Chapter 32: The Prenup Investigation

The photograph remained in my hand long after Rose left the studio.

Nathaniel.

The burned face beside him.

The black raven ring.

Someone wanted me to believe the courtroom victory was only the beginning.

Not the end.

I slipped the photograph into my handbag beside the velvet ring box.

Neither belonged in the past anymore.

Both belonged to unanswered questions.

My phone vibrated.

Victor Hayes.

"Don't go home yet."

"Meet me at Verline."

"Bring every legal document Damien ever asked you to sign."

Twenty minutes later I entered the temporary office inside Verline Tower.

Victor was already waiting.

His laptop covered with files.

Newspaper clippings.

Financial reports.

Court transcripts.

"You won today," he said.

"Now let's find out why they wanted you in the family in the first place."

I placed a leather folder on the desk.

"Everything I signed after the engagement."

"Including the prenuptial agreement."

Victor immediately opened the thick contract.

"Who drafted this?"

"Ashford Holdings' legal department."

"I barely read it."

"Nathaniel wanted me to."

"I thought he was just being protective."

Victor adjusted his glasses.

"Nathaniel was rarely just being protective."

"He usually noticed something everyone else ignored."

He began turning the pages.

Slowly.

Carefully.

His expression changed halfway through.

"Interesting."

"What?"

"Look here."

He pointed toward a clause buried inside twenty pages of legal language.

"Intellectual Property Transfer."

"Upon marriage, all future designs created within Ashford facilities may be administered by Ashford Holdings until otherwise determined."

I frowned.

"That doesn't say they own my work."

"No."

"It says they control it."

"Legally, that's far more dangerous."

"Why hide it?"

"Because nobody expects the most important sentence to be the smallest one."

He continued reading.

Another page.

Another signature.

"Vivian Clarke," he read quietly.

"You hadn't even become Vivian Ashford yet."

"Exactly."

"Meaning this clause existed before the wedding."

"Someone planned ahead."

A cold feeling settled in my chest.

"Nathaniel argued with me the night before I signed."

"He said something felt wrong."

"What exactly?" Victor asked.

"He couldn't explain it."

"Only that lawyers don't write contracts like this unless someone expects to profit from them."

Victor closed the agreement.

"He was right."

"This isn't a marriage contract."

"It's an acquisition agreement disguised as one."

Silence filled the office.

I remembered every conversation.

Every warning I ignored.

Every argument with Nathaniel.

He hadn't been trying to ruin my happiness.

He had been trying to protect my future.

"There's something else," Victor said.

He pulled another document from his briefcase.

"Property Registration Timeline."

"Verline officially became part of the Ashford marital portfolio exactly forty-eight hours after your honeymoon."

"That's impossible."

"I never approved that."

"You didn't need to."

"Someone used the administrative authority created by the prenup."

"Who?"

"That's what we're about to discover."

He enlarged the registration record.

One digital authorization appeared.

Approved by Executive Office.

No name.

Only initials.

E.A.

"Eleanor Ashford," I whispered.

"Most likely," Victor replied.

"But assumptions don't win cases."

"Evidence does."

He opened another file.

"These are internal billing records from Ashford Holdings."

"Your prenup wasn't drafted by their normal legal team."

"It wasn't?"

"No."

"It was commissioned through an outside law firm six months before Damien proposed."

I stared at him.

"Six months?"

"Meaning someone expected this marriage before you even knew Damien existed."

Neither of us spoke.

The room suddenly felt much smaller.

"Can we identify the firm?" I finally asked.

"Unfortunately, the client name is hidden."

"But the invoice number isn't."

"I'll trace it."

"Give me twenty-four hours."

My phone buzzed.

Damien.

I ignored it.

It rang again.

Then a third time.

"Answer," Victor said.

"Let's hear what he wants."

I accepted the call.

"Vivian."

Damien sounded unusually calm.

"I need to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"Have you opened the studio cabinets yet?"

"No."

"Don't."

I frowned.

"Why?"

"Because if they're still sealed... then someone has already been inside before you."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I ordered the studio closed eleven months ago, I personally changed every lock."

"Yesterday, after the court ruling, I received a maintenance report."

"One cabinet lock had been replaced three months ago."

"I never authorized it."

Victor immediately looked at me.

"Ask him which cabinet."

"Which one?"

There was a long pause.

"Nathaniel's old storage cabinet."

The call ended.

Victor was already packing his laptop.

"We're going back to the studio."

"Now."

"Why?" I asked.

He looked directly at the photograph of Nathaniel and the unknown man.

"Because I think someone searched for the same evidence Nathaniel died protecting."