Chapter 4 - THE LAWYER WHO NEVER FORGOT
Martin Vale was seventy-three.
He still wore the same gray suits he had worn when Evelyn was a teenager.
The same silver tie clips.
The same expression that suggested everyone else in the room was wasting his time.
He arrived at Cross Holdings at 4:15.
Evelyn did not invite him.
He walked in anyway.
Claire entered Evelyn's office behind him.
“I told him you were unavailable.”
Martin smiled.
“She used to tell me that when she was twenty-five too.”
Evelyn stood.
“Leave us.”
Claire hesitated.
Evelyn looked toward Noah and Rachel.
“No.”
Rachel folded her arms.
“They stay.”
Martin's eyes moved toward Noah.
For the first time, his smile vanished.
“Interesting.”
Noah hated him immediately.
“You were outside my school.”
Martin looked amused.
“Was I?”
“I saw your picture.”
Rachel stood.
“If you come near my son again, I'll call the police.”
Martin sighed.
“Rachel Bennett.”
“You remember me.”
“Unfortunately.”
Evelyn stepped between them.
“Why were you following Noah?”
“I wasn't.”
“Don't insult me.”
Martin placed a leather folder on the desk.
“Your father left instructions.”
Evelyn stared at it.
“My father has been dead for eight years.”
“Certain instructions survive people.”
Rachel went rigid.
Martin opened the folder.
Inside was a copy of Charles Cross's will.
Evelyn recognized it.
She had read it dozens of times.
Martin tapped one paragraph.
“If Daniel Cross had a living biological child at the time of Charles's death, twenty-five percent of the voting shares in Cross Holdings should have passed to that child.”
Noah blinked.
Rachel sat down.
Evelyn reread the sentence.
It wasn't in the version she knew.
“This isn't the will I signed.”
“No.”
Martin's eyes glittered.
“This is the original.”
Evelyn looked up.
“What happened to it?”
“Your father replaced it.”
“Why?”
Martin looked toward Noah.
“Because he believed the boy was dead.”
Rachel stood again.
“You told him that.”
Martin's face barely moved.
“You told Charles my son died.”
“I informed him of what I had been told.”
“By whom?”
Martin paused.
That pause told Evelyn everything.
“Daniel?”
Martin said nothing.
Rachel moved closer.
“Daniel would never tell him Noah died.”
“No.”
Martin closed the folder.
“Daniel didn't.”
Evelyn's chest tightened.
“Then who?”
Martin looked directly at her.
“Your mother.”
Evelyn almost laughed.
“My mother could barely leave the house by then.”
“She left it more often than you knew.”
Rachel's face had gone white.
Evelyn stared at Martin.
Margaret Cross.
Elegant.
Quiet.
Always apologizing for Charles.
Always telling Evelyn to stop fighting with him.
Always telling Daniel to be patient.
She had died five years earlier.
“What exactly did she tell him?”
“That Rachel lost the baby.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Martin continued.
“Your father stopped pursuing custody after that.”
Evelyn looked at Rachel.
“So my mother saved Noah?”
Martin smiled without warmth.
“That depends on your definition of saved.”
He took another document from the folder.
It was a trust.
A huge one.
Created by Margaret Cross.
For Daniel's child.
Noah's name wasn't written there.
Only “the biological issue of Daniel Cross.”
Rachel stared.
“How much?”
Martin looked at Evelyn.
“Currently?”
Evelyn already knew.
Her family shares alone were worth hundreds of millions.
“About sixty-eight million dollars.”
Noah looked horrified.
“I don't want that.”
Nobody expected him to speak.
Martin laughed.
“That may be the first intelligent thing anyone in this family has said.”
Evelyn's eyes narrowed.
“Why are you following him?”
“Because once his identity is legally confirmed, several people become financially uncomfortable.”
“Who?”
Martin looked toward the door.
“People currently sitting on your board.”
Evelyn's face hardened.
Cross Holdings had seven directors.
Four of them had inherited or purchased shares from Charles's estate.
If Noah's claim was recognized, some transfers could be challenged.
Rachel whispered, “That's why someone was outside his school.”
Martin nodded.
“Possibly.”
Noah stood.
“Can we just leave?”
Rachel grabbed her bag.
“Yes.”
Martin turned toward Evelyn.
“You should also know there was another reason Daniel died angry with you.”
Evelyn froze.
Rachel looked back.
Martin pulled a photograph from his folder.
It showed Daniel standing outside a downtown parking garage.
Two days before his death.
Beside him was Evelyn's current board chairman.
Victor Shaw.
Evelyn stared.
“What were they doing?”
Martin's expression turned grim.
“Daniel had discovered your father was stealing from the company.”
A beat.
“And Victor helped him.”
Evelyn looked up.
“Helped Daniel?”
Martin shook his head.
May you like
“No.”
“He helped Charles.”
