Chapter 3 - The Marriage Was Never an AccidentThe rain had started by the time they reached Morrison Global.
The headquarters rose above downtown like a black glass blade.
Cassidy had approved every floor.
She had signed off on the underground archive.
She had chosen the security system.
She had even approved the Persian stone in the lobby.
Yet when she walked inside three years earlier, Brendan had laughed and told her not to touch anything expensive.
Now every security guard in the building stood straight.
“Owner on site,” Daniel announced.
The lobby went silent.
Employees stared.
Whispers spread.
Cassidy did not stop.
She stepped into the private elevator.
Arthur joined her.
“You're going to need to tell me something.”
“What?”
“Why did you marry Brendan?”
Cassidy looked at him.
“I married him because Victor asked me to.”
Arthur's eyes widened.
“You never told me that.”
“You didn't ask.”
“I assumed the marriage was unrelated.”
“It wasn't.”
The elevator rose.
Cassidy looked at her reflection.
Wet hair.
Pale face.
A swollen belly.
For years, she had allowed people to mistake silence for weakness.
Victor had been the first person to see through it.
He had met Cassidy when she was twenty-four.
She had been hired as a junior financial analyst through a recruitment agency.
No one knew she was investigating Morrison Global.
Her father had built a private investment company that had once competed with the Morrisons.
When he died, Cassidy inherited more than money.
She inherited unfinished questions.
One was why Morrison Global's valuation had been rising while its internal debt was quietly exploding.
Victor already knew.
He had been trying to expose the people responsible.
Then he had become sick.
He needed someone outside the family.
Someone nobody would suspect.
So Cassidy became that person.
And Brendan became part of the plan.
Not because he knew.
Because he did not.
Victor believed Brendan was naive enough to be controlled by his father.
He was right.
What Victor hadn't predicted was Diane.
Or Jessica.
Or how quickly greed would turn into cruelty.
The elevator stopped.
Arthur opened the doors.
The executive floor was almost empty.
Lights flickered above the corridor.
Daniel stepped ahead.
Then stopped.
The door to the boardroom was open.
“Stay back.”
Cassidy entered anyway.
The room was dark.
One monitor remained on.
A single document filled the screen.
Cassidy approached.
The document was scanned.
The original trust agreement.
Her heart stopped.
The signature was clear.
Victor Morrison.
Cassidy Ellison.
And below it, a third name.
Brendan Morrison.
Arthur stared.
“He was a witness?”
Cassidy shook her head.
“No.”
She knew that signature.
Brendan had signed something three years ago.
But not this.
This was the original marriage agreement.
The private one.
The one Cassidy had believed had been destroyed.
A recording began automatically.
Victor's voice filled the room.
“If you are hearing this, Cassidy, the Morrison family has failed.”
Cassidy closed her eyes.
Victor continued.
“You were not brought into this family merely to protect the company.”
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Brendan standing beside Victor.
They were younger.
At the bottom was a date.
Seven days before Cassidy's wedding.
Victor spoke again.
“Brendan knows.”
Cassidy's eyes opened.
Arthur looked at her.
Victor's recording continued.
“He knows you are the trust beneficiary.”
A second voice suddenly came through the speakers.
Brendan.
Young.
Angry.
“You want me to marry her?”
Victor answered.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she is the only person who can save this company.”
Cassidy's hands shook.
Arthur whispered, “Cassidy…”
The recording continued.
Brendan laughed.
“She doesn't even know what she's marrying into.”
Victor's voice hardened.
“She knows more than you think.”
The recording ended.
Cassidy stood motionless.
Brendan had known.
All along.
The marriage had been a transaction.
He had married her knowing she controlled the company.
Then why had he acted as if she were worthless?
Why had he humiliated her?
Why had he brought Jessica into the family?
Why had he waited until she was pregnant?
Arthur turned toward her.
“We need to assume the family has been planning something.”
Cassidy nodded.
“Find every transaction involving Brendan and Jessica.”
“Already running.”
“Also Diane.”
Arthur looked uneasy.
“You think she is involved?”
Cassidy remembered the bucket.
The smile.
The deliberate cruelty.
“She didn't pour that water because she was angry.”
Arthur said nothing.
“She wanted me frightened.”
Daniel's radio crackled.
He answered.
Then looked at Cassidy.
“Ma'am.”
“What?”
“We found something in the archive.”
Cassidy turned.
“What?”
Daniel swallowed.
“A hidden camera.”
“Where?”
“In the room beneath the boardroom.”
Arthur frowned.
“That room doesn't have cameras.”
Daniel looked directly at Cassidy.
“This one wasn't ours.”
Cassidy felt a chill crawl up her spine.
“Show me.”
They entered the hidden stairwell.
Below the boardroom was a narrow concrete corridor.
At the end stood a steel door.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a monitoring station.
Six screens.
Four cameras.
One live feed.
And on the largest screen was Cassidy's home.
Live.
The camera showed Brendan standing in her living room.
He was alone.
Talking to someone Cassidy couldn't see.
Then he said:
“She still doesn't know about the baby.”
Cassidy stopped.
Arthur looked at her.
May you like
The voice of the unseen person answered.
“Then make sure she never finds out.”
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