The Aegis Trust

Chapter 3 The Predator's Prenup

An hour later, Damian and I sat in a downtown café. My black coffee cooled while he read the same page of figures for the third time. He had sent my lawyers away and skipped the small talk.

“I’ll provide the capital. You can buy out the rest of the board and delist the company by the end of the month. Sterling will be yours.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And your price?”

He pushed a document toward me. “A merger of our houses. I want a partner, Aria. Marry me.”

It was a prenuptial agreement, complete down to the schedules of assets, voting procedures, and dissolution terms. Damian had prepared it before entering the boardroom.

Blue tabs marked both signature lines.

I read the main terms, then the appendices. Most were generous. One clause near the back changed the entire deal.

*All pre-existing private trusts of both parties shall be consolidated into a joint marital fund, to be managed by a board of two.*

The board would consist of Damian and me. One deadlock, and he would have leverage over the Aegis Trust.

I uncapped my fountain pen, crossed out the section on marriage and marital assets, and wrote an addendum on the final page.

*In the event of any attempt by Cross Capital to interfere with the operational control of the Aegis Trust, a penalty of 150% of the initial investment will be immediately due, and all partnership agreements will be rendered void.*

I signed my name at the bottom and pushed the document back to him.

Damian read the addendum twice, stopping at the 150% penalty before he looked up.

He gave a short laugh and picked up his pen. “Julian Sterling was an idiot.”

He signed beside my name. “Fine. I’ll invest. The Aegis Trust stays under your control.”

As he capped the pen, a news alert appeared on my phone.

It was a link to a video Chloe had just posted.

Soft bedroom lighting washed the color from Chloe’s face. Her cheeks were wet. Her eyeliner had not moved.

“I don’t know what to do.” She wiped beneath one eye. “My sister is hurting, and now she’s using dark money to destroy our family’s company. I just want her back. I want our family to be whole again.”

The comments were already flooding in.

*Aria is a monster.*

*Chloe is so brave for speaking out.*

*That woman is unhinged. Praying for the Vance family.*

Before the video ended, *unstable* and *vengeful* were trending beside my name.

At my penthouse, I found my mother, father, and two uncles blocking the door.

“How could you?” My mother tried to lunge at me, and my father caught her arm. “You’re destroying this family! You’re humiliating Chloe!”

“I’m liquidating a bad investment.”

“That ‘investment’ is your sister’s future!” she screamed. “She’s going to be Mrs. Sterling! She needs resources, a proper foundation! You will sign that trust over to her. It’s the least you can do to make up for this damage. It will be her dowry!”

*Dowry.* She had found a word that made my grandfather’s trust sound like another family account she could empty.

My father moved in front of her.

“Your mother is right. You will give Chloe the trust.” He waited, but I said nothing. “Refuse, and I’ll go to the press myself. I’ll disown you in public. The Vance family will not have a monster for a daughter.”

Marcus, waiting behind me, held out a file.

I took it. “You want to discuss family debts, Father? Good.”