Chapter 22
The Contract Goes Public
The full contract appeared online before dinner.
The leak included Mara’s debt schedule, her address, the exclusivity clause, and the interest penalty.
The city saw one sentence and decided it knew the entire story.
Mara walked into the Mercer Crown lobby beneath a rain of camera flashes.
“Did Adrian Mercer buy you?”
“Are you being held against your will?”
“Did your father leave you the debt because you helped him hide assets?”
Adrian’s security team moved around her.
Mara stopped them.
“Let them ask.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You don’t have to answer.”
“I know.”
She faced the cameras.
“Yes, the contract is real. No, it does not give him sexual access. Yes, the economic pressure was part of the reason I signed. If you want to call that romantic, you should examine your own conscience.”
The questions stopped.
Adrian’s eyes remained on her.
Mara continued.
“The contract also gives me access to the creditor records. Those records show a coordinated transfer before my father’s bankruptcy. The people who leaked my private agreement may believe they have exposed me. They have exposed themselves instead.”
The livestream counter rose.
Victor appeared on the lobby screens.
“Miss Quinn is attempting to distract the public from her father’s fraud.”
Mara looked up at him.
“Then release the original audit.”
Victor’s broadcast froze.
Daniel spoke into Adrian’s earpiece.
The original audit had disappeared from the company archive.
Only one copy remained.
The copy had been requested by a woman using Mara’s mother’s credentials.
Adrian turned to Mara.
“Your mother accessed the audit the day before she died.”