Chapter 5 - Nathan’s War for My Children
Chloe Matthews looked nothing like the woman in magazines.
No perfect lighting.
No carefully angled smile.
No designer campaign makeup.
She stood inside Lucian’s security room wrapped in a borrowed blanket, her hands trembling around a paper cup.
For months I had imagined what I would say if I ever confronted her.
I had pictured anger.
Accusations.
Maybe even the satisfaction of seeing guilt on her face.
Instead, when I entered the room, she stood so quickly that coffee spilled over her fingers.
“Ava.”
Her voice cracked.
I stopped several feet away.
Lucian stood beside me.
Two security agents remained near the door.
Chloe looked at my stomach.
Then away.
“I’m sorry.”
I felt almost nothing.
Maybe I was too exhausted.
“Did you sleep with my husband?”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes.”
“Did you know we were married?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know I was pregnant?”
She hesitated.
“Not at first.”
“But later?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“Then save the apology.”
She lowered her eyes.
Lucian stepped in.
“Why are you here?”
Chloe handed him the flash drive.
“Because Nathan is not who people think he is.”
I almost laughed.
“That’s becoming obvious.”
She looked at me.
“He used me.”
“So did you.”
“I know.”
There was no defense in her voice.
That made it harder to hate her.
Lucian took the drive but didn’t plug it into anything.
A security technician carried it into another room.
“What’s on it?” Lucian asked.
“Recordings. Emails. Copies of documents.”
“Why do you have them?”
“Because I started getting scared.”
Chloe gripped the blanket tighter.
“Nathan told me we would marry after the divorce.”
My stomach twisted, but I kept my expression still.
“He said Ava was unstable. He said the marriage was finished for years.”
I said nothing.
“He told me the babies weren’t really part of his life.”
“What does that mean?”
“He said they were leverage.”
The room went cold.
Lucian’s voice sharpened.
“Exact words?”
Chloe nodded.
“He said once the children were born, he could control whatever the Bennett trust released.”
I shut my eyes.
Hearing it directly hurt differently.
Not because it was new.
Because it erased the last possible excuse.
Nathan had planned this.
Chloe continued.
“Two weeks ago, I overheard him arguing with one of his attorneys. He said there were three embryos because three heirs created more control.”
I opened my eyes.
“You knew?”
“Not about the embryos. Not until then.”
“And you stayed?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“For two more days.”
I stared.
“Then I copied everything I could.”
Lucian asked, “Why wait until now?”
“Because Nathan realized someone had accessed his private drive.”
She looked toward the window.
“Yesterday, one of his security people followed me.”
“Did they threaten you?”
“He called me.”
“Nathan?”
She nodded.
“He said accidents happen to people who forget loyalty.”
Lucian went still.
I remembered my father.
Highway accident.
My stomach tightened.
The technician returned.
“Drive is clean.”
He handed Lucian a tablet.
Lucian opened the first file.
His expression darkened.
Miriam joined us twenty minutes later.
Then another attorney.
Then a forensic accountant.
The files kept coming.
Payments to Helix Crown Genetics.
Trust documents.
Private investigators.
Internal emails.
And one audio recording.
Nathan’s voice.
Clear.
Calm.
Cold.
“If Ava challenges custody, we establish emotional instability. Pregnancy stress makes that easy.”
Another man responded.
“And Blackwood?”
Nathan laughed.
“Lucian has been chasing ghosts for years. Let him.”
The recording continued.
“What happens after the births?”
Nathan answered.
“I don’t need full custody forever. I need enough legal control to freeze the trust restructuring.”
My skin crawled.
The other man asked, “And Chloe?”
A pause.
“She thinks she’s becoming Mrs. Drake.”
Nathan laughed again.
“She photographs well. That’s useful.”
Chloe covered her mouth.
I looked at her.
For the first time, we understood each other.
Different roles.
Same man.
Same cruelty.
Lucian stopped the audio.
“No more.”
Miriam nodded.
“This is enough for a major filing.”
“Criminal?”
“Possibly fraud, identity misuse, conspiracy. We need prosecutors to decide.”
“And custody?”
“This destroys his argument.”
I exhaled slowly.
Maybe for the first time, I felt the ground shifting.
Then one security agent’s phone buzzed.
His face changed.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
“What?”
“Motion filed ten minutes ago.”
Miriam checked her tablet.
“What motion?”
The guard said, “Nathan is asking the court to compel Ava to return to Seattle for an independent psychiatric evaluation.”
I stared.
“He’s claiming I’m crazy?”
Miriam read quickly.
“He’s alleging Lucian is manipulating you and that you lack decision-making capacity due to emotional distress.”
I almost admired Nathan’s audacity.
Almost.
Lucian’s face went hard.
“He wants her on record defending her sanity.”
Miriam nodded.
“And if she refuses, he argues avoidance.”
“What do we do?”
She looked at me.
“We fight.”
The hearing happened by video the next morning.
I wore a simple cream sweater.
No makeup except a little concealer.
I sat beside Miriam.
Lucian stayed outside the frame.
The judge was a woman in her sixties with short silver hair and the exhausted expression of someone who had heard every possible lie.
Nathan appeared from a conference room downtown.
Perfect suit.
Perfect posture.
His attorney spoke first.
He described me as vulnerable.
Emotionally compromised.
Influenced by an extremely powerful third party.
He never called me unstable directly.
He was too skilled for that.
Instead, he built the suggestion carefully.
Then Miriam responded.
“Your Honor, Mr. Drake alleges instability while submitting fabricated text messages as evidence of that instability.”
Nathan’s attorney objected.
Miriam continued.
“We also have evidence Mr. Drake used Ms. Bennett’s digital identity to authorize reproductive procedures she did not knowingly consent to.”
Silence.
Even the judge looked startled.
Nathan’s attorney rose.
“Unverified allegations.”
Miriam uploaded the clinic record.
Then the forensic report.
Then the trust transfers.
Then the audio.
Nathan’s face changed when his own voice filled the courtroom.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
The mask cracked.
The judge listened.
When the recording ended, she removed her glasses.
“Mr. Drake.”
Nathan leaned toward the microphone.
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Did you authorize the transfer of three embryos?”
He glanced at his attorney.
“On medical advice.”
“Without your wife’s informed consent?”
“That characterization is disputed.”
The judge’s expression hardened.
“Did you submit text messages you knew were not generated by Ms. Bennett’s active device?”
“No.”
Miriam raised another document.
“We can show the originating server belongs to Drake Family Office.”
The judge looked at Nathan.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked cornered.
The ruling came fifteen minutes later.
His motion was denied.
His request for expanded medical access was denied.
He was prohibited from contacting me directly.
And the court ordered an independent forensic review of all evidence submitted by his team.
Nathan’s expression remained controlled.
But his eyes found mine through the screen.
And I knew him well enough to recognize rage.
The hearing ended.
Miriam smiled.
“That went very well.”
Lucian entered.
“Too well.”
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“Nathan doesn’t lose quietly.”
That afternoon, Chloe agreed to enter protective housing.
Before leaving, she stopped beside me.
“I don’t expect forgiveness.”
I nodded.
“Good.”
Her eyes filled.
“But I hope you win.”
“I’m not trying to win Nathan.”
I rested a hand on my stomach.
“I’m trying to get away from him.”
She gave me a sad smile.
“That’s what winning looks like.”
Then she left.
Two days passed peacefully.
My doctors monitored me remotely.
The babies were growing.
I ate.
Slept.
Walked slowly through Lucian’s garden when the rain stopped.
For the first time in months, I could breathe.
Then, on the third night, the alarms went off.
Not loud.
Just one low pulse through the house.
Lucian appeared at my bedroom door within seconds.
“Stay inside.”
“What happened?”
“Security breach.”
My blood went cold.
“Is it Nathan?”
“I don’t know.”
Outside, headlights moved through the trees.
Then another alarm.
A guard shouted from the hallway.
“East perimeter compromised.”
Lucian looked at me.
“Lock the door.”
He turned to leave.
I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t go.”
His eyes met mine.
For one second, neither of us moved.
Then he covered my hand with his.
“I’ll come back.”
The door closed.
I locked it.
Minutes passed.
Then ten.
Then twenty.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I shouldn’t have answered.
But I did.
Nathan’s voice came through.
“You’ve made this much worse than it needed to be.”
My entire body went cold.
“You’re violating the court order.”
“I don’t care.”
“What do you want?”
“My children.”
“They are not property.”
“Everything is property, Ava. Some people are simply too sentimental to admit it.”
I thought I had already learned the worst thing about my husband.
I was wrong.
Then came a crash downstairs.
A gunshot.
I screamed.
Nathan laughed softly through the phone.
“Tell Blackwood he should have remembered something.”
“What?”
“My father taught me how he built his empire.”
The line disconnected.
A second later, my bedroom door opened.
Lucian stood there.
Alive.
But blood ran down one side of his face.
And behind him, security dragged in a captured intruder.
The man looked at me.
Then at Lucian.
And said five words that changed the entire case.
May you like
“Victor Drake is still alive.”
---
