Chapter 11
Richard removed Mark from every Bellacorte business position the following morning.
Mark did not protest.
He looked as though argument had finally left him.
Claudia did protest.
Loudly.
“You don't get to erase us because Sarah was stupid enough to chase a married man into the mountains.”
The room became silent.
Even her attorney turned toward her.
Richard stared at Claudia for several seconds.
His hands remained relaxed at his sides.
That calm frightened her more than rage.
“You still think you're winning.”
Claudia lifted her chin.
“I think your son needs me if he wants any chance of surviving this.”
Mark looked at her.
Something changed in his face.
For fourteen months he had feared her.
Now Richard had already heard everything.
Her leverage was dying in real time.
Mark’s shoulders slowly straightened.
“No.”
Claudia turned.
“What?”
Mark’s voice shook.
But he repeated it.
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Mark continued.
“You're not speaking for me anymore.”
Claudia laughed.
“You think your father is going to save you?”
Mark looked toward Richard.
Richard did not move.
“No.”
Mark swallowed.
“He shouldn't.”
That was the first honest thing Richard had heard from him all night.
Mark agreed to provide investigators and attorneys with the full recording, financial records and reconstruction evidence.
Not in exchange for family protection.
Because the lie could no longer continue.
Claudia stared at him.
Then smiled.
“You're forgetting one thing.”
Mark’s breathing stopped.
Richard watched her.
Claudia reached into her handbag.
Her attorney immediately told her not to.
She removed a sealed envelope instead.
“What is that?”
Richard asked.
Claudia placed it on the table.
“Proof that Mark wasn't the first person in this family Sarah was planning to leave behind.”
Richard opened it.
May you like
Inside was a photocopy of a handwritten letter.
Addressed to him.
