Chapter 7 - The Poisoned Lineage
The next morning, Ava decided she could no longer act defensively. She needed leverage.
If Arthur was blackmailing her with clinic records, she needed to find out how he had acquired them so quickly—and what else he was planning for the Meridian Gala.
She called her father, Michael Bennett.
"Ava?" Michael’s voice sounded weak over the phone, heavy with guilt. "Are you alright? Is Choi hurting you?"
"I'm fine, Dad," Ava said quickly, standing near her bedroom window while Marcus patrolled the driveway below. "Dad, I need you to answer a question. When you took the loan from Choi Meridian two years ago... who personally signed the approval papers? Was it Daniel, or was it Arthur?"
Michael paused on the other end. "It was Arthur. Daniel was in Europe at the time. Why?"
"Dad, listen to me carefully," Ava said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Did Arthur ever ask you about Daniel's personal affairs? Did he ever mention Daniel's medical records?"
"Ava... what is this about?"
"Just answer me, Dad! Please!"
Michael sighed heavy over the line. "Before the marriage agreement was finalized, Arthur’s personal lawyer approached me. He offered to wipe fifty percent of my debt immediately if I agreed to help him install listening devices in the Lincoln Park estate. I refused, Ava! I swear to God I refused! I told him I wouldn't spy on my own daughter's future husband."
Ava’s mind clicked into place. Arthur had been trying to compromise Daniel’s household long before she arrived.
"Dad," Ava said, her hands shaking. "Did Arthur's lawyer give you any documents back then?"
"Just... a copy of the financial guarantee," Michael said. "And an old medical summary of Daniel's case file from the Milan clinic. Arthur wanted me to know that Daniel couldn't give me grandchildren, as a way to convince me that the marriage was just a legal cover."
Ava’s breath caught in her throat. "Do you still have that medical summary?"
"Yes, it's in my home safe in Baltimore."
"Scan it and send it to my private email right now," Ava commanded. "Don't tell anyone you did this. Not even your lawyer."
An hour later, an encrypted PDF arrived in Ava's inbox.
She opened the file on her laptop. The document was in Italian, stamped by the Ospedale San Raffaele in Milan, dated eight years prior.
Ava was not a doctor, but she was fluent in Italian from her college semester abroad in Florence.
She read the medical report line by line.
As her eyes scanned the final page, her jaw dropped in absolute horror.
The report did not say Daniel was permanently sterile.
It stated that Daniel had sustained severe trauma and required surgery, but that his reproductive organs remained intact. The prognosis was guardedly optimistic: Full recovery expected within 3-5 years.
Someone had deliberately altered the legal translation handed to Victoria Vance and Daniel years ago.
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Someone had lied to Daniel for eight years, convincing him he was infertile so that he would never seek to produce an heir—ensuring that Arthur’s branch of the family would eventually inherit the Meridian empire.
The entire foundation of Daniel's belief was a massive, monstrous fraud orchestrated by his own uncle.
