CHAPTER 4 HIS MOTHER’S EMPIRE
Margaret denied everything.
She sat in the executive conference room with her back straight.
The emerald necklace rested on the table in front of her.
“I have never stolen from my son.”
My lawyer placed six bank statements beside the necklace.
“You transferred company funds into shell corporations,” Evelyn said.
Margaret did not blink.
“I was protecting family assets.”
“From whom?”
Her gaze shifted toward me.
“From her.”
Andrew stared at his mother.
“You said Mariana was destroying the company.”
“She was gaining too much control.”
“She saved it.”
“She made you dependent.”
I almost laughed.
Margaret had spent years telling Andrew he was a financial genius.
Behind closed doors, she had been stealing from the business he believed he controlled.
Andrew looked sick.
“How much?”
“Twenty-seven million dollars,” Evelyn said.
The room went still.
Andrew whispered, “Mother…”
Margaret finally lost her composure.
“I did it for you!”
“You stole from me.”
“I built your reputation.”
“I introduced you to every investor.”
“I made you respectable.”
I leaned forward.
“No.”
“My contracts made him respectable.”
Margaret turned on me.
“You think money makes you powerful?”
“No.”
“Knowing where it goes does.”
Andrew covered his face.
For the first time, the arrogant man from the mansion looked small.
Then Evelyn received a message.
She read it twice.
“Brenda has agreed to cooperate.”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
“With what?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“She says the necklace accusation was Margaret’s plan.”
Andrew lifted his head.
Margaret’s eyes flickered.
Only once.
But I saw it.
Brenda was brought into the room.
She wore no jewelry.
No confidence.
She sat opposite Margaret.
“You promised me he would divorce her,” Brenda said.
Margaret’s expression turned lethal.
“You stupid girl.”
Andrew stood.
“You planned this together?”
Brenda pointed at Margaret.
“She told me to move the necklace.”
“She said once Mariana was publicly disgraced, you’d finally throw her out.”
I felt cold.
It had not been a spontaneous accusation.
It had been staged.
The guests.
The jewelry box.
The timing.
Even the shattered table.
Everything had been designed to break me publicly.
Andrew looked at his mother.
“You wanted me to hit her?”
Margaret said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
Andrew grabbed the edge of the table.
“Why?”
Margaret leaned back.
“Because Mariana was about to discover the one thing none of us could afford for her to know.”
I studied her face.
“What thing?”
She smiled.
“The real reason your mother disappeared twenty-two years ago.”
My father went still.
May you like
For the first time since I entered the room—
Rafael Escalante looked afraid.
