Chapter 4 - THE MAN I TRUSTED WITH EVERYTHING
Marcus had access to nearly every layer of my life.
That was my mistake.
My father trusted nobody.
I tried to become different.
So I trusted one person too much.
Marcus paid my household vendors.
Reviewed estate purchases.
Managed corporate counsel.
Sat in security briefings.
Knew when I traveled.
Knew which judges I disliked.
Which politicians I tolerated.
Which companies I was quietly trying to clean.
He also knew the upstairs office mattered.
That was why Selene needed my card.
But something remained unclear.
Why now?
Why risk everything over thirty-eight percent voting control?
The answer arrived through the external forensic team.
Varela Holdings had a refinancing event in six weeks.
If I retained control, we would refinance three port properties, buy out minority investors and permanently lock governance into a new structure.
Marcus's offshore entities would become visible during diligence.
His theft would end.
If he obtained voting control first, he could kill the audit.
Replace finance leadership.
Then strip the ports before creditors understood.
The wedding was not romantic timing.
It was a deadline.
I sat inside my library reading the report when Lily wandered in.
Mara followed.
“Sorry.”
“It's fine.”
Lily looked at the folders.
“You work too much.”
I stared.
Mara covered a smile.
“Apparently that's going around.”
Lily climbed onto the chair opposite me.
“Selene gone?”
“Yes.”
“Because card?”
“Partly.”
She looked down.
“Did I make her gone?”
There it was.
Exactly what I did not want.
“No.”
Lily looked at me.
“She made choices.”
“Bad?”
“Yes.”
“Because I told?”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“She made bad choices before you saw anything.”
Lily thought.
Then nodded.
“Okay.”
Children often accept truth faster than adults if you give it cleanly.
Mara watched.
Something softened in her face.
That affected me more than it should have.
Later, Lily went to the kitchen for cookies.
Mara remained.
“You handled that well.”
“I am capable of speaking to children.”
“I've seen men leave meetings pale after speaking to you.”
“They’re more difficult.”
She laughed.
Then noticed a photograph on the shelf.
My younger sister, Sofia.
Killed at twenty-three.
Wrong place.
Wrong man.
Old violence.
Mara did not ask.
I appreciated that.
Instead:
“Why are you changing the company?”
“What?”
“The audits.”
The new governance plan.
Selling off certain businesses.
She had noticed.
“I’m tired.”
“Of money?”
“No.”
“Power?”
I thought.
“Of watching everyone around me treat fear like efficiency.”
Mara looked at me.
“That sounds expensive.”
“It is.”
She smiled.
Then:
“Worth it?”
“I don't know yet.”
She looked toward the kitchen where Lily was probably negotiating for a second cookie.
“It usually is.”
That night Marcus moved.
The duplicate signature token generated an alert.
He had copied it from a decoy device during our dinner.
Then used it to create a digitally signed draft board resolution.
Not filed.
Yet.
Gabriel asked:
“Enough now?”
“Almost.”
He looked ready to resign from my new patience.
“What else do you want?”
“The filing.”
“Why?”
“Because possession of a forged document is one thing.”
I looked at the monitor.
“Trying to transfer company ownership with it is another.”
Gabriel smiled.
“That's the old boss.”
“No.”
I smiled back.
“The old boss would've broken his jaw already.”
“Fair.”
Then the alarm system chimed.
Estate camera.
Mara’s cottage.
Someone outside.
Two men.
Neither belonged to my staff.
I stood.
Old instinct came back instantly.
“Gabriel.”
“Already moving.”
Mara answered her phone on the second ring.
“Dominic?”
“Lock the door.”
Her breathing changed.
“What happened?”
“Two men outside.”
Silence.
“Lily?”
“With me.”
“Good.”
“Are they yours?”
“No.”
Wrong answer to need.
Security reached the cottage within ninety seconds.
The two men fled.
One dropped a phone.
Inside:
Instructions.
Take the girl’s mother’s laptop. Nothing else.
Marcus.
He had discovered Mara was reviewing documents.
My voice changed.
“Move them.”
Gabriel nodded.
Mara heard.
“No.”
I turned.
She stood in the cottage doorway now, Lily behind her.
“Mara.”
“I am not arguing about tonight.”
“Good.”
“You can move us for tonight.”
I stopped.
Compromise.
“But tomorrow I decide what happens next.”
I almost smiled.
“Fine.”
May you like
She looked annoyed.
“You still say that badly.”
