Chapter 12 - THE CHOICE THAT COULD DESTROY US

The next few weeks were a delicate dance. Thomas continued to call. To visit. To offer advice. I played along—grateful, trusting, unsuspecting. I let him believe he still had me fooled.

But Thomas was clever. And he was growing impatient.

One afternoon, he arrived at my house unannounced. Grace was napping upstairs. He walked into the study, closed the door, and turned to me with a look I had never seen before—sharp, calculating, and entirely without warmth.

“Enough playing games, Ava,” he said.

I sat behind my desk, keeping my face calm. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Evelyn is gone,” he said, walking closer. “Daniel is irrelevant. And you… you are a woman alone with a child and a fortune. You need someone to guide you. Someone to protect you. Someone to run things.”

“And you believe that someone is you?”

“I have earned it!” Thomas snapped. “I did everything she asked. I gained your trust. I led you where she wanted you to go. And then she got caught. While I… I stayed hidden. Safe. Ready.”

He leaned over the desk. “Sign over the voting rights to me. Just temporarily. Until Grace comes of age. And I will protect you. I will take care of everything. Refuse… and things will become very difficult.”

I stared at him. “Are you threatening me?”

“I am offering you security,” he said smoothly. “Take it. Or face the consequences.”

That evening, I met Daniel and Sarah at a safe house. I laid out what Thomas had demanded.

“He wants full control,” I said. “And he will do anything to get it.”

Daniel stood and walked to the window. “If you sign… he becomes untouchable. If you refuse… he may try to hurt Grace. Or you. Or both.”

“So what do we do?” Sarah asked.

Daniel turned to us. “Ava signs. But only a temporary document—one that expires automatically in thirty days. We give him just enough rope to hang himself. We let him believe he has won. And while he is celebrating… we gather every last piece of evidence against him. Then we strike.”

I looked at him. “It is dangerous. If he realizes what we are doing… he may run. Or he may lash out.”

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“It is the only way,” Daniel said gently. “We cannot arrest him yet. We do not have enough. He is too careful. We need him to make a mistake. And power makes people careless.”

I took a deep breath. “Then I sign.”