The Contract Behind the Vows
Chapter 02 - The Contract Behind the Vows
Paramedics carried Natalie into a private room. Someone had placed a sedative in the sparkling water delivered to her suite. She survived because she stopped drinking after noticing a bitter taste.
In the ballroom, Mason acted offended rather than afraid. He claimed Natalie had frozen Crosswell’s assets to cover her own embezzlement. His attorneys produced bank records showing transfers authorized with her digital signature. Several board members immediately turned against her.
Olivia felt trapped between the sister who had raised her and the man she was supposed to marry.
The federal investigator, Daniel Mercer, opened the folder hidden inside Natalie’s clutch. It contained an emergency injunction signed that morning. Natalie had convinced a judge that Crosswell’s patents and pension accounts were about to be transferred into a new company controlled by Mason. The transfer would activate when Olivia signed a “marital asset agreement” at the reception.
Mason insisted the agreement was a standard trust arrangement. He took Olivia’s hands and reminded her that Natalie had always controlled every major choice in her life.
“She never believed you could lead the company without her,” he said.
The accusation struck an old wound. After their father died in a boating accident, Natalie became interim CEO and twice delayed Olivia’s board seat. Olivia had long wondered whether her sister protected her or simply refused to share power.
Then Mason played a recording from his phone. Natalie’s voice could be heard saying, “Olivia cannot be allowed to take control.”
Natalie admitted the voice was hers but said the sentence had been cut from a longer board meeting. Before she could explain, Crosswell’s cybersecurity director announced that twelve million dollars had vanished from a research account. The login came from Natalie’s private laptop.
Federal agents placed her under investigation.
As officers prepared to escort her out, Natalie begged Olivia to examine one file on the phone: a security video from their father’s lake house. Olivia pressed play.
The screen showed Mason entering the house three nights before her father’s fatal boat trip.
He was carrying the same red document case later found empty beside the dock.
The video suddenly stopped. Someone inside the hotel had remotely deleted the file.
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Mason looked at Olivia with tears in his eyes. “Your sister built this entire lie because she cannot stand losing you.”
Then the lights went dark, and Natalie vanished from federal custody.
