Chapter 3- The Harvest

LARA'S POV

I read it twice to make sure I understood every word.

I was six weeks pregnant when they operated. The doctor found out during the screening before surgery and called Andre right away. Andre picked up. Andre responded. His exact words were written down at the bottom of the page.

Patient's husband was informed of the pregnancy at 11.42am. He advised the team to proceed and stated that the pregnancy was not a priority.

Not a priority.

He knew before they made the first cut. He sat in that chair this morning, touched my face, asked how I was feeling, and said nothing. He made that decision in under a minute and then came to check that the surgery went well.

I put the papers face down on the side table. I put both hands flat on the blanket and looked at the ceiling and stayed very still for a long time.

I did not cry. Something had closed off inside me and crying was on the other side of it now.

I reached under my pillow and took out the phone.

Marcus picked up before the second ring. "Lara." His voice was quiet and careful.

"Tell me about my father," I said. "Tell me all of it."

He took a breath. "Your father spent the last three years of his life moving everything he owned into a structure that Andre could never touch. Three companies, bank accounts in different countries, property across four cities. He built it piece by piece and he never told anyone except me." He paused. "Andre lived inside your marriage for ten years looking for it. He never found a single thing."

I sat up a little straighter. "How much are we talking about?"

"Enough," Marcus said. "The accounts are full. The properties bring in money every month. All of it belongs to you. It has been yours since the day your father died. I have just been keeping it safe until you were ready."

I thought about my father at his desk in the study at home, the one with the old green lamp he never threw away even after the shade cracked. I thought about him sitting there quietly, moving money and signing papers, building something for me without ever saying a word about it. He had seen Andre clearly long before I did. He spent his last years making sure I would not be left with nothing when the time came.

"What do I need to sign?" I asked.

"I can get the papers to you within the hour," Marcus said. "But Lara, once we start moving, Andre will notice the activity at some point. Maybe not right away. But eventually he will see it."

"Good," I said.

I was still reading Marcus's message when the door flew open.

I shoved the phone under my pillow and lay back in one movement. Andre walked in fast, like something had brought him back in a hurry. His eyes went straight to my hands. I kept them flat on the blanket and looked back at him without blinking.

"What were you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said. "I was trying to sleep."

He walked to the side of the bed and looked at the pillow. Then he looked at me. "I heard you talking when I was in the corridor. Who were you talking to?"

"I wasn't talking to anyone," I said. "Maybe you heard the nurse."

He stood there looking at my face for a long moment. I held his gaze and kept my expression completely empty. He reached out slowly and lifted the corner of the pillow. I did not move. I did not breathe. He looked underneath it. The phone was pushed far enough down that he only saw the white pillow case.

He dropped the pillow back down. He pulled the chair close and sat down next to the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. His voice had switched back to the concerned husband version like flipping a light switch.

He reached out and put his hand against my face. His thumb moved along my jaw slowly. He was looking at me with an expression that looked like concern. I understood that the expression was for the nurse sitting at the desk just outside the open door behind him.

I let him touch my face. I did not lean into it and I did not pull away. I kept my face still and looked back at him and gave him nothing to work with.

He held his hand there for a moment and then pulled it back. Something moved across his face when I did not react. He looked at the monitors, at the window, at the papers on the side table. His eyes stopped on the papers for just a second. Then he looked away.

"You should eat something today," he said. "I will tell the nurse before I leave."

"Thank you," I said.

He stood up and said he would come back tomorrow. He walked out and the door closed behind him. I watched the door and counted to twenty. Then I reached under my pillow and took out the phone and typed one word and sent it.

PROCEED.

His reply came back in under thirty seconds.

Acquisition begins at market open tomorrow. There is no going back after this.

I typed back one word. Yes.

Then I heard his voice outside my door.

Andre had not left. He was standing just outside in the corridor, speaking quietly into his phone. I held my breath and listened. I only caught the last sentence before his footsteps finally moved away.

"Find out everything she has. Every account. Every asset. Do it tonight."

I put the phone under my pillow and looked at the ceiling.

He was already looking. He just did not know he was already too late. Tomorrow morning the first piece of his company would belong to someone he had never once thought to be afraid of.