“Damn it,” Delaney muttered. “He’s playing a long game.”
“And with Hale backing him, the odds are decent he’ll get what he wants,” Isla added. “Vivian’s therapy records, anxiety meds, past dependency on Lawrence. It’s all getting rolled into the case.”
Eli looked over at Delaney, jaw tight. “We’re not just walking into that place to take a tour anymore.”
Delaney nodded grimly. “We’re walking straight into a power play.”
He shifted into drive. “Then, no matter what it takes, we get Ava outnow.”
----- ? ----
Chapter Nine
----- ? ----
The drive to the Hale Institute stretched before them like a long, winding ribbon of two-lane blacktop. The Texas Hill Country rolled past in swells of rugged beauty, twisted oaks, limestone outcroppings, pastures dotted with cattle and windmills. The morning sun filtered through scattered clouds, giving the land a silvery glow, but Delaney felt no peace from it. Not today.
Eli had the wheel, his focus locked in, knuckles white on the steering wheel as the SUV ate up the miles.
They were still a good ways out from the institute when Delaney pulled out her phone and tapped Vivian’s number. She glanced at Eli. “Putting it on speaker.”
He nodded without looking away from the road.
Vivian answered on the second ring, her voice a little hoarse, “Delaney?”
“Yes. You still at the hospital?” she asked.
“I’m in the waiting area. The guards aremaking final arrangements now.” Vivian paused. “Is something wrong?”
Delaney dragged in a long breath. “We just learned that your father filed paperwork to have you declared legally incompetent. If it goes through, you could lose control over your finances and any guardianship over Ava.”
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then Vivian’s breath caught, sharp and ragged. “What?” Her voice rose, disbelief giving way to fury. “He’s doing what?”
“He filed the documents with the court this morning,” Delaney explained. “Our tech found them in the system. He’s trying to cut you out completely.”
“I don’t believe this,” Vivian spat out. “No. That manipulative bastard. After everything. He promised me he would stay out of it.”
Delaney glanced at Eli. His jaw was tight, his grip firm on the wheel.
“We had a deal,” Vivian went on, her voice shaking now. “I just worked it out with him last night. He told me that if I forced Grant into signing a prenuptial agreement, he’d step back. He said he wouldn’t try to control my life anymore.”
Delaney frowned. “Last night?”
“Yes,” Vivian verified. “He came to the hospital. We talked in private. He seemed… sincere.”
“Vivian, those court documents were filed this morning,” Delaney reminded her.
There was a long pause. “Then he was lying to me the entire time,” Vivian said, her voice barely above a whisper.
The whisper cracked into something darker, rawer.
“This is about Ava’s trust fund,” Vivian explained. “It includes land. Old family land near Burnet. It’s been in the Melborne family for generations. My father has always been obsessed with consolidating it. Even when my mother was alive, he pressured her to sign over her share. Now he’s trying to do it through Ava.”
Delaney glanced at Eli again. He didn’t speak, but the look on his face said everything.
Vivian’s voice steadied with anger. “My father wants it all in his name. He wants control of that land, that trust. That’s what this has been about from the beginning. Not help. Not care. Just power. Possession.”
