Chapter 3 - Evelyn CrossDaniel arrived at work to discover Evelyn Cross waiting inside the executive conference room.
Silver-haired, elegant and composed, Evelyn had built Cross Meridian Capital into an investment empire.
Daniel entered cautiously.
“Mrs. Cross.”
“Lock the door.”
He did.
She placed a folder on the table.
“I assume Lorraine finally made her move.”
Daniel stopped.
“You know my mother?”
“For thirty-four years.”
Daniel sat.
Evelyn opened the folder.
Inside were photographs of Lorraine, Richard Mercer and Evelyn when they were young.
“My husband and your father started a logistics company together,” Evelyn explained.
Daniel knew part of that history.
Mercer-Cross Logistics had been sold years ago.
What he hadn't known was its true value.
“Your father retained shares through a holding company,” Evelyn said. “Those shares are now worth approximately eight million dollars.”
“Eight point four?”
Evelyn nodded.
Daniel felt cold.
“Why wasn't I told?”
“Because Richard created a trust.”
“For me?”
“For you and any children you had.”
Daniel immediately thought of Nia.
Evelyn continued.
“Lorraine controls the trust administratively until certain conditions are met.”
“What conditions?”
“Your thirty-ninth birthday.”
Daniel would turn thirty-nine in four months.
Suddenly Lorraine’s urgency made sense.
Evelyn pushed another document toward him.
“If you remain married to Maya when control transfers, your wife gains certain spousal protections. Nia also becomes an irrevocable beneficiary.”
Daniel stared at her.
“And if Maya and Nia are gone?”
“That depends how they're gone.”
He looked up.
Evelyn's expression was grave.
“Divorce would substantially simplify Lorraine’s attempt to restructure the trust.”
Daniel remembered his mother’s words.
You and your mother are leaving.
“Why would she want me to marry you?”
Evelyn actually laughed.
“She doesn't.”
Daniel frowned.
“She told Nia—”
“I know what Lorraine says. But I’m not the woman.”
“Then who?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“My daughter.”
Daniel remembered seeing photographs of Evelyn’s forty-two-year-old daughter, Celeste Cross, at corporate events.
“She thinks I’m going to marry Celeste?”
“She wants a legal and financial alliance between the Mercer trust and Cross Meridian.”
“Does Celeste know?”
“I don't know.”
That answer disturbed him.
Evelyn closed the folder.
“There is something else.”
She showed Daniel a series of bank transfers.
Over three years, almost $900,000 had disappeared from the Mercer holding company.
All authorized by Lorraine.
“She's stealing?”
“I believe she's hiding losses.”
“What losses?”
“That's what you need to discover.”
Daniel thought of Nia crying beneath the maple tree.
Lorraine had not suddenly become desperate.
She had been desperate for years.
His phone rang.
Maya.
He answered immediately.
“Daniel.”
Her voice was shaking.
“What happened?”
“I found something in Nia’s backpack.”
“What?”
“A photograph.”
Daniel stood.
“Of what?”
“Me.”
A pause.
“Someone took it yesterday outside my school.”
Daniel felt the room tilt.
May you like
On the back of the photograph, someone had written four words:
LEAVE BEFORE SHE LOSES EVERYTHING.
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