Chapter 3 - The Contract They Wanted Me to Sign
Dinner was served in the formal dining room.
Naomi had prepared a table that looked like something from a magazine: white linen, crystal glasses, silver candleholders, and a roast chicken arranged with herbs and lemon slices.
Brianna did not sit with us.
Of course she did not.
She stood near the wall with a serving tray in her hands, silent and pale.
“Brianna,” I said, “please sit down with us.”
Naomi’s smile became tight.
“She has already eaten.”
“I saw what she ate yesterday,” I replied.
The room went still.
Gavin’s hand moved beneath the table and rested on my knee.
Not tenderly.
Warningly.
I looked at him.
He smiled as though nothing had happened.
“Brianna has digestive issues,” he said. “My mother is helping her manage them.”
“I’m sure she is,” I said.
Naomi set down her wineglass. “Alyssa, you are joining this family. I hope you understand that we do not air private concerns at the dinner table.”
I forced myself to smile.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Her expression relaxed.
That was what they wanted from me: compliance.
After dinner, Elijah led me into his study.
Gavin followed, closing the door behind us.
A thick folder rested on the desk.
“What is this?” I asked.
Elijah sat in the leather chair behind the desk. “A practical agreement before the wedding.”
“Prenuptial agreement?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
Helen had warned me they might try this.
I opened the folder.
The document was not a normal prenup.
It was a transfer agreement.
If I married Gavin, he would become a co-owner of Wellman Creative. Within sixty days, he would gain access to my company accounts, client contracts, intellectual property, and board voting rights.
There was another clause hidden near the end.
If I refused to comply after marriage, Gavin could claim I was mentally unstable and unable to manage the business due to “domestic and maternal responsibilities.”
My blood ran cold.
They had planned everything.
My company.
My money.
My reputation.
My freedom.
Naomi entered the study behind us.
“We only want to help you,” she said. “A woman shouldn’t have to carry the burden of business when she has a husband.”
I looked at Gavin.
He had the decency to look away.
“You want me to sign this tonight?” I asked.
“We want you to understand it,” Elijah said.
Gavin stepped closer. “Alyssa, this is just paperwork. We’re building a future together.”
I wanted to throw the folder in his face.
Instead, I picked up the pen.
“Of course,” I said. “I trust you.”
Gavin’s eyes brightened.
But before the pen touched the paper, a crash sounded from the hallway.
Naomi spun toward the door.
“Brianna!” she shouted.
I stood quickly.
“I’ll check on her.”
“No,” Naomi said too fast.
That was all I needed.
I walked past them and opened the study door.
The tray Brianna had been holding lay broken on the floor. A glass had shattered near her feet.
She was trembling.
Her sleeve had torn slightly, revealing new bruises along her forearm.
Gavin stepped into the hall behind me.
“What did you do?” he asked Brianna.
She flinched so hard that my stomach turned.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He raised his hand.
I stepped between them.
“Don’t.”
The word came out louder than I intended.
Everyone froze.
Gavin lowered his hand slowly.
“You’re overreacting,” he said.
“No. I’m paying attention.”
Naomi’s expression hardened. “Alyssa, this is not your concern.”
“It became my concern the moment I saw her injured.”
Brianna looked at me with terror in her eyes.
I understood why.
She thought I was going to make things worse.
I forced my voice to soften.
“Brianna, do you want to leave this house?”
Naomi moved toward us. “Do not answer her.”
But Brianna did.
Barely audible, she whispered, “Yes.”
The silence that followed was absolute.
Elijah’s face darkened.
Gavin’s smile disappeared.
Naomi grabbed Brianna’s wrist.
“She is confused.”
Brianna cried out.
I reached into my pocket and pressed the emergency call button on my second phone.
Tessa’s name appeared on the screen.
I put the call on speaker.
“Tessa,” I said, never looking away from Naomi, “call the police.”
Naomi released Brianna.
Gavin stared at me.
“What did you do?”
I pulled the recording device from my necklace.
“I did what I should have done last night.”
His face changed.
For the first time, Gavin Herndon looked afraid.
But then Elijah laughed.
A low, cold laugh.
“You think a recording will save you?” he said. “You have no idea what you are interfering with.”
The front gate opened outside.
For one hopeful second, I thought the police had arrived.
Then I heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.
A man’s voice echoed through the foyer.
“Mother?”
Brianna’s entire body went rigid.
Damian Herndon had come home.
May you like
And he was not supposed to know I was there.
---
