All Chapters of CONTRACT ENGAGEMENT: Unexpected Heir: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

MAYAMy father was already standing when I walked into his study.He didn't hug me. He never did when he was working. He was always working. He gestured at the chair across from his desk. I sat, the leather cold through my jeans.He nodded toward the paper in my hand. I unfolded it and read it a second time.The inquiry was preliminary. That word did a lot of work in his mouth. Like it could hold something larger back, if he said it firmly enough."They're looking at the Meridian filings." He didn't wait for me to ask. "Trading irregularities. Someone tipped the SEC before we caught it internally.""Is it true?""No." His jaw tightened. "But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is what the market believes. What the board believes. What Marcus Cross tells his people to believe."There it was. The other name.I set the paper on his desk. "What does this have to do with Cross Holdings?"He didn't answer right away. He walked to the window instead, hands in his pockets, looking out

MAYAI picked the courtyard because it had good light at four o'clock.That was the whole plan. Walk through the courtyard when the sun hit the fountain just right. That was the hour half the campus cut through on their way to late classes. Someone was guaranteed to have a phone out already.Liam met me at the edge of the quad. He wore the jacket I'd told him to wear, the gray one that photographed better than the black. He didn't ask why. He'd read the same section of the contract I had."You remember the route.""Past the fountain, past the library steps, stop near the oak tree." He fell into step beside me. "I remember."We walked in silence for the first stretch. My heart was going faster than a simple walk should have caused. I told myself it was nerves about the plan and not about him, and I almost believed it.Near the fountain a group of students turned to look. Nothing dramatic, just a few heads shifting our way, phones angling without being raised yet. I felt the moment arriv

MAYAI brought the photo to his apartment instead of texting it.Some things needed a face to deliver them. Liam opened the door before I finished knocking. It was like he'd been watching for me through the peephole. He stepped back to let me in without a word.His apartment was cleaner than I expected. Sparse, almost. A couch, a desk stacked with textbooks, a window looking out over the river. Nothing like the Cross family estate I'd glimpsed once in a magazine years ago. I noticed a framed photo on the bookshelf, a woman mid-turn in a dance studio, and made myself look away before he caught me staring.I handed him my phone without preamble.He looked at the photo for a long time. Longer than it needed. His jaw tightened the same way my father's had in the study. A family resemblance in tension, one I doubted either of them would appreciate."When did this come in.""Last night. While we were still inside.""So someone was outside the venue the entire time." He handed the phone back,

MAYASara Okafor's office looked nothing like I expected.No leather chairs. No framed degrees on the wall. Just a small room above a dry cleaner. A desk covered in file folders. A woman who looked up at us like she'd already decided something before we sat down."Sit." She gestured at two mismatched chairs. "Tell me everything. Don't skip the parts that embarrass you."Liam went first. He laid out the timeline we'd built at his apartment. The messages. The locker. The note. I filled in what he missed. The exact wording of each text. The courier who'd dropped the ring. The board member at the dinner who'd asked too many questions.Sara listened without interrupting. She wrote almost nothing down, which made me more nervous than if she'd taken notes on every word.When we finished she leaned back in her chair. "Former financial crimes investigator. Fifteen years. I don't do this because I like it. I do it because I'm good at it.""We were told that.""Good. Then you'll trust me when I

MAYAThe Digest ran the story two days later.I saw it before Liam texted me, which meant I saw it before anyone had a chance to prepare me. A headline about convenient timing sat above a photo of us from the dinner. The kind of piece designed to plant doubt without stating anything directly.I read it twice at my desk. My coffee went cold beside me. It didn't name Vivienne. It didn't need to. The phrasing matched too closely to what she'd said in the hallway.My phone buzzed. Liam.Have you seen it.Reading it now.I already know who wrote it. Or who fed it, at least.Vivienne.Vivienne.I sat with that a moment, my pulse climbing in a way that had nothing to do with the coffee. This wasn't an anonymous text anymore. This was public. Printed. Something my father would see before lunch.What do we do, I typed.Nothing reactive. Let me call the paper. I know the editor.I trusted him with that more easily than I expected to trust anyone with something this exposed. While he worked his