Chapter 4 - THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
Ava had signed thousands of contracts during her career.
Acquisitions.
Debt restructurings.
Executive employment agreements.
Mergers.
She believed documents were brutally honest things.
People lied.
Documents preserved the lie.
Helen Pierce placed a file before her.
Marriage Assessment: Mercer-Hayes Compatibility.
Ava couldn't touch it.
"Where did you get this?"
"Northstar archive."
Thomas glared at Helen.
"You said those files were destroyed."
"I said most were."
"Why keep this?"
"Insurance."
Ava finally opened the report.
Her name.
Malcolm's.
Dates from ten years earlier.
Six months before Ava met Malcolm at a charity event.
There were psychological profiles.
Medical compatibility scores.
Financial projections.
Inheritance modeling.
Even photographs of Ava entering restaurants and office buildings.
Ava's stomach clenched.
"They were watching me."
Helen nodded.
"For almost a year."
"Why?"
"Your grandfather Samuel controlled one of Northstar's original trusts. When he died, access rights transferred through bloodline conditions."
"I inherited nothing from him."
"Nothing you knew about."
Ava looked at Thomas.
"You knew?"
"No."
Helen continued.
"The trust wasn't cash in a traditional sense. It controlled access to research patents, shell corporations, private medical databases, and escrow funds worth billions."
Ava laughed once.
"Billions."
"Potentially."
"And Malcolm married me for access?"
"That was one objective."
"One?"
Helen looked at the reproductive report.
"The other was controlling your lineage."
Ava stood so suddenly the chair fell.
"Stop talking like I'm livestock."
Helen didn't react.
"That's how they viewed all of us."
"Us?"
Thomas looked toward Helen.
"Helen."
She ignored him.
"My mother was part of the program too."
Ava stared.
"You?"
"Second generation."
"You worked at my company."
"Yes."
"You falsified clinical data."
"Yes."
"Did you deliberately get hired?"
Helen's silence answered.
Ava stepped toward her.
"Everyone around me was planted."
"No."
"Malcolm. You. Maybe Claire. Maybe my own father."
Thomas flinched.
Ava continued.
"Was Ryan involved?"
"No," Thomas said immediately.
"How do you know?"
"Because I protected him."
"You didn't protect me."
Thomas's face tightened.
"I tried."
"No. You watched."
The accusation hung between them.
Helen closed the file.
"We can argue about Thomas's failures after we survive the next twenty-four hours."
Ava turned.
"What happens in twenty-four hours?"
"Northstar's board meets tomorrow night."
"I thought Northstar was a shell company."
"It is. The board isn't."
"Who sits on it?"
Helen gave a bitter smile.
"People whose names appear on hospitals, universities, foundations, and government buildings."
Ava thought about Eleanor Hayes.
"Is Eleanor one?"
"Yes."
"And Malcolm?"
"Junior voting member."
"Claire?"
"No."
"Evelyn?"
Helen hesitated.
"Not exactly."
Thomas said, "Evelyn works for a group opposing them."
Ava looked at him.
"What group?"
"We call them the Breakwater."
"You have names for secret groups now?"
Thomas ignored the sarcasm.
"Former Northstar patients. Doctors. Investigators. Families."
"And you're part of it."
"Yes."
"Helen?"
"Sometimes."
Ava processed this.
"Then Evelyn took Claire because—"
"Claire knows something," Helen said.
"What?"
"Three days ago Claire contacted a Northstar whistleblower."
Ava stared.
"Claire?"
"She discovered Malcolm had been using her."
"Using her for what?"
"Access to Ryan."
Ava went still.
"My brother?"
Thomas crossed his arms.
"Ryan has something Malcolm needs."
"What?"
"We don't know."
"You're becoming repetitive."
Helen stepped closer.
"We believe it relates to your mother's estate."
"Mom owns a four-bedroom house in Boulder and complains about property taxes."
Thomas almost smiled.
"Your mother owns more than she knows."
Ava stared at him.
"This family apparently specializes in hidden assets."
Thomas's face became serious.
"Your mother inherited a storage unit from Samuel after his death. She never opened it."
"Why not?"
"Because I convinced her it contained worthless accounting records."
Ava's anger returned instantly.
"Of course you did."
"The unit contains Northstar records."
"Where?"
"Boulder."
Ava checked the time.
3:18 a.m.
"We get them."
Helen shook her head.
"If Malcolm hasn't already."
Ava reached for her coat.
Thomas blocked her.
"We don't rush into this."
"You've had fourteen years not to rush."
"Ava."
"My husband sterilized me without consent. My secret sister disappeared with my sister-in-law. My dead father is standing in a warehouse explaining a multibillion-dollar fertility conspiracy, and you're worried I'm moving too quickly?"
Helen's armed companion looked away, perhaps to hide a smile.
Thomas sighed.
"Fine."
They left within five minutes.
The storage facility sat near the edge of Boulder beneath falling snow.
Ava used her mother's authorization code.
Unit C-47.
The metal door was closed.
The lock had been cut.
Thomas raised his weapon.
Inside were cardboard archive boxes.
Most had been opened.
Some were empty.
Someone had searched the unit recently.
Ava found a broken photograph frame on the floor.
Inside was a picture of Samuel Mercer standing beside several children.
One child looked exactly like Malcolm.
Ava froze.
"Thomas."
Her father approached.
His face changed.
"No."
Ava pointed.
"That's Malcolm."
Thomas picked up the photograph.
The date was printed in the corner.
Malcolm would have been eight.
Beside him stood a blonde girl.
About eleven.
Evelyn.
Ava whispered:
"They knew each other as children."
Helen crouched beside an open box.
"There's more."
She pulled out a folder.
Inside was a notarized contract.
Not Malcolm and Ava's marriage certificate.
Something older.
A family alliance agreement between Samuel Mercer and Charles Hayes.
Malcolm's supposed grandfather.
A paragraph had been highlighted.
The first viable female descendant of the Mercer line shall be paired with a compatible Hayes male descendant for preservation of designated biological assets.
Ava stared.
"Paired?"
Thomas looked horrified.
Helen whispered:
"Your marriage was planned before you were born."
Then the facility lights died.
A red emergency lamp turned on.
Metal shutters slammed down at both ends of the corridor.
Thomas raised his gun.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Malcolm's voice filled the hallway.
"Ava."
She looked upward.
He sounded weak.
But amused.
"If you're hearing this, you found Grandfather's contract."
Ava's hands curled into fists.
Malcolm continued:
"So now you finally understand."
A pause.
"Our marriage was never an accident."
Another pause.
"But here's the part your father won't tell you."
Thomas stared at the speaker.
Malcolm's voice dropped.
May you like
"Thomas Mercer wasn't trying to save you from Northstar."
"He was the man who originally chose me."
