Chapter 10 - The Villain Who Asked Me to Hate Him
I wanted Marcus to be lying.
It would have made everything simpler.
He had humiliated my mother.
Belittled me.
Lived extravagantly on money I secretly supplied.
Those things were real.
But reality is inconvenient when a bad man tells the truth.
Marcus said Victor approached him eight months earlier.
Not as CFO.
As someone claiming the Vance Group would destroy our family once I inherited voting control.
Victor showed him documents proving my hidden wealth.
That was how Marcus learned.
“You knew for eight months?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I was furious.”
Of course he was.
Not because I had money.
Because I had possessed power he believed belonged to him.
Marcus admitted he began investigating me. Then Victor fed him more.
Northstar.
My father.
The succession structure.
Threats against Noah.
Victor convinced Marcus that if I froze the family-backed accounts publicly, Northstar would reveal itself.
“So you abused my mother to manipulate me.”
His face tightened.
“I needed you to do something you’d never do if I simply asked.”
“You could have told me.”
“Would you have believed me?”
“No.”
“Exactly.”
I slapped him once today.
I wanted to do it again.
Instead I said, “You don’t get to turn cruelty into heroism because you had a reason.”
He looked away.
That landed.
Good.
Then he admitted something worse.
The three tickets were real.
He planned to send Noah and Helen to Switzerland while he stayed behind.
“You weren’t going?”
“I changed the reservation.”
“Why?”
“Because I found out someone had accessed the flight manifest.”
He handed me his phone.
A message from Victor:
SMART. BUT SWITZERLAND WON’T SAVE THE BOY.
My stomach turned.
Marcus looked at Noah.
“I’m an arrogant bastard, Claire. I know that.”
“At least we agree on something.”
“But I’m not going to let anyone touch my son.”
There was no time to decide whether that mattered.
The archive alarm sounded.
Victor’s access credential had opened the lower vault.
We ran.
Inside, the vault was empty except for a laptop playing a live feed.
Daniel Mercer sat tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Victor.
“I’m sorry,” Victor said into the camera. “But Marcus has misunderstood his role.”
Marcus froze.
Victor smiled faintly.
“He was never my partner.”
“Then what was he?”
“Noise.”
A second person entered the video frame.
Gray hair.
Dark suit.
The same face from Geneva.
My father.
Mom collapsed against the vault door.
“Richard.”
The man looked directly into the camera.
May you like
And smiled.
“Hello, Claire.”
