Chapter 9 - THE MISTRESS WHO VANISHED
Lena's apartment was empty.
Not messy.
Empty.
Closets cleared.
Medicine cabinet stripped.
Kitchen cupboards bare.
No luggage.
No computer.
No passport.
According to building security, she had left at 2:13 a.m. carrying one suitcase.
A black SUV collected her.
The plates were unreadable.
Mark insisted he knew nothing.
Ava believed only one thing about his story.
He was frightened.
Three days later, Bellamy requested a private meeting.
Maya objected.
Ava went anyway—with Maya beside her.
Robert Bellamy received them in a library on the top floor of his private club.
He was seventy-four.
Immaculate.
Soft-spoken.
The kind of man who made threats sound like favors.
“Ava Mitchell.”
He shook her hand.
“You've caused quite a disturbance.”
“I've heard.”
Bellamy smiled.
“Mark always underestimated you.”
“So did you.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Ava sat.
Bellamy remained standing.
“I knew exactly who wrote Meridian's first plan.”
“Then why remove me?”
“Because Mark needed to believe he was singular.”
Ava felt disgust rise.
“You forged my signature.”
Bellamy poured tea.
“That's a serious allegation.”
“So is fraud.”
“Indeed.”
Maya said, “If you're hoping to negotiate, state your offer.”
Bellamy glanced at her.
“I like you.”
Maya did not smile.
“I don't care.”
Bellamy chuckled.
Then he looked back at Ava.
“The merger will proceed.”
“Maybe.”
“It will.”
“And if I refuse to withdraw?”
“Your claim will become very expensive.”
“It already is.”
“For lawyers, yes. I mean expensive in other currencies.”
Ava's eyes narrowed.
Bellamy lifted one hand.
“Not violence. I'm not crude.”
“You sent someone to photograph my mother.”
Bellamy's expression did not change.
“I did not.”
“Someone did.”
“Then perhaps you have more enemies than you realize.”
He opened a drawer.
Placed a file on the desk.
Inside were financial statements from The Haven Ledger.
Ava's nonprofit.
“You've built something admirable.”
Her stomach turned.
“Stay away from it.”
“I haven't touched it.”
“Yet.”
Bellamy's smile vanished.
“This crusade of yours helps vulnerable women recover from financial control.”
“Yes.”
“Imagine what would happen if donors believed their money had been misused.”
Maya stood.
“Conversation over.”
Bellamy ignored her.
“A scandal doesn't have to be true on Monday if auditors need six months to disprove it.”
Ava stared at him.
There was the real weapon.
Not beating her.
Not threatening her mother.
Contaminating the one thing she had built after Mark.
“If you attack Haven—”
Bellamy interrupted gently.
“I haven't attacked anything.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The same thing Mark wants.”
“My silence.”
“No.”
Bellamy looked almost sad.
“I want your signature.”
Again.
The word followed her everywhere.
Ava's jaw tightened.
“On what?”
He slid a document across the desk.
A release.
Ava would renounce all historical ownership claims to Meridian.
In exchange, Bellamy's foundation would donate twenty million dollars to Haven.
Maya laughed in disbelief.
Bellamy looked at Ava.
“You can help thousands of women.”
“With money bought by erasing myself.”
“History is full of compromises.”
“So was my marriage.”
Ava pushed the document back.
“No.”
Bellamy studied her.
Then nodded.
“I expected that.”
He returned the papers to the file.
“Which is unfortunate.”
“Why?”
“Because now you'll have to learn what Mark never told you about the night Meridian was created.”
Ava froze.
Bellamy walked toward the door.
She called after him.
“What happened that night?”
He stopped.
Without turning around, he said:
“You didn't sign the original ownership agreement in your kitchen.”
Ava frowned.
Bellamy looked back.
May you like
“You signed it in a hospital.”
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