Chapter 2 - The Lawyer Who Was Supposed to Stay Dead
The stranger raised both hands when Elias’s guards surrounded him.
“My name is Arthur Cole.”
Elias did not lower his weapon.
“I know who you are.”
That surprised the man.
Arthur swallowed.
“Then you know why Mercer wants me dead.”
Elias stepped between Arthur and my bed.
“I know you disappeared eleven years ago.”
Arthur looked at me.
“I disappeared because of your family.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“My family?”
Arthur slowly opened his briefcase.
The guards tensed.
“It contains documents.”
Elias nodded.
One guard took the case and searched it before handing it back.
Arthur removed a yellowed envelope.
My grandfather’s handwriting was on the front.
For Ava.
My breath caught.
I recognized those letters.
My grandfather used to leave notes in my lunchbox when I was a child.
Arthur handed the envelope to Elias instead of me.
“Check it.”
Elias examined it.
Then he gave it to me.
My fingers shook as I opened it.
A short letter rested inside.
Ava,
If you are reading this, people I trusted may have failed me.
The river property belongs to you.
Never surrender it willingly.
And never believe anyone who tells you that you have no family left.
I read the final sentence twice.
“What does that mean?”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Your mother did not die the way you were told.”
My chest tightened.
“She died in a car accident.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You’re lying.”
Arthur shook his head.
“The woman identified as Catherine Bennett after that accident was not your mother.”
The room seemed to tilt.
I remembered the funeral.
The closed casket.
Daniel comforting me years later whenever nightmares returned.
Elias moved closer.
“Explain.”
Arthur took a breath.
“Catherine discovered that Vincent Mercer was using Bennett Shipping warehouses to move illegal shipments.”
Elias’s expression sharpened.
“She tried to report him.”
“Yes.”
“And Mercer responded.”
Arthur nodded.
“He made her disappear.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“You’re saying she was murdered?”
“I’m saying nobody ever proved she died.”
That was somehow worse.
Arthur pulled another document from his case.
It was a handwritten statement.
Signed by Catherine Bennett.
Dated three months after her supposed death.
I stared at the date.
My hands became numb.
“She was alive.”
Arthur’s voice softened.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
I looked at Elias.
Something dangerous moved behind his eyes.
Arthur continued.
“Your grandfather tried to protect you by transferring the waterfront trust entirely into your name.”
“Why would Mercer care about the twins?”
Arthur hesitated.
Elias noticed.
“Say it.”
Arthur looked directly at me.
“Because the trust has a succession clause.”
My stomach dropped.
“What clause?”
“If Ava Bennett dies without surviving children, control passes to a corporate foundation.”
I already knew the answer before he finished.
“A foundation controlled by Mercer.”
Arthur nodded.
“But now there are two daughters.”
My arms tightened around the baby.
“And that changes everything?”
“Completely.”
Arthur leaned closer.
“If something happens to you, your daughters inherit the trust.”
I stopped breathing.
Daniel had not thrown us into the cold because the babies were girls.
He had thrown us out because they were alive.
The elevator indicator lit again.
This time Elias’s guard checked his phone.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“A vehicle just breached the lower garage.”
Arthur went white.
“They followed me.”
Elias looked toward the nursery.
Then toward me.
His voice was calm.
“Take Ava and the babies to the safe room.”
A violent crash echoed from somewhere below.
May you like
Arthur whispered.
“Mercer knows she’s awake.”
