Chapter 4: A Marriage With Limited Powers

Nora tested the agreement against the worst possibilities. If Julian died, his estate gained no HelixNorth claim. If she died, her founder shares passed according to her existing trust, not spousal inheritance. If either was sued, the other's separate assets remained outside settlement unless personally liable.

They selected a neutral jurisdiction for disputes and barred private arbitration over capacity, coercion, or patient access. Those questions required a public court record with protected medical exhibits.

Julian requested confidentiality for proprietary fund information. Nora limited it to genuine trade secrets; evidence of wrongdoing remained reportable. Her experience with Grant had taught her how easily “privacy” became a room where power wrote its own history.

Both signed an acknowledgment that attraction, gratitude, or public pressure would not amend written authority. Informal promises carried no corporate effect.

The hostile guardianship petition arrived with breakfast.

Grant alleged Nora's secret company, sudden divorce, and patent revocation showed impaired judgment caused by laboratory trauma. He requested temporary authority over her shares and medical decisions as legal spouse pending evaluation.

Divorce service did not end marital guardianship standing until the court entered separation orders.

Julian Cross offered a faster shield.

He was HelixNorth's early ethical-investment adviser, a private-equity founder known for refusing control rights over medical access. His family trust charter allowed spouses independent medical and business status under a jurisdiction that recognized immediate civil marriage.

“You are proposing marriage as venue strategy,” Nora said.

“And as a conflict I will disclose. The guardianship case weakens if another lawful spouse with no claim to your assets affirms competence.”

It would also look scandalous: Nora leaving one billionaire heir and marrying another investor days later.

Julian offered a ninety-day marriage with automatic annulment option, separate residences, no intimacy requirement, and no board seat for him. He would fund independent defense as a capped loan available on equal terms from another lender.

Nora rewrote everything.

Julian received no proxy, patent license, medical authority, or right to speak for HelixNorth. He could submit factual observations only. Nora could dissolve immediately if he contacted regulators or directors without authorization. Any future romance required separate consent outside the agreement.

She added protection for patients: neither spouse could use continuity access as marital leverage.

Julian added his own boundary. Nora could not use his name to imply capital commitment he had not signed.

They selected independent counsel and disclosed the arrangement to HelixNorth's board.

Grant filed for an injunction against the marriage, claiming Nora remained his wife.

Nora signed the control terms and booked the civil hearing for that afternoon.

Grant's petition quoted a laboratory incident from nine years earlier. Nora had frozen during an equipment fire after a colleague was injured. She completed trauma treatment and returned under occupational review. The petition omitted both recovery and the fact that HelixNorth's board knew the history.

Vivian supplied a statement claiming Nora confused dates, isolated herself, and obsessed over formulas during marriage. Household calendars showed Nora's “isolation” coincided with overnight trial monitoring. None established incapacity.

Nevertheless, guardianship could freeze shares before a full hearing. Nora's counsel sought emergency separation, but Grant's marital standing remained until entry. Julian proposed marriage only after other venue and trust options proved slower.

He disclosed his own interest. Cross Ethical Capital held convertible notes in HelixNorth that gained value if Mercer lost exclusivity. Marrying Nora could make his motives suspect. The contract therefore barred conversion during marriage and placed his notes under independent administration.

Nora examined Julian's history. His fund had walked away from profitable medical investments when pricing terms threatened access. He had also forced founders from two companies for safety failures. Ethics did not mean softness.

She asked why he would accept reputational damage.

“Because your competence should be judged by evidence, and because I have wanted to know you beyond board reports for years,” he said.

The personal admission increased risk. Nora added a clause requiring no romantic pursuit during the first thirty days unless she initiated it. Julian accepted.

They created a defense loan with market interest, capped fees, no patent security, and an option for Nora to use a competing lender. The alternate lender signed before the marriage, proving Julian did not control access to counsel.

Separate residences were more than symbolism. Nora retained her apartment and lab access. Julian's house had no monitoring rights over her devices. Security requests required written scopes and expired every seventy-two hours.

The marriage jurisdiction recognized spouses as independent adults and denied one spouse automatic guardianship priority over the other. It did not make Grant's petition disappear; it removed his claim that marriage alone entitled him to control.

HelixNorth's board approved conflict controls but did not endorse the marriage. Amara voted against the arrangement because scandal could distract regulators. Nora valued the dissent and proceeded.

The document she signed was not rescue. It was a temporary structure designed to keep every man's power—including Julian's—outside her company.

Nora required the ninety-day expiration to end automatically, not renew through silence. Any extension needed fresh signatures after independent advice. Julian's defense loan survived annulment under the same terms, preventing him from using funding to encourage continuation.

They also addressed publicity. Julian could state they married and disclose conflict terms; he could not imply romance, cohabitation, or investment endorsement. Nora received equal correction rights. Neither could sell photographs or allow company branding at the ceremony.

The agreement contained a competence presumption: disagreement, secrecy, or unconventional timing did not authorize medical control. Actual emergency incapacity would be determined by the physician Nora had appointed before either marriage, then reviewed by court.

Julian named his own medical proxy outside Nora, avoiding reciprocal power neither needed. His daughter, eighteen-year-old Elise, remained beneficiary of his family trust and received notice that the marriage created no claim against her inheritance.

Nora asked whether Elise approved.

“She does not have to approve my marriage,” Julian said. “She does deserve accurate information about her trust.”

That distinction convinced Nora the contract might work.