Chapter 3 - The Name He Was Never Supposed to Hear
Daniel didn't look angry.
That frightened Ava more than anger would have.
He stood across the breakfast room, his eyes fixed on her robe pocket, waiting for an answer she could barely force through her throat.
“Yes.”
The word came out almost soundless.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“How long have you known?”
“Since this morning.”
“Has anyone else seen the test?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
Ava stood abruptly.
“Why does everyone keep asking me questions like I'm being interrogated?”
Daniel looked toward the doorway.
“Marcus.”
His security chief appeared.
“Sir?”
“Close the east entrance. Nobody from my family enters this house without my authorization.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Even Mrs. Choi?”
“Especially her.”
Ava backed away.
“What are you doing?”
“Keeping you safe.”
“From your mother?”
Daniel didn't answer.
That silence told her more than anything else.
She folded her arms protectively across her stomach.
“Daniel, I need you to understand something.”
He looked at her.
“This baby isn't yours.”
“I know.”
The answer was immediate.
Ava felt something twist painfully inside her.
“You know?”
“I know what the doctors told me.”
“And you know we haven't—”
“Yes.”
She looked away, ashamed of a betrayal that hadn't technically happened.
“I was with someone before the wedding.”
Daniel's expression changed almost imperceptibly.
“When?”
“About six weeks before.”
“Who?”
“Someone I met in Baltimore.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“His name?”
Ava hesitated.
“Ethan.”
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
She noticed.
“What?”
“Ethan what?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know his last name?”
“He said it was Ethan Cole.”
Daniel reached for the back of a chair.
For the first time since Ava had met him, he looked genuinely shaken.
“Where did you meet him?”
“The Harborview Hotel.”
“What date?”
Ava gave him the date.
Daniel turned toward the window.
His hand tightened around the chair until his knuckles whitened.
“Daniel?”
He didn't respond.
She took a cautious step closer.
“Do you know him?”
Daniel's phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
A message from Marcus.
Victor requested the security footage from the east hallway.
Daniel's expression became cold.
He typed a response.
Then he turned back to Ava.
“Listen carefully. Whatever happens today, don't leave this house with my mother or Victor.”
Ava stared.
“Why would I?”
“Because they may tell you I sent them.”
“Then tell me what's happening.”
Daniel approached her slowly.
“There's something about my medical history that you don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
He glanced toward the door.
“I was injured five years ago. Afterward, I was told I could never father a child.”
“I know.”
“What you don't know is that I never saw the original laboratory records.”
Ava frowned.
“Why?”
“Because my family controlled everything while I was recovering.”
A strange dread settled over her.
Daniel continued.
“Two years ago, I tried to obtain the records. The hospital claimed they'd been destroyed.”
“That's convenient.”
“Yes.”
He looked directly at her.
“And three months ago, I found evidence that the diagnosis may have been deliberately falsified.”
Ava gripped the table.
“Why would someone do that?”
Daniel's voice lowered.
“Because my grandfather's trust transfers control to the next direct biological descendant when certain conditions are met.”
She stared at him.
“So your family benefits if you never have children.”
“Victor does.”
“And your mother?”
Daniel said nothing.
Ava remembered Eleanor's cold expression when she mentioned pregnancy.
Then another memory surfaced.
Ethan's face.
The dark eyes.
The shape of his mouth.
The way he had listened to her without interrupting.
Ava looked at Daniel again.
For the first time, she saw similarities she had somehow ignored.
Her pulse accelerated.
“Daniel.”
He looked up.
“The man in Baltimore.”
His expression hardened.
“What about him?”
“He had a scar.”
Daniel didn't move.
“Where?”
“Below his left shoulder.”
Daniel's eyes closed.
Ava whispered, “He said it came from a car accident.”
Daniel slowly unbuttoned his shirt collar.
Then he pulled the fabric aside.
A pale scar crossed the skin beneath his left shoulder.
Ava stumbled backward.
“No.”
Daniel didn't approach her.
“Ava—”
“No.”
Her mind rejected what her eyes were seeing.
The man in Baltimore had worn his hair longer.
He had dressed casually.
He had smiled.
Daniel almost never smiled.
But the scar was identical.
And now, looking past the expensive suit and carefully controlled expression, she could see it.
The same face.
The same eyes.
The same man.
“You,” she whispered.
Daniel's silence confirmed it.
Ava pressed a hand over her mouth.
“You were Ethan?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“You knew?”
“I knew who you were when I saw you again.”
“When?”
“At the wedding.”
Ava stared at him in disbelief.
“You stood at that altar knowing we'd already been together?”
Daniel nodded.
“And you let me believe I was carrying another man's child?”
“I didn't know you were pregnant.”
“But you knew I had been with you!”
“Yes.”
Ava slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Daniel didn't move.
“You lied to me.”
“I did.”
“You married me without telling me!”
“I know.”
“Why?”
His voice broke slightly.
“Because by the time I discovered what Victor had arranged for your father, refusing the marriage would have put you in more danger.”
Ava shook her head.
“You could have told me.”
“I should have.”
She backed toward the door.
“Get away from me.”
Daniel stepped aside.
Ava walked past him, tears blurring her vision.
At the stairs, she stopped.
One question had been growing inside her.
“If you were Ethan, why did you disappear that morning?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Because someone tried to kill me.”
Ava's breath caught.
He continued.
“And the man who ordered it was the same man who later arranged our marriage.”
Victor Choi.
Before Ava could speak, a gunshot echoed from outside.
Then another.
May you like
Marcus's voice thundered through the hallway.
“Daniel! Get her away from the windows!”
