Chapter 7 - MARCUS MAKES HIS MOVE
Marcus Ashbourne arrived two days later.
Sixty-one.
Elegant.
Silver-haired.
And very much alive.
For one sick second, Ella thought the entire family might be wearing masks.
Marcus laughed when she said it.
“Victor would have loved that.”
Ella did not smile.
Marcus presented himself as reasonable.
He called Ethan unstable.
Obsessive.
Unqualified to manage a multinational empire.
Then he turned to Ella.
“You were deceived into marriage.”
“Yes.”
“You can void it.”
“Maybe.”
“If you do, Ethan loses control.”
There it was.
The offer.
Marcus promised Ella $25 million in settlement money if she petitioned for annulment immediately and signed an affidavit saying Ethan coerced her into the ceremony.
Some parts were true.
Others were not.
Ella asked:
“What happens to the hospitals?”
Marcus smiled.
“They become financially sustainable.”
Meaning sold.
“To whom?”
“A consortium.”
“Who owns the consortium?”
He paused.
Too long.
Mara later traced it.
Marcus held a hidden investment interest.
If the hospitals were sold, he stood to make nearly $90 million.
Ethan’s deception had created the opening.
Marcus intended to profit from it.
Ella looked at Ethan that night.
“You lied to me.”
“I know.”
“Marcus wants me to punish you in a way that pays him.”
“Yes.”
“I hate this family.”
Ethan almost smiled.
May you like
“Reasonable.”
She didn’t.
