Chapter 8 - The Woman on the Board
Helen Cross did not deny knowing Victoria.
She denied everything else.
Mark met her in Rachel’s office with two attorneys present.
Helen arrived in a charcoal suit, carrying no bag and showing no visible concern.
Mark placed the photograph on the table.
“You knew my wife before I did.”
Helen glanced down.
“Yes.”
“You never mentioned it.”
“You never asked.”
Rachel stared at her.
“That answer is insulting.”
Helen looked at Rachel.
“Then be insulted.”
Mark leaned forward.
“Why were you meeting Victoria and Grant?”
“Business.”
“What business?”
“Potential investors.”
“Victoria wasn’t an investor.”
“She represented people who were.”
“Who?”
Helen smiled faintly.
“You’re on administrative leave. You’re not entitled to board investigative materials.”
Mark almost lost his temper again.
Then remembered the board meeting.
Grant wanted him angry.
He sat back.
“Fair.”
Helen’s eyes narrowed slightly.
It was not the response she expected.
Mark slid a second document forward.
A copy of the spreadsheet entry.
HC.
“You recognize those initials?”
Helen did not touch the page.
“They could mean anything.”
“They appear beside $6.4 million in transfers.”
Her face remained still.
Rachel said, “Federal prosecutors may eventually ask you the same question.”
Helen turned to her.
“Are federal prosecutors involved?”
Rachel smiled without warmth.
“Interesting question.”
For the first time, Helen looked cautious.
Mark said, “My mother believed you helped Grant target me.”
“Your mother disliked me.”
“She disliked thieves.”
Helen pushed the photograph back.
“Be careful.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s advice.”
“You and Victoria both love that word.”
Helen stood.
“This meeting is finished.”
At the door, Mark said, “Grant’s wife gave us his spreadsheet.”
Helen stopped.
Only for a second.
But it was enough.
Mark watched her shoulders stiffen.
Then she left.
Rachel exhaled.
“She knows.”
“Yes.”
“But knowing is not proof.”
“No.”
Mark looked at the closed door.
“We need Jonathan.”
That afternoon Detective Walsh received a lead.
Jonathan Reed’s airport parking ticket had been purchased using cash.
His car had been left beside Terminal C.
Security footage showed Jonathan walking into the terminal.
Then leaving twenty-three minutes later through another exit.
He entered a white van.
The van belonged to a private medical transport company.
The company had been paid by Sable Ridge Management.
Grant’s shell network.
“Kidnapping?” Mark asked.
Walsh shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
They traced the van to a rehabilitation center in West Virginia.
Jonathan was there.
Alive.
Registered under another name.
Mark wanted to go immediately.
Walsh refused.
“Police first.”
Officers reached the facility before sunset.
Jonathan was conscious.
Bruised.
Dehydrated.
But alive.
He told investigators that two men had forced him into the van after threatening his daughter.
They had not beaten him severely.
They did not need to.
They showed him photographs of his daughter leaving work.
His granddaughter at school.
His home.
“They wanted a signature,” Jonathan told Mark later through a hospital video call.
“What signature?”
“A trust waiver.”
Mark felt cold.
“To cancel Lily’s transfer?”
“No.”
Jonathan looked directly at him.
“To validate the Halcyon pledge after the fact.”
Rachel leaned closer.
“Could you even do that?”
“No. But Halcyon might believe I could long enough to release another tranche.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five million.”
Mark stared.
Grant and Victoria had been trying to borrow more.
Jonathan continued.
“I refused.”
“What happened then?”
“They told me Lily wouldn’t be a problem much longer.”
Mark’s face hardened.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Jonathan closed his eyes.
“I tried.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Mark—”
“My daughter almost died!”
“I called your office three times.”
Mark stopped.
“My office?”
“Your executive line.”
Rachel frowned.
“That routes through Grant’s administrative system.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Each time, I was told you were unavailable.”
Mark understood.
Grant had controlled access.
Information.
Timing.
People.
Jonathan looked ashamed.
“I should have gone to the police sooner.”
“So should I,” Elena said quietly from behind Mark.
Everyone turned.
She had entered holding Lily.
Jonathan’s face softened.
“Elena.”
She approached the screen.
“You asked me not to tell Mark about the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“You said secrecy would protect us.”
“I was wrong.”
Elena looked down at Lily.
“We were all wrong.”
That night Mark received notice that Victoria’s attorney had filed for an emergency bail hearing.
Her defense strategy was already forming.
The staircase video, they claimed, had been manipulated.
Victoria was the victim of a conspiracy by Elena and Mark.
But the most damaging allegation was buried on page eleven.
Victoria claimed Mark had physically and psychologically abused her throughout the marriage.
Attached were photographs of bruises.
Medical records.
Messages.
May you like
And one sworn statement from an Ellison Dynamics director.
Helen Cross.
