Chapter 6 - The Mother Who Owned Everyone’s Secrets
Evelyn Cross sat down as though she had arrived for tea.
Gideon stared at her.
“You knew Caroline was alive.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew Warren was stealing.”
“I knew Warren was stupid.”
Caroline’s hands curled into fists.
“And Daniel?”
Evelyn’s expression barely changed.
“A regrettable complication.”
Elena stood.
Gideon caught her wrist before she crossed the room.
“Don’t.”
“She called my husband a complication.”
“I heard her.”
Evelyn looked at Lucy.
“And this must be Daniel’s daughter.”
“Don’t look at her,” Elena said.
“My dear, children are often the only innocent people in family
businesses.”
“You don’t get to talk about innocence.”
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“Good. You have some spine.”
Gideon’s face darkened.
“Enough games.”
Evelyn finally looked at him.
“Your father built Cross Freight by crushing everyone who stood between
him and expansion. When he died, he left liabilities everywhere. Warren
discovered one of them and decided theft was easier than repair.”
“So you covered for him?”
“I controlled him.”
“You drugged me.”
That made Evelyn pause.
“No.”
“Voss did.”
“Then Voss exceeded his instructions.”
Caroline laughed bitterly.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“No. I expect Gideon to verify it.”
Gideon hated that she knew him so well.
Evelyn slid a folder across the table.
Inside were bank transfers from Warren to Voss.
Then larger transfers from an unknown company to Warren.
The company was called North Star Holdings.
Elena stared at the name.
“Daniel mentioned North Star.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your husband discovered that Warren was not the architect. He was a
thief working for someone else.”
“Who owns North Star?”
“That is why I’m here.”
She produced a corporate filing.
The owner was hidden behind layers of trusts.
But one address appeared repeatedly.
Gideon recognized it.
His own mansion.
The west wing.
Someone had created North Star from inside his home.
Back at the estate, Christmas Eve preparations continued because
Mrs. Bell refused to surrender the holiday.
Lucy hung candy canes on the tree.
Caroline stood awkwardly nearby, a ghost trying to become human again.
Gideon watched from his wheelchair.
“Help her,” Elena said.
“Who?”
“Caroline.”
“She lied to me for five years.”
“And you still love her.”
He looked sharply at Elena.
She shrugged.
“I clean rooms. People forget I can see them.”
Gideon rolled toward Caroline.
Lucy handed him an ornament.
“Put it high.”
He stared at the upper branches.
“Problem.”
“Oh.”
Caroline took the ornament.
For a moment their hands touched.
Neither spoke.
Then Gideon said, “Why didn’t we have children?”
Caroline’s face changed.
“We tried.”
“I know.”
“No. You know what Voss told us.”
Gideon went still.
Caroline’s eyes filled.
“He told me I couldn’t carry a pregnancy. After I disappeared, another
doctor examined me.”
She swallowed.
“There was never anything wrong with me.”
Gideon stared at her.
“Why would Voss lie?”
“I don’t know.”
Across the room Evelyn dropped her teacup.
It shattered.
Everyone turned.
For the first time, the old woman looked afraid.
Gideon saw it.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing.”
“Mother.”
Evelyn looked toward Lucy.
“Not in front of the child.”
Elena immediately took Lucy upstairs.
When she returned, Gideon was waiting.
Evelyn spoke quietly.
“Your father believed heirs were leverage. Years ago he created trusts
tied to future Cross descendants.”
Gideon frowned.
“What does that have to do with Caroline?”
“If you had a child, control of a block of company shares would
eventually leave the trustees and transfer to that child.”
Caroline whispered, “Someone needed Gideon childless.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And after the crash, someone needed him incapacitated.”
Gideon understood.
His paralysis had triggered temporary voting authority under his medical
trust.
Warren currently exercised that authority.
But Warren was only one trustee.
“Who wrote the trust?”
Evelyn looked sick.
“Your father’s attorney.”
“Name.”
“Arthur Vale.”
Gideon’s blood ran cold.
Arthur Vale had been dead for eleven years.
At least, everyone believed he was.
Caleb entered carrying a laptop.
“We found North Star’s latest payment.”
“To whom?”
“Not Warren.”
He turned the screen.
The payment had gone to a private pediatric clinic.
Elena frowned.
“Why would they pay a children’s clinic?”
Caleb opened the attached patient record.
The child was six years old.
Female.
Date of birth matched Lucy’s.
Patient name: Lucy Hale.
But under biological father, the record did not say Daniel Hale.
May you like
It said:
GIDEON CROSS.
