Chapter 13 - The Mother Ava Never Had
Nathan’s greatest vulnerability had begun before Serena.
Ava’s biological mother, Rebecca Shaw, and Nathan had dated briefly.
They were never married.
They separated amicably before Ava’s birth after realizing they were incompatible as partners.
They intended to co-parent.
Then Rebecca developed severe postpartum complications involving a previously undiagnosed cardiac condition.
She died when Ava was seven weeks old.
There was no mystery.
No hidden conspiracy.
Only tragedy documented across hospital records and a child too young to remember.
Nathan became a single father overnight.
He responded the way he responded to every crisis.
He organized.
Doctors.
Nannies.
Schedules.
Insurance.
Trusts.
Safety systems.
He built structures around grief.
Then Serena arrived.
She did something nobody else had.
She told him he was allowed to be afraid.
At first, that was why he loved her.
Later, she learned how to use the fear.
“You don’t want Ava growing up without a mother,” Serena had whispered after their engagement.
Nathan had believed marrying Serena meant giving Ava something back.
Now he saw the danger in that thought.
Serena was not a replacement part for Rebecca.
Ava did not need a woman installed into a vacancy.
She needed adults who were safe.
Nathan visited Rebecca’s parents in Boulder.
David and Helen Shaw rarely involved themselves in Cole family disputes.
They loved Ava.
They distrusted Nathan’s wealth.
They had been polite to Serena.
Helen listened as Nathan explained Project Snowbird.
When he finished, she said, “We warned you.”
Nathan looked up.
“When?”
“Last Thanksgiving.”
David nodded.
“Serena kept asking what Rebecca left Ava.”
Nathan frowned.
“Rebecca had very little compared with me.”
“She had life insurance.”
Nathan remembered.
A $2 million policy placed into a custodial investment account for Ava.
Separate from the Cole trust.
Serena had asked about that too.
Nathan felt sick.
Helen continued.
“She asked who controlled it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Helen’s eyes hardened.
“Because you told us Serena was going to be Ava’s mother whether we liked it or not.”
Nathan remembered the argument.
He had called the Shaws “territorial.”
Now shame burned through him.
“I’m sorry.”
David studied him.
“You say that more easily than you used to.”
“I’ve had practice.”
Helen almost smiled.
Then she brought out a folder.
“Rebecca left letters.”
Nathan stared.
“What?”
“For Ava. Birthdays.”
Nathan’s eyes filled.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She asked us to hold them.”
“When did she write them?”
“After Ava was born, before she got seriously ill.”
Nathan touched the folder.
“Can I see?”
Helen shook her head.
“They’re Ava’s.”
He nodded.
For once, he did not push.
Helen softened.
“There is one for you.”
She gave him an envelope.
Nathan opened it alone later.
Rebecca’s handwriting was shaky.
Nathan,
You will want to protect Ava from every bad thing.
You cannot.
Please don’t make protection into a cage.
Let people help you.
And when Ava is scared, remember she needs calm more than she needs power.
Nathan read the last sentence three times.
Calm more than power.
It sounded painfully similar to what he was learning now.
He returned to Aspen that evening.
Maria was at the chalet for a scheduled meeting with prosecutors.
Ava toddled toward Nathan.
He crouched.
She held out her bottle.
“Milk?”
Her newest word.
Nathan smiled.
“Yes.”
He filled it and handed it to her immediately.
Maria watched.
Something about the moment hurt them both.
One week earlier, Serena had held that same kind of bottle above Ava as though food were a privilege.
Nathan sat on the rug while Ava drank.
No bargaining.
No command.
No performance.
Then Detective Reyes arrived.
“We have a problem.”
Nathan stood.
“What?”
“Grant disappeared.”
“His attorney?”
“Cannot reach him.”
“Was he under travel restrictions?”
“No. Cooperation had begun, but no plea was finalized.”
“Where would he go?”
Reyes looked at Maria.
“Serena’s attorney says she doesn’t know.”
Maria immediately said, “She does.”
Nathan remembered something from Project Snowbird.
A property list.
Grant owned a cabin through an LLC near Telluride.
Police checked.
Empty.
Then a credit card transaction appeared.
Fuel.
Not in Colorado.
Wyoming.
Grant was moving north.
Why?
The answer came through an email he sent Nathan at 2:14 a.m.
I kept one thing Serena doesn’t know about.
If she finds me before the FBI does, she’ll destroy it.
Nathan forwarded the message immediately.
Then another arrived.
Your father knew something was wrong before he died.
Nathan stopped breathing.
A third message contained a photograph.
Thomas Cole’s missing handwritten trust memorandum.
And behind it, partially visible, was a ledger.
On the ledger’s cover:
May you like
NORTHSTAR — ORIGINAL ACCOUNTS.
Grant had taken the evidence Serena desperately needed destroyed.
