Chapter 8: Julian Starts Digging
Julian did not sleep that night.
At 2:13 a.m., he sat alone in his penthouse office, searching Ava’s name through private databases his company paid too much money to access.
Ava Hart.
Nothing after the divorce.
Ava Miller, her maiden name.
Almost nothing.
Then he searched images from the Los Angeles airport’s private terminal social feeds. Nothing official. No tagged photos.
He called his security chief before sunrise.
“I need to know who picked up Ava Hart from LAX yesterday.”
“Sir, do you have a plate number?”
“No.”
“A driver name?”
“No.”
“A vehicle?”
“Black Bentley. New model. Private VIP terminal.”
There was a pause.
“That may take time.”
“Then take less.”
By noon, the answer came back.
The Bentley was registered under a protected corporate fleet.
Whitmore Global Holdings.
Julian stared at the message.
Whitmore.
For several seconds, he thought it had to be a mistake.
Whitmore Global was not merely rich. It was old power, the kind that did not chase headlines because headlines chased it. Hart Meridian had spent half a year trying to secure a strategic partnership with Whitmore Aviation and Whitmore Medical Logistics.
Without that deal, Julian’s expansion plan would collapse.
He opened the partnership file.
At the bottom of the most recent letter, where he had never looked closely before, was the name of the acting chair.
A. Whitmore.
Julian felt the room tilt.
A. Whitmore.
Ava.
His phone rang.
Vanessa.
He almost ignored it, then answered.
“Julian, are you coming to lunch? Your mother is waiting.”
“I need to ask you something.”
Her voice changed. “About what?”
“The report from five years ago.”
Silence.
Julian stood.
“The investigator. The clinic document. The man Ava was supposedly meeting. Who found all of it first?”
“Your mother handled most of it,” Vanessa said too quickly.
“But you brought it to her attention.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From Ava.”
Julian looked at the Whitmore letter on his desk.
“What if Ava was telling the truth?”
Vanessa laughed, but the sound cracked.
“After five years, you see her with some children and suddenly she’s innocent?”
Julian did not answer.
Because that was exactly what terrified him.
May you like
Not that Ava had children.
But that they looked like him.
