Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Hidden Inside My Marriage
For twelve years, Lucian had believed Victor Drake was dead.
So had Nathan.
At least, that was what Nathan claimed later.
The intruder told a different story.
His name was Eric Voss.
Former private military contractor.
Convicted once for financial crimes.
Currently employed through a security company controlled by a shell corporation.
That shell corporation belonged to Victor Drake.
The man who had supposedly died eighteen years earlier.
Nathan’s father.
Lucian sat at the long kitchen table while a medic cleaned the cut above his eyebrow.
I stood nearby despite everyone telling me to rest.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“You were hit with a metal bar.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“That isn’t comforting.”
The medic almost smiled.
Eric Voss was questioned by federal agents before dawn.
By then, Lucian’s legal team had already turned over the Blackwood home security footage.
The breach was no longer a family court matter.
It was federal.
Weapons.
Interstate conspiracy.
Fraud.
Potential attempted kidnapping.
And perhaps murder.
By morning, every major law enforcement agency seemed interested.
Nathan disappeared.
His attorneys claimed they did not know where he was.
His phone went dark.
His company issued a statement saying he had taken a temporary leave due to “personal family matters.”
Markets reacted.
Reporters surrounded the Drake offices.
And I became the woman everyone wanted to find.
Lucian kept my location private.
I sat in the library watching the news with the sound muted.
My father’s photograph hung across the room.
Lucian entered.
“Federal agents found something.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“A storage facility outside Olympia.”
“Victor?”
“Not him.”
Lucian held a folder.
“Records.”
My throat tightened.
“What kind?”
“Your father’s.”
I stood slowly.
“Daniel kept copies of everything.”
Inside the storage unit, investigators found boxes sealed beneath a false floor.
Corporate ledgers.
Patent agreements.
Photographs.
Recorded statements.
And a letter.
Addressed to me.
The original was delivered by federal agents that afternoon.
My hands trembled before I opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Dad.
I read the first line.
Ava, if you are reading this, then I waited too long to tell you the truth.
My eyes blurred.
I continued.
My father explained everything.
Blackwood Aerospace.
Victor Drake.
The corruption.
The fire.
His attempt to leave.
His decision to hide the trust until I was old enough to control it.
Then the final pages.
Victor had threatened him.
Not Lucian.
Not Gideon.
Victor.
My father suspected Victor was building a private network of companies through stolen Blackwood contracts.
And he believed someone might eventually come after me because I was the legal heir to patents and equity they had tried to bury.
The last paragraph broke me.
If something happens to me, do not let anyone convince you that wealth makes them more important than you. Money is only a tool. Character is what remains when everything else is gone. Choose people who protect your freedom, not people who purchase your obedience.
I lowered the letter.
Lucian stood near the doorway.
I cried then.
Not gracefully.
Not quietly.
I cried for my father.
For my mother.
For the years Nathan stole.
For the woman I had been.
Lucian did not touch me.
He waited.
After several minutes, I crossed the room myself.
Then I put my arms around him.
He froze.
Only for a second.
Then he held me carefully.
No romance.
No demand.
Just comfort.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“For not finding this sooner.”
“You didn’t kill my father.”
“I failed him.”
I pulled back.
“My father wrote something about that too.”
Lucian looked at me.
I handed him another page.
A note written in the margin.
Lucian will blame himself. Don’t let him. He was the one Blackwood worth saving.
Lucian read it.
His face changed.
For a moment, he looked less like a billionaire than a son receiving forgiveness from the dead.
Then Miriam called.
“Nathan has surfaced.”
“Where?”
“At the federal courthouse.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“He’s negotiating surrender.”
Lucian’s expression hardened.
“On what terms?”
“He claims he will testify against Victor.”
I almost laughed.
Of course.
Even cornered, Nathan searched for a transaction.
Three hours later, federal prosecutors confirmed Nathan had surrendered.
His story was complicated.
He admitted knowing Victor was alive for at least five years.
He claimed his father approached him shortly after Nathan and I became engaged.
Victor told him who I was.
What I might inherit.
How my father’s trust could be activated.
Nathan insisted the original marriage had been real.
I didn’t believe that.
Maybe he once liked me.
Maybe even loved me in whatever limited way he could.
But once Victor showed him the money, everything changed.
The IVF.
The trust.
The fabricated messages.
The planned custody war.
All of it.
Nathan claimed Victor ordered the security breach.
He claimed he never intended for anyone to hurt me.
No one believed that mattered much.
Two weeks later, federal agents found Victor.
He had been hiding in Canada under another name.
The arrest made national news.
Financial networks ran special reports.
Blackwood Aerospace reopened old internal investigations.
The Bennett trust was frozen pending restoration.
Nathan faced multiple criminal investigations.
Victor faced more.
And somehow, through all of it, my babies stayed inside me.
Twenty-eight weeks.
Then thirty.
Then thirty-two.
Each week felt like victory.
The legal pressure eased.
Doctors smiled more.
My body grew heavier.
Walking became difficult.
Sleeping became ridiculous.
Lucian started leaving sliced fruit outside my room because I once mentioned being hungry at two in the morning.
He denied doing it.
His housekeeper denied doing it.
Everyone lied badly.
One evening, I found him in the kitchen at 1:43 a.m. making toast.
“For me?”
He looked at the plate.
“No.”
“You hate cinnamon.”
He looked offended.
“I can learn to appreciate it.”
I laughed.
That happened more often now.
Not happiness exactly.
But pieces of it.
Nathan’s divorce attorneys withdrew from representing him in the family matter.
A new team negotiated.
The agreement changed completely.
The apartment was restored temporarily to me.
Joint assets were reexamined.
All child-related claims remained under court supervision.
Nathan’s direct access to me was restricted.
Then came the DNA question.
One morning, Dr. Ramos visited Lucian’s home for an ultrasound.
Everything looked good.
Baby A.
Baby B.
Baby C.
Three strong heartbeats.
Afterward, she sat beside me.
“There’s something I want to discuss.”
I knew immediately.
“Paternity?”
She nodded.
Because of the embryo manipulation, the court had requested genetic verification.
Nathan insisted he was the biological father.
Miriam recommended we establish it now.
I agreed.
The results came four days later.
I opened the envelope.
Nathan Drake was the biological father of all three babies.
I stared at the page.
Lucian watched me.
“You okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to know today.”
“I hoped…”
I stopped.
“Hoped what?”
“That maybe none of this had anything to do with him.”
Lucian sat across from me.
“DNA doesn’t decide who they become.”
“No.”
“It also doesn’t decide who you become.”
I looked at him.
“You always have something annoyingly reasonable to say.”
“I pay people to write them.”
I laughed.
Then my phone rang.
Miriam.
Her voice was urgent.
“Ava, don’t panic.”
That is never a good beginning.
“What happened?”
“Nathan’s requesting to see you.”
“No.”
“He says he has information about Victor that concerns the babies.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What information?”
“He’ll only tell you directly.”
Lucian shook his head immediately.
“No.”
I thought about everything Nathan had done.
Then about my father’s words.
Protect your freedom.
Not your fear.
“I’ll meet him.”
Lucian stared at me.
“Ava.”
“Not alone.”
He exhaled.
“Then I’m there.”
The meeting happened in a federal interview room.
Nathan looked different.
No designer suit.
No perfect grooming.
Just a white shirt.
Dark circles beneath his eyes.
For the first time, he looked ordinary.
I sat across from him.
Lucian stood behind me near the wall.
Nathan glanced at him.
“Still following her everywhere?”
I said, “Talk.”
Nathan looked at me.
For several seconds, his arrogance disappeared.
“I’m sorry.”
I almost laughed.
“That’s not information.”
“I know.”
“What concerns the babies?”
Nathan swallowed.
“My father believes the trust contains one final clause.”
“What clause?”
“He said if three direct descendants exist at the same time, voting control of Bennett’s original Blackwood shares automatically transfers to them.”
Lucian stepped forward.
“That clause doesn’t exist.”
Nathan looked at him.
“Victor thinks it does.”
My blood ran cold.
“So?”
“So my father doesn’t see your children as babies.”
Nathan looked at my stomach.
“He sees them as control of Blackwood.”
The room went silent.
I whispered, “He’s in custody.”
Nathan nodded.
“But not everyone who works for him is.”
That night, Lucian doubled security.
Federal agents increased protection.
We all believed we were prepared.
At thirty-four weeks, my water broke.
May you like
And at the same moment, every exterior light on Lucian’s property went dark.
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