Chapter 10 - THE MARRIAGE PLAN
Evan had represented Noah during his gambling-debt settlement.
He knew the Carter family structure.
Ryan used Noah to meet me.
Evan supplied the financial map.
Nine years earlier, they had signed an agreement.
Police recovered it from Ryan's office.
PRIMARY GOAL: GAIN LAWFUL ACCESS TO CARTER LOGISTICS FAMILY TRUST THROUGH MARRIAGE.
My wedding date was written at the bottom.
I read the sentence until the words blurred.
Maya said, "A calculated introduction doesn't mean every feeling afterward was fake."
"I don't know which part was real."
That was worse.
Another handwritten note appeared in the file:
If Claire refuses prenup amendment, use pregnancy pressure.
I looked at Maya.
"But I was never pregnant."
For four years, Ryan and I had tried.
Doctors.
Tests.
Negative results.
I had spent years believing my body had failed us.
We subpoenaed my old fertility records.
My tests were normal.
Then we found Ryan's.
Severe male-factor infertility.
He had known for three years.
He never told me.
Instead, he let me carry the shame.
There was more.
Red Birch had paid my fertility doctor fifty thousand dollars.
The retired doctor admitted Ryan paid him to hide the diagnosis and asked whether my ovulation could be "managed."
The doctor refused to prescribe anything dangerous.
But Ryan supplied my daily "vitamins" himself.
An old bottle from the estate contained a hormone medication that could disrupt ovulation when misused.
I sat in Maya's office, staring at the bottle.
He had not just lied about infertility.
He had tried to control when I could become pregnant.
That night I called Lila.
"Did Ryan know he was infertile?"
"Yes."
"Then did you ever do a paternity test on your baby?"
Silence.
"No."
"Who were you with before Ryan?"
Lila began crying.
"Claire..."
"Who?"
"Evan."
Two days later, DNA results came back.
The baby was not Ryan's.
May you like
He was Evan Shaw's son.
And suddenly, Evan had a reason to be terrified of Ryan too.
