Chapter 5 - The Price of a Father's Life
Ava called the number immediately.
Daniel caught her wrist before she could press the screen.
“Don't.”
“That's my father!”
“I know.”
“Then let me call!”
Daniel held her gaze.
“If they wanted to negotiate, they would have called us. They want you frightened enough to do exactly what they say.”
Ava pulled her hand free.
“You don't understand.”
Daniel's expression tightened.
“I understand that someone has your father. And I understand what happens when people like Victor realize their threats work.”
“Then what do we do?”
“We find him.”
Daniel called Marcus back into the study.
Within minutes, three members of his security team were examining the photograph, the message, and the phone number.
Marcus enlarged the image.
“Industrial room. Concrete walls. No windows. Could be a warehouse.”
Daniel studied the background.
“Look at the yellow pipe.”
Marcus zoomed in.
A faded company logo was visible.
Bennett Commercial Construction.
Ava leaned forward.
“That's my father's old equipment.”
“Where would it be?” Daniel asked.
She thought quickly.
“After the bankruptcy started, he moved some supplies into a storage building near Sparrows Point.”
Marcus looked up.
“Baltimore?”
“Yes.”
Daniel took out his phone.
“Get local law enforcement involved. Send them the photograph and address. I want this handled without putting Michael in more danger.”
Ava stared at him.
“You're calling the police?”
“Your father's been kidnapped.”
“I thought people like you didn't call the police.”
Daniel looked at her.
“People like me are part of the reason you have to be afraid. I'm not going to make that worse.”
For a moment, Ava didn't know what to say.
Then his phone rang.
Eleanor.
Daniel put the call on speaker.
“Mother.”
“Victor tells me you've been behaving irrationally.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“Does he?”
“He says you're refusing to sign the agreement.”
“That's correct.”
“Daniel, you're making a terrible mistake.”
“Where's Michael Bennett?”
Silence.
Eleanor answered carefully.
“I don't know.”
“Then why did Victor call you before he called me?”
“Because he trusts my judgment.”
Daniel looked toward Marcus.
“Put every call from Victor's office under legal preservation request.”
Eleanor's voice sharpened.
“You cannot threaten this family.”
Daniel leaned toward the phone.
“I'm not threatening anyone. I'm telling you that if Michael Bennett is harmed, I'm going to cooperate with every investigation that follows.”
“You have no idea what you're doing.”
“Then explain it.”
Another silence.
Then Eleanor said something that made Ava's blood run cold.
“That girl should never have been allowed to leave Baltimore.”
Daniel went still.
“What did you say?”
The call disconnected.
Ava stared at him.
“Your mother knew?”
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “She knows more than she's told me.”
That afternoon, Ava received a call from a Baltimore detective named Rachel Foster.
Michael had been located.
Alive.
But the rescue had not gone as planned.
Two suspects fled before officers entered the building.
Michael was hospitalized with dehydration, bruising, and a broken wrist.
Ava sat down, overwhelmed with relief.
“Can I speak to him?”
“Soon,” Detective Foster said. “But there's something you should know.”
“What?”
“Your father says he wasn't abducted by strangers.”
Ava's throat tightened.
“He recognized someone?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
The detective hesitated.
“He says the man supervising the kidnapping was his former business partner, Nathan Price.”
Ava remembered Nathan.
He had attended birthday dinners at their house.
He had called her sweetheart when she was little.
He was also the man who had vanished after destroying her father's company.
Daniel watched her expression.
“What is it?”
Ava whispered, “Nathan Price.”
Daniel's face changed.
He crossed the room and opened a locked cabinet.
Inside were several folders.
He removed one and placed it on the desk.
On the cover was a photograph of Nathan Price.
Underneath was a corporate registration document.
Nathan wasn't simply Michael's former partner.
He was listed as an executive adviser to a holding company controlled by Victor Choi.
Ava looked up.
“My father trusted him.”
Daniel nodded grimly.
“That's why Victor chose him.”
“Chose him for what?”
“To destroy your father's company.”
Ava stared at the papers.
“You mean the debt was manufactured?”
“Parts of it appear to have been.”
“Why?”
Daniel opened another folder.
Inside was a map showing several commercial properties around Baltimore Harbor.
One property was marked in red.
Bennett Construction's former storage site.
Daniel pointed to it.
“That property sits beside a proposed freight terminal. Whoever controls it could control access to an entire shipping corridor.”
Ava shook her head.
“My father would never sell it.”
“Exactly.”
“So Victor bankrupted him.”
“And used the debt to force a marriage.”
Ava looked at Daniel.
“But why marry me to you?”
Daniel's voice became quiet.
“Because my grandfather's trust has an unusual provision. A spouse who signs a certain succession waiver can surrender claims connected to future children. Victor needed you in my household to pressure you into signing.”
Ava felt sick.
“They wanted me to give up rights before I even knew I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know any of this before the wedding?”
“Not all of it. I knew Victor was manipulating the debt. I thought marrying you would give me time to stop him.”
Ava looked at him with wounded disbelief.
“You decided my life for me because you thought you knew best.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
For once, he had no defense.
That evening, Ava spoke to her father from his hospital room.
Michael cried when he heard her voice.
“I'm sorry, sweetheart.”
She closed her eyes.
“Dad, why were you at the clinic before my wedding?”
The line went quiet.
“Dad?”
His voice trembled.
“Because Nathan told me they needed your bloodwork.”
Ava went cold.
“Who needed it?”
“I didn't know. I swear I didn't.”
“What did you give them?”
“Your old medical records. The ones from when you were a child.”
Ava stared at the wall.
“Why?”
Michael began crying harder.
“Because they said if I didn't cooperate, they'd kill you.”
Before she could respond, someone spoke faintly in the background.
A woman.
Then Michael whispered, “Ava, there's something about your mother I should have told you years ago.”
The call abruptly ended.
And within seconds, Daniel received a message from an attorney in Chicago.
A sealed court document had been delivered to his office.
May you like
It concerned Ava's birth.
The document identified her mother as someone entirely different from the woman who had raised her.
