Chapter 13 - The Setup
Ava read the date on the report three times before she trusted her own eyes.
Six weeks before Adrian had introduced himself to her at a charity auction, Richard Halston's security team had already written a plan for getting his son close to her.
She remembered that first night in painful detail.
The surveillance report forced Ava to reconsider not only Adrian's intentions, but her own memory of falling in love.
She hated that more than she hated the report itself.
Love had felt private.
Now she knew Richard had observed its beginning as a project.
Ava remembered the first time Adrian cooked for her and burned garlic badly enough to set off the smoke alarm.
She remembered him sitting with Thomas's old photograph album even though he claimed to hate looking at childhood pictures.
She remembered a winter night when he drove three hours because Ava called and said she was having a bad day.
Richard had not ordered those things.
No report could make them unreal.
But the first meeting still had a purpose Adrian concealed.
Ava understood that both realities had to remain true at once.
If she turned the relationship into a total lie, she would be repeating Richard's habit of simplifying facts until they served the emotion of the moment.
If she called the deception irrelevant because Adrian later loved her, she would be repeating Dominic's habit of excusing control through good intentions.
Neither answer was acceptable.
So Ava let the contradiction stay painful.
Adrian had used her.
Adrian had stopped.
Adrian had loved her.
Adrian had still failed to tell her.
The future of the marriage would depend on whether he could live inside all four facts without asking her to erase any of them.
Adrian had spilled sparkling water on the program in her lap.
He had apologized too many times.
She had laughed because he looked genuinely embarrassed.
They had spent an hour arguing about whether abstract art became more impressive when rich people pretended to understand it.
He had asked for her number outside beneath a row of white lights.
Ava had gone home smiling like an idiot.
Now every ordinary detail looked staged.
"Tell me you didn't know."
Adrian stared at the report in Detective Ruiz's hand.
"I didn't know about this."
"That is not what I asked."
His eyes moved to hers.
Ava felt her heart beating against her ribs.
"Did your father ask you to meet me?"
Adrian hesitated.
The hesitation answered before he did.
Ava took one step backward.
"Oh my God."
"Ava, listen to me."
"Did he ask you to meet me?"
"He mentioned you."
"Before the auction?"
"Yes."
Her throat tightened.
"How long before?"
"A few weeks."
"Six?"
Adrian looked at the report.
"Maybe."
Ava laughed once, and the sound felt broken.
"Maybe."
"He told me you were connected to an old shareholder dispute."
"He told you my name."
"Yes."
"He showed you a picture?"
Adrian looked away.
Ava felt something inside her collapse.
"He did."
"Ava."
"Answer me."
"Yes."
Victoria covered her mouth.
Dominic, still outside the property line, knew none of this yet.
Ava was suddenly grateful for that.
She did not want his anger protecting her.
She wanted the truth hurting everyone equally.
"Why did Richard want you to meet me?"
Adrian took a breath.
"He said there were unresolved claims from Meridian's early years."
"Claims from whom?"
"He said the daughter of a former investor might be approached by lawyers."
"Did he say Dominic Vale?"
Adrian's silence lasted too long.
Ava closed her eyes.
"He did."
"He said Dominic was dead."
"That is not the question."
"I know."
"Did you know Dominic Vale was my biological father before we met?"
"I knew there was a possibility."
Ava stared at him.
The library became painfully quiet.
Even Richard stopped smiling.
Adrian stepped closer.
"I did not know he was alive."
"You knew enough to ask me questions."
"Yes."
"About my mother."
"Yes."
"About where I grew up."
"Yes."
"About whether I had old family papers."
His face twisted with shame.
"At first."
Ava remembered a date three weeks into their relationship.
They had eaten pasta in a tiny restaurant near her apartment.
Adrian had asked whether her mother kept boxes of family documents.
Ava had joked that he sounded like an accountant.
He had laughed.
Now she wanted to scream.
"You investigated me."
"For maybe two weeks."
"You dated me because your father told you to."
"No."
"You just admitted it."
"I met you because he asked me to."
Adrian's voice rose.
"I kept seeing you because I wanted to."
Ava looked at him.
"How am I supposed to know the difference?"
He had no answer.
Richard finally spoke.
"This is exactly why I warned you not to get emotionally involved."
Adrian turned toward him.
The expression on his face frightened even Victoria.
"You warned me?"
Richard realized his mistake.
Too late.
Ava felt the last bit of air leave the room.
Adrian stepped closer to his father.
"You told me to keep it casual."
Richard remained silent.
"You told me to find out whether Ava had contact with anyone using the Vale name."
"I was protecting the company."
"You used me."
"I gave you a simple task."
"She became my wife."
"That was your mistake."
The sentence stopped everyone.
Ava looked at Richard.
For one instant, even he appeared to regret saying it.
Adrian's face emptied.
"My mistake."
Richard shifted his tone.
"That is not what I meant."
"It is exactly what you meant."
Adrian removed his wedding ring again.
Ava's stomach tightened.
He placed it on the library table.
Not because he was ending the marriage.
Because he looked as though he did not deserve to wear it.
That somehow hurt more.
"Ava, I should have told you."
She stared at the ring.
"When?"
"The first week."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because by then I liked you."
"That makes it worse."
"I know."
"And after a month?"
"I was scared you would leave."
"After a year?"
Adrian closed his eyes.
"I loved you."
"Then you should have trusted me."
"I know."
Ava laughed bitterly.
"Everyone knows after the lie is exposed."
Adrian flinched.
She looked at Richard.
"Did you order him to propose?"
"No."
"Did you approve it?"
"I advised against it."
Ava remembered how strangely cold Richard had been when Adrian announced the engagement.
At the time, she thought he simply considered her beneath the family.
The truth was uglier.
Richard did not dislike her because she was ordinary.
He feared who she was.
"Then why let the wedding happen?"
Richard smiled faintly.
"Because once Adrian made up his mind, stopping him would have made him suspicious."
Adrian stared at him.
"So you chose control over honesty."
"I chose stability."
"You always rename the ugly thing."
Victoria whispered the sentence almost to herself.
Richard turned toward her.
She held his gaze this time.
Detective Ruiz removed several more pages from the A.S. file.
"There are progress reports."
Ava did not want to hear them.
She made herself listen.
The first update was dated four days after Ava and Adrian met.
SUBJECT MADE CONTACT.
ADRIAN REPORTS NO ACTIVE VALE CONNECTION.
Ava closed her eyes.
The second update was dated eleven days later.
SUBJECT APPEARS UNAWARE OF BIOLOGICAL FATHER'S STATUS.
ADRIAN ADVISED TO MAINTAIN CONTACT.
Ava looked at Adrian.
"You reported to him."
"Twice."
"Twice is enough."
"I know."
The third report was dated six weeks later.
ADRIAN REFUSES FURTHER COOPERATION.
PERSONAL ATTACHMENT COMPROMISING OBJECTIVE.
Ava stared at the words.
Her anger did not vanish.
But the shape of it changed.
Adrian had stopped.
He had not told her.
He had still betrayed her.
But he had stopped being Richard's instrument before their relationship became serious.
Richard noticed the shift in her expression.
"Do not romanticize disobedience."
Adrian laughed without humor.
"You wrote that?"
"My security director did."
"Because I told you I would not spy on her anymore."
"Because you became emotionally compromised."
Ava turned to Richard.
"You say love like it is a disease."
"Love makes people careless."
"No."
Ava looked at Adrian.
"Fear makes people dishonest."
Adrian understood exactly whom she meant.
Ruiz reached the final report.
Its date was two days before the wedding.
Ava's pulse accelerated.
"Read it."
Ruiz hesitated.
"You may want privacy."
"Nothing about my life has been private for two years."
Ruiz read.
"Adrian remains noncompliant regarding subject monitoring."
"Marriage presents unacceptable exposure if Ava becomes aware of Vale recovery effort."
"Recommend leverage through maternal relationship and financial controls."
Adrian frowned.
"Maternal relationship?"
Victoria's face changed.
Ava looked at her.
"What did Richard tell you about me?"
Victoria did not answer.
Richard spoke.
"Nothing relevant."
Ava turned toward Victoria.
"What did he tell you?"
Victoria swallowed.
"He said you were planning to use the marriage to take Adrian's inheritance."
Adrian stared at his mother.
"What?"
"He said Dominic was alive and had contacted you."
Ava felt anger rise again.
"When?"
"A week ago."
"And you believed him."
Victoria looked ashamed.
"Yes."
"That is why you moved my mother's seat."
Victoria nodded.
"I wanted to see whether you would submit to the family."
Ava almost laughed.
"A test."
"Yes."
"And when I refused, you slapped me."
Victoria's face crumpled.
"Yes."
Ava looked at Richard.
He had manipulated Victoria's worst instincts and Adrian's oldest fears, then placed them around Ava like explosives.
All he needed was one spark.
Victoria had provided it with her hand.
Ava reached for her own wedding ring.
Adrian watched.
She slid it off slowly.
His face broke.
Ava placed the ring beside his on the table.
"I don't know what this marriage is tonight."
Adrian swallowed.
"I understand."
"Don't say that."
"Why?"
"Because part of me wants you to fight me."
"Would it help?"
"No."
"Then I won't."
Ava looked away.
That hurt too.
A phone rang in Ruiz's pocket.
She answered and listened for less than ten seconds.
"We're on our way."
She ended the call.
"What happened?"
Ruiz looked at Richard.
"Halston Consolidated just scheduled an emergency board meeting for three in the morning."
Richard's expression did not change.
Adrian's did.
"You called the board."
Richard adjusted his cuff.
"The company requires leadership."
"What are you planning?"
Richard looked at his son.
May you like
"To remove every threat before sunrise."
