Chapter 6 - The Wedding Contract
We escaped through a maintenance tunnel.
My mother was injured.
Vaughn had a cut along his cheek.
Ronin had a broken wrist.
But we had the tape.
The next day, attorneys confirmed the contract was real.
The trust required a marriage.
It wasn't romantic.
It wasn't sentimental.
It was a legal mechanism created by frightened men decades ago.
But when I looked at Vaughn, I couldn't stop thinking about what he had said.
If choosing you costs me everything, then I lose everything.
He had never asked me to sign.
Never pressured me.
Instead, he handed me the contract.
"Your choice."
I read it.
Then I looked at him.
"Do you love me?"
He went still.
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Probably longer than I admitted to myself."
I smiled sadly.
"You could have told me."
"I was your boss."
"I knew."
"I didn't want to use my position."
"You didn't."
He stepped closer.
"I want you to marry me because you want me."
I whispered:
"I do."
His eyes closed briefly.
Then he took my hand.
The wedding was private.
Only family.
My mother.
Isabella.
Ronin.
A few trusted employees.
No politicians.
No media.
No business partners.
Just us.
But the Circle knew.
During the reception, the windows shattered.
Attackers entered the estate.
Vaughn pulled me behind him.
The contract folder fell to the floor.
A gunman grabbed it.
Ronin stopped him.
The attack ended quickly.
But one attacker shouted:
"Your marriage changes nothing!"
Vaughn stared at him.
"It changes everything."
The trust became active.
The hidden assets were released.
And the Circle panicked.
Because now the evidence could be transferred to federal authorities.
The next morning, the first arrests began.
But someone had already stolen the digital copy.
Daniel Cross.
He had disappeared again.
The Circle needed one final piece.
The original ledger.
And they knew where it was.
With me.
I discovered a hidden message in my father's tape.
A second recording.
He had encoded a location.
A private island off Maine.
We traveled there.
The island contained an old lighthouse.
Inside was the original ledger.
But someone was waiting.
Daniel.
He pointed a gun at me.
"Give me the key."
I looked at Vaughn.
He shook his head.
Daniel laughed.
"Your marriage is a joke."
Vaughn answered:
"No."
He stepped in front of me.
"It's the first thing in my life I chose without my family deciding for me."
Daniel's expression changed.
The confrontation turned violent.
Vaughn was shot.
I screamed.
He fell.
I grabbed the ledger.
Daniel ran.
I chased him through the lighthouse.
He reached the roof.
There was nowhere to go.
He turned.
"You're not brave enough to jump."
"I don't need to."
Police helicopters appeared overhead.
Vaughn had activated an emergency beacon before entering.
Daniel was arrested.
I ran back down.
Vaughn was alive.
Barely.
I held his face.
"Stay with me."
His eyes opened.
"You keep saving me."
"I thought you were supposed to be the dangerous one."
He smiled.
"Only at work."
I laughed through tears.
Then he passed out.
The doctors said he would survive.
But the damage wasn't over.
The Circle had one final leader.
May you like
Someone we hadn't identified.
Someone inside the federal investigation.
