Inside were updated life insurance documents, designed to pay out if I died in an “accident” or was institutionalized. Beneath them were forged medical reports claiming I suffered from prenatal psychosis, violent mood swings, and was unable to care for myself or a baby.
The final document was an emergency custody petition, already drafted, saying I was mentally unstable and dangerous to my unborn child.
Margaret Mercer’s elegant signature appeared on every page.
They weren’t only planning to leave me.
They were planning to take my baby the moment he was born, lock me away in a private psychiatric facility, and seize control of my trust fund once they discovered it existed.
I sat on the office floor for an hour, shaking.
Then the fear hardened into something colder.
Any minute now.
Margaret came down the stairs, her heels clicking like a countdown.
“Tomorrow morning, Ava, my lawyers will send some estate documents for you to sign,” she said sweetly. “Just standard updates before the baby arrives. You will sign them without questions. Then after the gala, you’ll go quietly to the summer house until the birth. The city stress is not good for my grandson.”
The summer house.
Three hours away. Woods. Private security. A beautiful cage.
I looked at her perfect lips, cold eyes, and absolute belief that she owned my life.
Then I straightened my spine.
“No,” I whispered.
The word hung in the foyer.
Nathaniel blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I said no,” I repeated, stronger now. “I am not signing your forged conservatorship papers. I am not going to that isolated summer house. And I am not smiling for your cameras tomorrow.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Nathaniel,” she said sharply. “Handle your wife. She’s having another episode. If she won’t go upstairs, drag her.”
Nathaniel lunged.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach and closed my eyes.
But before he touched me, the electronic locks on the front doors released with a loud mechanical clunk.
Nathaniel froze.
The double doors burst open, and humid night air swept into the foyer.
A tall man in a black trench coat stepped inside. His silver hair was perfectly combed back, and his blue eyes fixed on Nathaniel with terrifying calm.
