Chapter 15 Five Years in the Making

Alexander's Pov

David arrived at my apartment the next evening looking like he hadn't slept in days, a thick folder clutched against his chest.

"Sit down," he said. "You're going to need to."

"Just tell me."

"Cassandra Vale isn't her real name. Her birth name is Cassandra Shaw." David let that settle before continuing. "She's Vincent Shaw's niece, Alexander. Placed inside Hunt Corporation five years ago, specifically to work her way into your life and destroy the company from the inside."

The room tilted slightly around me. "Why? What does Vincent Shaw have against my family?"

"Your father, apparently, ruined more than just Robert Morgan over the years. Vincent worked for James decades ago, doing exactly the kind of dirty work that bankrupted Lily's father. James cut him loose eventually, used him up and discarded him without a second thought, the same way he does with everyone." David's expression darkened. "Vincent spent years planning revenge. Placing his niece close to you was the first step."

"And Marcus?"

"Recruited three years ago, from what I can tell. Jealous, resentful, convinced your father favored you unfairly his entire life. Cassandra offered him a partnership. Split the company between them once you were bankrupted and disgraced, with Vincent taking a cut for his trouble."

I sat heavily on the couch, the full scope of five years of calculated betrayal finally visible in its entirety. "They used Lily's threat with Vincent Shaw from the very beginning too, didn't they? That's how I met her. That's how this contract marriage even happened."

"I believe so. Vincent likely knew exactly who Lily's father was, exactly what debt still lingered from your father's old schemes, and used it deliberately to funnel her into your world." David's voice was grim. "This entire marriage may have started as another move in their plan, Alexander. A way to embarrass you publicly once the truth came out, or perhaps just another thread to pull whenever they needed leverage."

I thought of Lily's plain apartment, her father's suicide, the crushing debt that made her desperate enough to accept a stranger's cruel contract. All of it, somehow, connected to the same web of greed and revenge that had been tightening around my family for half a decade.

"They used her like a pawn," I said quietly. "Just like everyone else in this family always has."

"Except you're not going to let that continue." David leaned forward. "We have enough now to go to the authorities. Embezzlement, fraud, likely worse once investigators dig into Margaret's death properly. But Alexander, Vincent's threat against Lily and Sophie is still active. We move carefully, or we move fast enough that he never gets the chance to act on it."

I looked down at my hands, steadier now than they'd been in months, and felt something harden inside me that had nothing to do with my father's cold lessons and everything to do with protecting the family I actually wanted to keep.

"Then we move tonight," I said. "Whatever it costs."

Outside my window, the city lights blurred together like a constellation of every mistake my family had ever made, and for the first time, I felt ready to burn the entire rotten structure down to save the only people who had ever actually mattered.

David stood to leave, then paused at the door, turning back with an expression I hadn't seen on him before. Something like guilt, buried under years of loyal composure.

"There's one more thing," he said quietly. "It might be nothing. But the night Lily conceived, I was at the penthouse late working on the Cassandra numbers. I don't remember much of it. I've always assumed I passed out at my desk from exhaustion."

Cold unease crept through me. "What are you saying?"

"I don't know yet. I just keep thinking about it lately, and something about that night has never sat right with me." David shook his head. "Forget I mentioned it. It's probably nothing. Focus on Vincent tonight. We'll sort out old memories another time."

He left before I could press him further, and I sat alone with a new, quiet dread settling beside all the others, some instinct warning me that David's forgotten night might matter more than either of us wanted to admit.

I tried to push the thought aside, focusing instead on the plan David and I had built to end Vincent Shaw's threat once and for all. We would go to the authorities together at dawn, evidence in hand, a coordinated case strong enough that no amount of Shaw family money or Marcus's connections could bury it.

I called Lily before midnight, needing to hear her voice even if I couldn't tell her everything yet.

"It's late," she said, though she didn't sound annoyed, just tired in the particular way pregnancy exhaustion sounded.

"I know. I wanted to check on you and Sophie. Make sure you're both safe tonight."

A pause stretched across the line, cautious and uncertain. "Why wouldn't we be safe?"

"No reason. Just a feeling." I closed my eyes, hating how easily lies still came to me even now, even when I was trying so hard to be honest. "Get some rest, Lily. I'll come by tomorrow, if that's alright."

"Okay," she said softly, and something in her voice, some small thread of trust rebuilding itself one careful stitch at a time, gave me the strength to face whatever tomorrow was about to bring.