Chapter 10 - Victor Hale’s Revenge
Victor Hale and Mark had not always been enemies.
They had been partners.
Briefly.
Thirty years earlier, before Crestview, they worked together at a development firm called Landon Pierce.
Mark discovered a parcel outside Columbus.
Victor negotiated the seller.
They planned to purchase it together.
Then Mark secretly bought the property through Manuel’s financing connection.
Victor received nothing.
That property became Crestview’s first profitable development.
I had never known.
Dad?
He knew Mark brought him the deal.
He did not know Victor was involved.
Victor spent decades building his own company.
He became wealthier than Mark.
But apparently money had not cured resentment.
Northline’s acquisition proposal was never simply an investment.
Victor wanted Mark to betray everyone around him in pursuit of the deal.
Move Blue Cedar money.
Dilute me.
Forge approvals.
Hide assets.
Then Victor planned to withdraw.
Why?
To leave evidence.
He had been cooperating with federal investigators regarding unrelated real-estate bid manipulation.
Mark appeared in communications.
Victor negotiated his own exposure by providing information.
Was Mark part of bid rigging?
Evidence remained uncertain.
Some deals were legitimate.
Some communications troubling.
We did not assume guilt.
But Victor had deliberately tempted him.
That did not excuse Mark.
People cannot manufacture your character by offering you a choice.
They can only reveal it.
I met Victor with lawyers present.
He smiled.
“Manuel’s daughter.”
“Don't use my father.”
“He liked me.”
“You barely knew him.”
“More than you think.”
Here we went again.
Victor had approached Manuel after Mark stole their deal.
Dad offered to compensate him.
Victor refused.
He wanted partnership.
Manuel declined because he believed Victor was too aggressive.
Ironically, he chose Mark.
“Did Dad regret it?”
Victor looked at me.
“Eventually.”
He produced a letter Manuel wrote five years before his death.
I have come to believe Laura’s greatest business mistake was trusting Mark more than she trusts herself.
I had to stop reading.
Dad saw it.
Why didn't he tell me?
Victor answered without being asked.
“Because your mother was dying, your children were teenagers, and Manuel thought exposing Mark would destroy your family.”
Another man choosing what truth I could handle.
I was tired of being protected into ignorance.
Then Victor said:
“I never expected Mark to get the land.”
“You expected me to stop him.”
“Yes.”
“Why not contact me directly?”
“You wouldn't have believed me.”
He was probably right.
I hated that.
Then:
“Why pay Brenda?”
“Because she offered information.”
“You exploited an affair.”
“She exploited it first.”
No heroes.
Good.
Then Victor slid another document across the table.
Mark had offered him something not included in any acquisition draft.
Our marital home.
Not the house itself.
The land beneath it.
Twenty acres.
Commercial rezoning potential.
Mark planned to contribute it to a joint venture after our divorce.
“Can he?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why show me?”
“Because you keep asking when this started.”
He pointed to the date.
Seven years earlier.
Long before Brenda.
Long before Northline.
Mark had been planning a future in which our shared assets became his separate empire for years.
Then my phone buzzed.
Sophie.
MOM. COME HOME NOW.
OFELIA FOUND DAD’S LETTER.
Not Manuel.
Mark's father.
Robert Cross.
The man we believed had died without knowing anything about Blue Cedar.
May you like
Apparently he had known everything.
And he had left instructions specifically for me.
