Chapter 5
Declan didn’t come back on our wedding night.
His assistant called a little after midnight. An emergency at the fund. He’d be staying at the office.
I said, “Fine,” and hung up.
Then I went to sleep.
His absence meant nothing to me. At least, that’s what I told myself as I stared at the ceiling in the dark, the heavy wedding dress still hanging of
the closet door like a costume I’d worn for a role I no longer believed in. A hollow ache settled in my chest-not heartbreak, exactly, but the quét
disappointment of realizing even this sham marriage felt empty on day one. I turned over and pressed my face into the pillow. Good. Less
complicated this way.
The next morning, I was on my way to NovaDx when an unknown number called.
“Mrs. Price?” a woman said. “This is Sterling Compliance. There’s an issue involving the Vance statement online. Your signature is required before
the pilot sites can proceed.”
Mara’s post had already dragged regulators into the comments. If a hospital partner was nervous, I needed to handle it.
“Send me the address,” I said.
Twenty minutes later, my driver stopped outside a sleek private office tower in downtown Chicago.
A woman in a navy suit met me in the lobby, tablet in hand, her smile polished and empty. She led me to a conference room on the twenty-third
floor-glass walls, cold chrome, a skyline view that felt too sharp to be real. A folder waited on the table.
The door locked behind me with a soft, final click.
I turned.
Two men in suits stood inside. Not lawyers. Private security.
My phone was ripped from my hand before I could react.
My pulse slammed into my throat. What the hell is this?
The woman set the folder in front of me. “Please review and sign.”
I opened it.
It wasn’t a regulatory filing. It was an emergency voting proxy and equity authorization-transferring operational control of my NovaDx shares into
a healthcare holding trust.
My blood turned to ice. A wave of nausea rolled through me.
“No.”
One of the men stepped closer.
The woman’s expression stayed blank. “If you refuse, the hospital partners will receive a packet suggesting your clinical data was compromised
So will the FDA.”
They Chose Her,l Built an Empi….
2.9%
Chapter 5
“You fabricated evidence.”
“Markets rarely wait for proof.”
She was right. NovaDx was still young. One whisper of scandal could freeze everything I’d built.
Still, I pushed the folder back. “No.”
The first blow landed below my ribs-clean, controlled, hidden from any cameras. Pain exploded through my side, white-hot and blinding I gripped
the edge of the chair, biting back a cry, my vision blurring at the edges. Don’t scream. Don’t give them that.
The woman slid the papers closer. “Your signature. Then you can leave.”
I stared down at the document, breathing through the fire in my ribs. Then I saw it-the footer code: SMT-FD-44. Summit Capital Healthcare
division. Declan’s fund.
My stomach lurched violently. Declan.
The second clue came two pages later-a clause written with surgical precision around my prenup protections. Whoever drafted this knew exactly
how to skirt the penalties.
He hadn’t touched it himself. He’d sent someone else to do his dirty work.
“Sign,” the woman repeated.
I smiled through the pain, lips trembling. “Tell Declan he needs better lawyers.”
Her expression finally cracked.
The second blow drove the air from my lungs. I doubled over, gasping, tears springing to my eyes against my will. The metallic taste of blood filled
my mouth. My vision swam.
When I could breathe again, one man had my wrist pinned to the table. The other forced a pen into my hand and dragged my fingers across the
line. My signature came out crooked and shaking-Ella Vance Price-like a bad forgery.
They opened my company portal on my own phone.
Face ID. Authorization screen.
“Authorize it.”
“No.”
The man twisted my wrist. Pain flashed white behind my eyes. A strangled sound tore from my throat before I could stop it. My thumb hit the
screen anyway.
The portal chimed. Authorization submitted.
As they gathered their things, one man answered a call near the door.
“Tell Pierce the transfer is done.”
Daniel Pierce. Declan’s executive secretary.
Every detail burned itself into my memory like acid.
They Chose Her,I Built an Empi…
3.1%
Chapter 5
The woman glanced back once, cold and detached. “You’ll be released in ten minutes I suggest you take the rest of the day to recquer
Then they left me locked in the room.
I sat there, ribs screaming with every breath, wrist already blooming with purple bruises, blood drying at the corner of my mouth My whole body
shook with adrenaline and rage.
Declan Price I trusted you enough to sign that contract. And you sent thugs to break me on the day after our wedding
When the door finally opened, I walked out without crying. My legs trembled, cold sweat soaked my back, but I kept my chin high I would not let
them see me break.
In the elevator, I reached into the hidden lining of my blazer and pulled out the emergency phone I’d sewn there weeks ago right after signing the
prenup. Trust was beautiful in theory. Useless in practice.
My fingers shook as I dialed.
The call connected on the second ring.
“Ms. Vance?”
“There’s a problem with the Price partnership,” I said, voice rough and raw with pain. “A big one.”
My chief of staff went silent for one beat. Then: “Understood.”
“Activate Plan B.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I ended the call and leaned back against the elevator wall, eyes closed. Every inhale hurt. My ribs felt cracked, my wrist throbbed like fire, and
betrayal sat heavy and bitter in my throat.
But beneath the pain, something colder and sharper was growing.
Resolve. Fury. Unstoppable.
Declan Price had violated the agreement first.
Now the penalty clause was mine to trigger.
And I would make sure he felt every single consequence.
They Chose Her,I Built an Empi…
3.4%
