After you get married, you won’t need to work so hard anymore. Gavin can take over your company, and you can devote yourself to your husband, your home, and, hopefully, giving us a grandchild.

"There you are," Gavin said, stopping at the top of the stairs. His eyes narrowed slightly, scanning the quiet corridor with subtle suspicion. "What are you doing up on the third floor?"

I laughed naturally, stepping toward him and looping my arm through his. "I got completely lost! I was looking for the powder room and thought there was one up here. This house is like a maze, Gavin."

The tension in his shoulders visibly melted. He smiled, kissing the crown of my head. "The third floor is just old storage and staff quarters, babe. Come on back downstairs. Dad wants to show you the initial draft of our prenuptial financial merger."

"Oh, wonderful," I beamed, hiding the violent revulsion rising in my throat. "I can't wait to see it."

We returned to Elijah's private study—a dark, wood-paneled room smelling of expensive cigars and old leather. Elijah sat behind a massive mahogany desk, tapping a silver pen against a thick legal document.

"Alyssa, take a seat," Elijah said, gesturing to the leather chair opposite him.

I sat down, crossing my legs elegantly while Gavin stood right beside my chair like a vigilant guard.

"Gavin tells me you are open to transferring management oversight of Wellman Media Group to the family holding company upon your marriage," Elijah began, pushing the document across the desk toward me. "This draft outlines the establishment of Herndon-Wellman Enterprises. It places Gavin as Chief Operating Officer with sole signatory authority over all master bank accounts, while you retain the title of Founder and Creative Director."

I picked up the document, skimming the legal jargon. It was a masterpiece of corporate theft. Hidden beneath clauses of "familial wealth consolidation" and "administrative protection," the document stripped me of every single vote on my own board, reassigned all intellectual property rights to an offshore shell company controlled by Elijah, and gave Gavin the legal right to liquidate company assets without my consent.

They weren't even waiting for the wedding. They wanted this signed before the ceremony.

"This is very thorough, Elijah," I said, keeping my tone light and impressed. "You really thought of everything."

"We want to protect you, my dear," Naomi said, entering the study with a tray of fresh coffee. She set a cup down beside me, her smile radiant. "Running a business of that size is a heavy burden for a young woman. Once this is signed, you won't have to worry about payroll, debt structures, or legal liabilities ever again."

"I appreciate that so much," I said, setting the paper down. "However, my lead corporate counsel, Marcus Vance, has to review any structural changes to the firm. It’s a formality required by my current board of investors."

Elijah’s eyes narrowed instantly. "Is that really necessary? We are family now, Alyssa. Bringing outside attorneys into family financial matters creates unnecessary friction."

"Oh, Marcus is just a paper-pusher," I laughed dismissively, waving a hand. "He handles the mundane compliance stuff. If I sign a major restructuring without passing it through compliance, my minority shareholders could file an injunction, which would freeze all the accounts for months."

That was a complete lie, but I knew just enough financial jargon to make it sound terrifying to people desperate for quick cash.

Gavin looked at his father, a flash of anxiety breaking through his calm veneer. "How long would an injunction take?"

"Oh, six to eight months minimum," I said blithely. "The state SEC gets involved, audits every bank account... it's a nightmare."

Elijah cleared his throat, adjusting his tie. "We certainly don't want the state auditing anything. Very well. Let your attorney review it. But we expect it signed by Friday. The wedding is only three weeks away."

"Friday sounds perfect," I agreed smoothly.

That night, back at my apartment, Marcus and I sat over the document with three senior forensic accountants.

"This isn't just a corporate takeover," Marcus said, laying out several financial background checks he had run on Elijah Herndon over the past forty-eight hours. "It’s a rescue mission for a sinking ship. Elijah’s primary holding firm, Herndon Global, is three days away from defaulting on an eighteen-million-dollar offshore loan. If they don't inject clean capital into their primary accounts by the end of the month, the bank will trigger a foreclosure on their Buckhead estate and file criminal fraud charges against Elijah."

"Eighteen million," I breathed, looking at the numbers. "They were planning to use my company as collateral to secure a bridge loan."

"Precisely," Marcus said. "And look at this. We managed to track down the private facility where Damian Herndon is being held in North Carolina. It’s an unregistered, high-end private asylum. Elijah is paying them forty thousand dollars a month to keep Damian heavily sedated under an assumed name."

Tears of pure rage sprang to my eyes. They had destroyed their own son, abused his wife, and were now targeting me to maintain their fake aristocratic lifestyle.

"What do we do with the agreement?" Marcus asked.

"We modify it," I said, leaning over the desk. "We keep eighty percent of Elijah's legal language so it looks identical to his draft. But in the fine print, we insert a reciprocal disclosure clause. The moment Gavin signs this document to take control of my firm, he automatically subjects all Herndon family trust accounts, offshore holdings, and personal liability ledgers to a mandatory, real-time forensic audit by our legal team."

Marcus smiled grimly. "A financial landmine. The moment Gavin signs, he grants us legal access to prove his father’s fraud."

"Exactly," I said, my voice cold as ice. "They wanted my money. Instead, I’m going to give them a warrant."

My phone suddenly vibrated on the table. It was the encrypted burner phone I had given Brianna.