Chapter 2 - The Letter From a Dead Woman
Dominic did not open the envelope immediately.
That alone told Evelyn how frightened he was.
Dominic Vale opened everything immediately.
Contracts.
Reports.
Threatening letters.
Bad news.
He believed hesitation gave other people power.
Yet beneath the chandeliers of the Meridian ballroom, with hundreds of Chicago's most influential people pretending not to watch him, Dominic simply stared at his dead mother's handwriting.
Vanessa shifted beside him.
"What's happening?"
Dominic ignored her.
His eyes remained on Gabriel.
"Where did you get this?"
"Margaret gave it to me."
"My mother has been dead six years."
"Which is why I suggest you don't keep her waiting any longer."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Evelyn had never heard anyone speak to him that way.
More remarkable was Dominic's response.
Nothing.
No threat.
No icy dismissal.
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single folded sheet.
Dominic read.
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Evelyn knew him well enough to see it.
First disbelief.
Then anger.
Then something much rarer.
Fear.
"What does it say?" Evelyn asked.
Dominic folded the letter.
"Nothing relevant."
Gabriel's expression barely changed.
"Then you won't mind Evelyn reading it."
"No."
The word came too quickly.
Evelyn stared at her husband.
"Give it to me."
"This isn't the place."
"You brought your mistress here publicly three hours after asking me for a divorce. I think we've moved beyond concern for appropriate settings."
Vanessa's face flushed.
"Evelyn—"
Evelyn turned toward her.
"No."
Vanessa stopped.
"I have nothing to discuss with you. My marriage vows were with Dominic."
Then Evelyn looked back at her husband.
"The letter."
Dominic lowered his voice.
"Go home."
For eight years, those two words would have worked.
Not tonight.
"I don't live there anymore. Remember?"
Gabriel extended his hand.
"Give her the letter."
Dominic stepped closer.
"Stay out of my marriage."
Gabriel remained perfectly still.
"Your marriage ended at 7:12."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"You seem remarkably informed."
"I am."
"Why?"
"Because your mother asked me to be."
That silenced him.
Evelyn held out her hand.
Dominic finally surrendered the letter.
She unfolded it.
Dominic,
If you are reading this, then I was right to be afraid.
Not afraid of what your enemies might do to you.
Afraid of what power might make you do to yourself.
Evelyn glanced at Dominic.
He looked away.
She continued.
Thomas Mercer protected this family when your father nearly destroyed it. You know this. Evelyn does not.
Her heart jumped.
You promised me before you married her that you would tell her the truth when the time was right.
If she is leaving you without knowing, then the time was never wrong.
You were.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
"What truth?"
Dominic said nothing.
Gabriel answered.
"Twenty-two years ago, Vale Maritime was weeks from collapse."
Several guests nearby were no longer pretending not to listen.
Dominic looked around.
"Not here."
Gabriel nodded toward a private salon adjoining the ballroom.
"Then there."
Minutes later, Dominic, Evelyn, Gabriel and Vanessa stood inside a wood-paneled room.
Dominic immediately turned toward Vanessa.
"Wait outside."
Her mouth opened.
"Dominic—"
"Now."
Humiliation flashed across her face.
But she left.
Evelyn noticed the irony.
Three hours earlier, that had been her position.
Now Vanessa was the woman being excluded.
Gabriel placed a leather folder on the table.
"Thomas Mercer wasn't simply an accountant."
Evelyn stared at him.
"He managed financial restructuring for companies in distress. Quietly."
"My father repaired companies?"
"Among other things."
Gabriel opened the folder.
"Your husband's father, Victor Vale, borrowed heavily against Vale Maritime during an expansion. The expansion failed. Creditors were closing in."
Dominic moved toward the window.
Gabriel continued.
"Thomas discovered that several debts could be legally restructured. He created a rescue plan."
"Why wasn't I told?"
"Because Thomas didn't want you involved in this world."
Evelyn looked toward Dominic.
"You knew?"
Dominic's silence answered.
"How long?"
"Before we married."
The words struck harder than his affair.
"You knew my father saved your family before you married me?"
"Yes."
"And you never told me?"
"Your father requested confidentiality."
"He's been dead fourteen years."
Dominic had no answer.
Gabriel removed another document.
"There's more."
Of course there was.
There was always more.
"Thomas refused payment for much of his work."
"That sounds like Dad."
"But Margaret Vale refused to accept that."
Gabriel slid a document across the table.
Evelyn read the heading.
IRREVOCABLE BENEFICIAL TRUST AGREEMENT.
She looked up.
"What is this?"
"Margaret created a trust."
"For whom?"
"You."
Evelyn laughed once from sheer disbelief.
"I would know if someone had left me money."
"This isn't money."
Gabriel turned the page.
It contained corporate percentages.
Evelyn's smile vanished.
"Seven percent?"
"Seven percent of Vale Holdings' original voting equity."
Dominic closed his eyes.
Evelyn looked between them.
"I own seven percent of Dominic's company?"
"No," Gabriel said.
"You own considerably more."
He produced another document.
"Over the years, the trust's holdings accumulated distributions. Margaret instructed the trustees to reinvest those distributions into privately offered Vale entities whenever possible."
Evelyn struggled to follow.
"How much?"
"Directly and indirectly?"
Gabriel paused.
"Approximately eighteen-point-six percent of the voting structure affected by the current consolidation."
Dominic turned.
"That's misleading."
"Then explain it yourself."
Evelyn looked at her husband.
"Dominic?"
He rubbed his jaw.
"The company is reorganizing."
"When?"
"Monday."
"What happens Monday?"
Gabriel answered.
"A vote."
Dominic shot him a furious look.
"A vote on what?"
"Consolidating Vale Maritime, Vale Properties and three private investment subsidiaries under one holding company."
Evelyn's mind raced.
"And my shares?"
"Become critical."
"How critical?"
Gabriel closed the folder.
"Without the trust's consent, Dominic doesn't have enough votes to complete the restructuring."
Silence.
Suddenly everything about tonight changed.
The gala.
The divorce.
Vanessa.
Dominic's insistence that attorneys handle everything Monday.
"You wanted me to sign divorce papers before telling me this."
Dominic stepped toward her.
"No."
"Don't lie to me again."
"I wasn't going to steal anything from you."
"Then why didn't I know I owned it?"
"Because the trust was structured by my mother."
"And you knew."
He hesitated.
"Yes."
That one word shattered something permanent.
Evelyn stepped backward.
Dominic reached toward her.
She moved away.
"Don't."
"Evelyn—"
"Eight years."
Her voice trembled for the first time.
"You let me sit beside you in meetings thinking everything belonged to you. You let me ask permission before donating money from household accounts. You let me believe that if you left me, I had nothing."
"I never said you had nothing."
"You didn't have to."
Gabriel quietly looked away, giving them what little privacy the room could offer.
Dominic lowered his voice.
"I intended to take care of you."
Evelyn laughed.
"Take care of me?"
She wiped one tear before it could fall.
"You mean decide what I'm allowed to have."
"That's not what I meant."
"It always is with you."
A knock interrupted them.
Dominic's chief legal officer entered.
"Sorry."
"What?"
The attorney looked at Evelyn.
Then Gabriel.
Then Dominic.
"The board chairman is asking whether the reports are true."
"What reports?"
"That Mrs. Vale intends to exercise the Mercer Trust voting rights Monday."
Evelyn frowned.
"I haven't decided anything."
The attorney looked confused.
"Then someone has."
He held up his phone.
A financial news alert had appeared.
VALE HOLDINGS RESTRUCTURING IN DOUBT AS MERCER TRUST ACTIVATED.
Dominic turned toward Gabriel.
"You leaked it."
"No."
"Then who did?"
Gabriel's expression became serious.
"I don't know."
For the first time, Evelyn saw genuine concern on his face.
Gabriel took out his phone and typed rapidly.
Seconds later, his expression darkened.
"What?" Evelyn asked.
He looked at Dominic.
"The trust wasn't merely activated."
Dominic stepped closer.
"What happened?"
Gabriel turned the screen toward them.
"Someone attempted to transfer Evelyn's voting authorization forty minutes ago."
Dominic stared at the timestamp.
9:31 p.m.
Evelyn felt cold.
"Who?"
Gabriel looked directly at her.
"The authorization request came from inside Vale Holdings."
And only three people had the credentials required to submit it.
Dominic.
His chief legal officer.
May you like
And Vanessa Quinn.
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