Chapter 13 - MARCUS RETURNS
Three days later, Marcus came to see me.
Not at home.
Not at a lawyer’s office.
He arrived at the Monarch Grand.
He was stopped at the entrance.
Daniel called upstairs.
“Mrs. Hale, Mr. Hale is asking for ten minutes.”
I almost refused.
Then I changed my mind.
“Conference room twelve.”
Marcus entered without the confidence he once carried.
No tailored designer suit.
No assistant.
No driver.
Just a dark jacket and exhaustion.
He sat across from me.
“You changed the lobby.”
“Yes.”
“You removed my portrait.”
“I replaced several executive portraits.”
He laughed without humor.
“You wasted no time.”
“I spent eleven years waiting.”
That silenced him.
He looked at my hand.
My wedding ring was gone.
His eyes dropped.
“So that’s it?”
“You planned to divorce me.”
“I was angry.”
“For months?”
He looked away.
“Natalie complicated things.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“You made choices.”
He exhaled.
“You hid who you were.”
“I hid my family’s ownership.”
“You let me believe I had built something.”
“You did build something.”
He looked surprised.
I continued.
“You helped build Hale Meridian.”
His face softened.
“Then why are you destroying me?”
“I’m not.”
“You took everything.”
“I stopped you from taking what wasn’t yours.”
His hands tightened.
“I gave eleven years to that company.”
“So did I.”
“I sacrificed everything.”
“So did thousands of employees.”
“You always have an answer.”
“No.”
I looked at him carefully.
“For years, I didn’t.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth.”
“You know everything.”
“No.”
I slid a document across the table.
Crownstone Development.
Natalie’s brother.
Marcus stared at it.
“I didn’t know.”
“I believe you.”
His eyes lifted.
For the first time, he looked frightened.
“Why?”
“Because if you knew, you would have hidden the transfers better.”
Marcus leaned back.
The insult hurt because it was accurate.
“Did you love her?”
He hesitated.
“That isn’t relevant.”
“It is to me.”
He looked toward the window.
“I thought I did.”
“What did you love?”
He didn’t answer.
So I answered for him.
“She made you feel like the person you wanted everyone to believe you were.”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t know anything about us.”
“I know she disappeared the morning your credit cards stopped working.”
Marcus stared at me.
May you like
That was how I learned he had not known.
Natalie was already gone.
