saw something beneath the crib.
A white envelope.
He picked it up.
Inside was a single photograph.
Richard Sullivan holding newborn Lily.
On the back, someone had written:
May you like
FORTY-THREE MILLION OR SHE DISAPPEARS.
And beneath it was an address.
