Chapter 5 - Nathan’s Arrangement
Nathan Cole denied matchmaking.
At first.
Then emails surfaced.
To Maya:
Daniel Mercer will be at the Harbor Preservation Gala. If you still want answers about Marlowe, this may be your chance.
To Daniel’s assistant:
Maya Jensen is a young donor interested in regional logistics philanthropy. Please seat her near Mr. Mercer.
Nathan had arranged proximity.
Why?
He claimed business.
The Marlowe Trust wanted to know whether Mercer planned hostile legal action over waterfront access.
Easier to understand Daniel personally.
Unethical.
Not illegal.
Then Daniel asked:
“Did you expect her to marry me?”
Nathan laughed.
“No.”
“Did you know she dated my son?”
Silence.
There.
“Yes.”
Daniel stared.
“You knew.”
Nathan discovered Ethan and Maya’s relationship through social media.
He realized Maya had a unique connection to Daniel’s family.
He encouraged her to attend the gala without telling her he knew about Ethan.
Why?
Leverage.
If Daniel and Maya became friendly, Nathan could gain information.
Marriage exceeded anything he expected.
Then he continued using Maya’s access.
Did Maya knowingly cooperate?
Sometimes.
She admitted asking Daniel casual questions Nathan suggested.
Warehouse leases.
Delivery routes.
Insurance pressures.
She told herself it was harmless.
Then stopped after the wedding.
Nathan did not stop.
He accessed her synced email.
Read Ethan’s forwarded projections.
Used them in Marlowe negotiations.
There was the leak.
Maya had not sent the confidential numbers.
But her secrecy created the opening.
Daniel felt no relief.
Then Ethan admitted something else.
He knew Nathan could access Maya’s email.
“When?”
“A month ago.”
“Why didn't you tell her?”
“I did.”
Maya stared.
“You said Nathan might read some trust emails.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Different omission.
Then Daniel asked:
“Why were you two in the back of my van?”
Silence.
Maya said:
“We were meeting privately.”
“Why in my van?”
“Because Nathan had started following her.”
Ethan explained.
Maya believed Nathan was monitoring her after she threatened to remove him as trust adviser.
She asked Ethan to meet away from home.
Daniel’s van was being used to move boxes to a coastal storage site.
They thought no one would suspect.
Daniel stared.
“You used my company vehicle to hide your affair from me because another man was monitoring you.”
When said aloud, the absurdity became almost unbearable.
Then Ethan corrected him.
“We weren't meeting to hook up.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Be careful.”
Ethan nodded.
“We had already crossed that line before. But in the van, Maya was showing me something Nathan sent.”
“What?”
Maya produced a photograph.
Richard Marlowe.
Maya’s father.
Daniel’s late brother, James Mercer.
Together.
Daniel had never known they knew each other.
On the back:
MERCER-MARLOWE PARTNERSHIP — COASTAL PHASE.
There had once been a partnership.
Not a rivalry.
Then Maya said:
“Nathan told me your brother stole my father’s company.”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“That’s impossible.”
Maya shook her head.
“That's what I thought.”
Then Ethan handed over another document.
Marlowe Harbor had originally been financed with Mercer money.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
May you like
If true—
Daniel’s failed attempt to buy the harbor might have been an attempt to purchase property his family already partly owned.
