Chapter 15. What Daven Knew

I opened the door.

And both of them turned to look at me.

Daven was sitting on the edge of the bed. Ethan stood with his arms folded, his back against the wall. Neither Daven nor Ethan looked surprised to see me. It was like they both knew I would come.

"What  else?" I said. I looked at Daven. "What did you not tell us about the company and my family?"

Daven looked at Ethan. Ethan gave a nod. Then Daven looked back at me.

"When your uncle first approached me " Daven said, "he told me something about you, Sofia.,About why he needed you. I thought it was just him justifying himself making the whole thing sound bigger than it was.. Now I think he was telling the truth."

"Say it " I said to Daven.

Daven took a breath.

"Your grandfather did not just leave the company to your father in the altered will, " he said. "He also set up a trust, a private one. The trust has conditions attached to it. It can only be accessed by a female heir of the family like you Sofia. Not your father, not your uncle, a daughter or a granddaughter."

I stared at Daven.

"You are the granddaughter, Sofia, " Daven said quietly. "Your uncle does not just want the company shares, he wants access to the trust.. The only way to get it is through you Sofia.. By controlling you through me, through marriage, through the forged documents or by discrediting you so completely that the trust conditions cannot be met."

The room felt very small suddenly.

I thought about the wedding, about Daven leaving me at the altar in front of two hundred people. The humiliation, the photos everyone who had watched and talked,shared and commented. At the time it had felt like the worst thing that had ever happened to me.

Now I understand it differently.

It had not been Daven leaving me a woman he did not love. It had been a move to destroy my reputation, my credibility, my standing. To make me look unstable and unreliable before I ever had a chance to find out about the trust.

"He left me at the altar on purpose " I said to myself not to Daven or Ethan.

"The instruction came from your uncle, " Daven said. He was not looking at me when he said it. "I was supposed to leave you to make it as humiliating as possible. The more people who saw it the better. He wanted you broken and discredited before you knew any of this existed

I sat down on the chair by the door.

Daven had spent three years with me. He had proposed he had planned a wedding and he had looked me in the eye a thousand times. Smiled and held my hand.. All of it - all of it had been moving toward one morning where he would leave me standing alone in front of everyone I knew.

I had thought the worst of it was the heartbreak.

I had not known the heartbreak was the plan of my uncle and Daven.

"How much is in the trust? " Ethan said. His voice was completely controlled. I could hear something underneath it.

Daven looked at Ethan.

"Your uncle said it was significant, " Daven said. "He did not give me a number. The way he talked about it the way his entire plan was built around it, it is not a small amount, 

I looked at Ethan.

"Did you know about the trust? " I said to Ethan.

He met my eyes, Sofia.

"No, " he said.. I believed him, Ethan. It was one of the things in this entire situation I believed immediately and without question.

I stood up.

"I need to call my father tonight, " I said. "Not tomorrow, tonight. He needs to know about the trust. If he does not know it exists,someone needs to tell him before his brother, my uncle makes another move."

"Sofia " Ethan started.

"Tonight " I said to Ethan.

He looked at me for a moment then he nodded.

I walked back to the room and picked up my phone.

My father answered on the second ring. His voice was tired and tight. I could hear it that he had been waiting for something bad and was braced for it. 

"Sofia, are you safe?" he asked.

"I am safe, " I said. "Dad, I need to ask you something. I need you to be honest with me with me,

"Did you know about the trust?" I asked my father.

Silence, 

Long enough to tell me everything to tell me that my father had known about the trust.

"Dad, " I said.

"Sofia, " he said. His voice had changed completely. "There are things about our family that I have been trying to protect you from for a long time,things about the company and the trust."

My hand tightened on the phone.

"How long have you known about the trust?" I asked my father.

Another silence,

"Your whole life, " he said quietly.

My father had known, he had known my entire life and he said nothing.

Which meant the question was no longer about my uncle but about my father too and what else he had been protecting me from or protecting himself from.