Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 17
Summer was sitting upright when Scarlett and Connor returned to the hospital. Color had returned to her cheeks, and a breakfast tray lay mostly untouched because she had been waiting for them. She immediately asked whether they had defeated the bad people at Mommy’s company. Connor told her that Scarlett had done most of the fighting.
The child turned her bright curiosity on him next. A nurse had whispered that her father owned a company bigger than the hospital and had arrived with soldiers. Summer concluded that he must be a secret superhero. Her delight made Connor smile, but the innocence behind it cut deeply.
He sat beside her and explained that he was not a hero. He had made choices that frightened people, and some of those people might wish to hurt him. Summer considered this with solemn concentration. Then she decided he was still her hero because he had answered the watch.
Scarlett watched Connor struggle beneath a child’s unconditional faith. She no longer doubted his love for Summer, but love did not erase danger or deception. Once their daughter fell asleep, Scarlett asked the medical staff to remain nearby. Then she took Connor into a private consultation room and closed the door.
She demanded the whole truth without another carefully selected fragment. Connor admitted that Dominion Tech’s public defense business was only part of his influence. Governments, private armies, and criminal networks knew him as the Merchant of Death, a dealer capable of controlling the weapons that shaped their wars. The title had made him wealthy and nearly impossible to trust.
Lawrence Brickson’s attempt to kill him was not his first threat. Connor had spent years changing identities, routes, and safe houses because every alliance created another enemy. Four years earlier, he left Scarlett believing that anyone who remained near him would become leverage. He had called disappearance protection because he was afraid to call it cowardice.
Scarlett understood the reasoning but not the damage it excused. She had carried Summer, given birth alone, and searched for a ghost while people called her child fatherless. Even after they reunited, Connor secretly repeated the DNA test and concealed the empire surrounding him. Each omission forced her to build a marriage on facts only he controlled.
Connor did not defend himself. He apologized for making decisions about Scarlett’s life without allowing her a voice. If she wanted to leave after Summer recovered, he would provide protection without forcing himself into their home. The offer hurt him visibly, but he made it anyway.
Scarlett refused to decide under the pressure of fear. She was not ending their marriage that day, yet Connor would have to earn the trust his secrets had damaged. She established three conditions. No threat affecting their family could be hidden from her, every security measure required her knowledge, and he would never disappear in the name of protection again.
Connor accepted each condition without negotiation. Those terms were more frightening than any weapons contract because failure would cost him the only people he loved. He promised that Scarlett would hear the truth even when it made him look dangerous or weak. She warned that one promise would not be enough unless his actions proved it.
When they returned to Summer’s room, the girl had awakened and was drawing three figures holding hands. Connor recognized his truck beside them, though Summer had added wings and missiles to it. Scarlett almost laughed at the absurdity. The moment offered a fragile glimpse of the family they might still become.
Cypher entered before peace could settle. His expression told Connor the news was operational rather than medical. An unknown device had been monitoring encrypted traffic around the hospital. Its signal disappeared whenever Dominion personnel approached, indicating professional counter-surveillance.
Connor’s first instinct was to order an immediate evacuation without explanation. He stopped himself before the command left his mouth and looked at Scarlett. Keeping his promise required sharing danger rather than controlling her through it. He explained the surveillance and presented the available options.
Scarlett chose relocation to a secure Dominion property after the doctor approved Summer’s discharge. She wanted the route, medical support, and destination explained beforehand. Connor instructed Cypher to provide everything. The lieutenant noticed the change in procedure but asked no questions.
Technicians examined Summer’s watch, expecting the tracking attempt to originate there. The device itself remained secure, but her emergency call had passed through a public cellular tower before Dominion captured it. Someone had reconstructed the route and narrowed her location from the signal. The rescue that saved her had also exposed the family.
Connor blamed himself for not anticipating the vulnerability. Scarlett reminded him that Summer would have died if she had not made the call. They could correct a security flaw, but they could never reclaim a life sacrificed to perfect secrecy. Her reasoning steadied him.
Cypher recovered a fragment of code from the surveillance device before it wiped itself. Connor recognized the architecture as Dominion technology from the company’s earliest years. Only a handful of people had helped design it. Most were dead, retired, or still loyal.
One name remained outside every category. Marcus Voss had once overseen Dominion’s advanced targeting division before Connor discovered he was selling prototypes to terror groups. Connor expelled him and dismantled his network, but Voss escaped before punishment reached him. Lawrence Brickson had later purchased weapons through companies connected to the same network.
Connor told Scarlett that Lawrence might have been only a subordinate in a much older war. This was exactly the kind of truth he once would have concealed, and saying it aloud filled the room with consequences. Scarlett absorbed the danger without retreating. She asked what Voss wanted now.
Cypher’s tablet flashed with a new alert before Connor could answer. The surveillance signal had not merely tracked the hospital; it had accessed the public discharge schedule and copied Summer’s medical transport details. Someone already knew when and how they planned to leave. Outside the window, a black sedan pulled away from the hospital entrance and vanished into traffic.
