Chapter 9 - The Wrong Plan
I confronted Mark with the photograph.
He didn’t deny knowing Elaine.
“She hired me first.”
Everything shifted again.
“Not Denise?”
“No.”
Mark explained that Elaine had approached him because she believed North Star had stolen something from the Hale family.
She wanted him to find me discreetly.
“Then why did Denise pay you?”
“Because she discovered what I was doing and offered me ten times more.”
Evelyn looked disgusted.
“And you switched sides.”
“For a while.”
“For a while?”
Mark looked at me.
“I was supposed to get close enough to convince Rachel to sign a release extinguishing the Hale claim.”
My stomach turned.
“But I wouldn’t sign.”
“You never even saw it. I couldn’t do it.”
“So Denise changed the plan.”
He nodded.
Marriage.
If I became part of the Walker family, Denise believed she could control the eventual trust activation from inside.
“But why Lily?”
Mark stared at the bassinet.
“Because once Rachel had a descendant, the dormant shares became active. Denise wanted them active because she needed to sell the company.”
“Why not keep them dormant?”
“Because North Star is collapsing.”
Tyler confirmed it.
For years, Denise had hidden tax liabilities, vendor debt, and unauthorized loans beneath profitable-looking catering contracts.
A pending sale could have covered everything.
But no buyer would touch the company while 51% of its historical ownership remained tied to an unresolved trust.
Lily’s birth had forced the ownership issue.
“She needed Rachel to sign after delivery,” Tyler said. “While she was exhausted.”
I remembered Mark bringing paperwork to the hospital.
Insurance forms, he had said.
I had signed two.
Then refused the third because Lily started crying.
My skin went cold.
“What was the third?”
Mark closed his eyes.
“A voting proxy.”
Evelyn made a sound of disgust.
I looked at him.
“You brought it to my hospital bed.”
“I was going to tear it up.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Before he could answer, Samantha’s investigator entered.
“We found Elaine.”
“Where?”
He looked directly at Mark.
“In police custody.”
My heart jumped.
“Why?”
“She broke into Denise’s house last night.”
He placed an evidence photograph on the table.
Elaine had been carrying a gun.
And in her pocket was a handwritten list containing three names.
Denise.
May you like
Mark.
Lily.
