All Chapters of Reborn as the Ruthless Heir’s Contract Wife: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The medical report remained open on the computer.PATIENT STATUS AFTER RIVER RECOVERY: ALIVE.TRANSFER AUTHORISED BY: GIDEON MERCER.TIME OF DEATH: FIFTY-SEVEN MINUTES AFTER TRANSFER.My father had been alive after the river.So had I.And according to the report, he had removed me from the clinic shortly before I died.I called him immediately.Father answered on the third ring.“Elara?”“Where are you?”“At Mercer House. Mara assigned six guards to watch me, so I doubt I’m going anywhere.”His attempt at humour failed.“Did you take me from a clinic on the night I died?”Silence followed.Not confusion.Not shock.Silence.“Elara,” he said carefully, “what did you find?”Caelan reached for my phone.I moved away.“Answer me.”“I have never taken you from any clinic.”“In this timeline or the first one?”His breathing changed.I had never openly admitted the truth to him. I had offered warnings, dreams, and incomplete explanations, but I had not told Father I remembered burying him a

The stolen money did not appear in any ordinary audit.Each transfer was too small to attract attention on its own. Some were recorded as insurance payments, others as consulting fees, property maintenance, charitable donations, or currency adjustments.Together, they formed a slow financial wound.Fifteen years.More than one hundred and eighty transfers.Father had authorised none of them.“How did the auditors miss this?” I asked.We sat inside the secured boardroom at Mercer Holdings. Caelan, Helena, Mara, Father, and two independent forensic accountants examined the records.One accountant enlarged the transaction map.“The payments did not leave through a single department. They moved through shipping, insurance, payroll, the foundation, and private trusts. No auditor saw the entire pattern.”“Someone inside the company coordinated it,” Caelan said.Father stared at the account numbers.“Halden designed our financial controls.”“Before you dismissed him,” I said.“Yes. He knew w

I read the agreement twice.Then I placed it before Father.“You knew they intended me for Lucien.”“I knew they wanted to control your marriage. Lucien’s name was added later.”“The handwriting is fifteen years old.”“The original name was covered.”Halden looked amused.“Gideon still believes changing details changes the truth.”Father ignored him.“When I received that agreement, the selected heir had not been identified. Someone added Lucien after Evelyn returned to the family.”“Why Lucien?” I asked.“Because he connected Vale and Voss blood,” Halden replied. “Your marriage would have united three founding lines. Selene’s child would connect the fourth.”“Depending on the father.”Halden’s eyes revealed nothing.Caelan took the document.“And where did I fit?”“You didn’t.”The blunt answer changed the tension in the room.“Evelyn had two sons,” Halden continued. “Crowne required one heir. Lucien was older, easier to influence, and legally tied to Vale. Caelan was unnecessary.”T

We moved Selene to a protected Voss property.She objected until Caelan reminded her that Halden knew the locations of her clinic, apartment, and private accounts.“You expect me to trust him?” she asked me.“I trust him more than I trust you.”The answer silenced her.Doctors examined the baby and confirmed no immediate danger. The rare hereditary marker described in Halden’s report was real, but no one understood why it mattered to M-17.The electronic key inside his cane was encrypted.Helena worked with Voss security to copy it without activating whatever system Crowne had connected to it.Selene sat across from me in a plain bedroom stripped of anything that could conceal a weapon or recording device.For once, she wore no delicate dress and no carefully applied tears.She looked tired.“Who is the father?” I asked.She stared at the window.“Does it matter?”“It matters if Crowne selected him.”Her hand covered her stomach.“His name is Julian Voss.”Caelan’s cousin.Julian was

I began with the money.Crowne had survived because each family treated its crimes as private shame. Mercer concealed missing funds. Voss buried Evelyn’s investigation. Vale erased Lucien’s misconduct. Selene hid her mother’s identity.Secrecy was the curtain.I decided to tear it down.Against Father’s advice, I ordered Mercer Holdings to publish fifteen years of suspicious transactions. The report identified shell companies, compromised departments, and payments to Halden Relief without accusing employees who had unknowingly processed forged instructions.The markets reacted badly.Mercer shares fell eighteen percent within an hour.By noon, three lenders demanded emergency meetings.Caelan guaranteed our operating accounts but did not interfere with my decisions.“You may lose the company,” he said.“If the only way to preserve it is to protect Crowne, then it is already lost.”His gaze held mine.“That sounds like something I would say.”“No. You would threaten to buy every bank.”