Chapter 10 - THE LAWYER'S OLD SECRET
Evelyn finally told the truth.
Some of it.
Four years earlier, after Caroline Whitmore died, Mara had suffered a severe panic episode.
She stopped sleeping.
Stopped eating.
Locked herself in a hotel room for almost two days.
Evelyn panicked.
She consulted a private physician about emergency stabilization options.
Zolmedrine was ordered for possible supervised treatment.
It was never administered.
At least according to her.
The supply should have been destroyed.
Instead, it remained in estate storage.
Conrad somehow found it.
“How?” Mara asked.
Evelyn looked at Ryan.
Ryan shook his head.
Then at Conrad’s former estate consultant.
Name:
Miles Danner.
Miles had worked for Whitmore Heritage before joining Holloway Development.
There.
A bridge between old estate records and Conrad.
Miles had catalogued storage during the transition after Caroline’s death.
Years later, he worked for Conrad.
He knew the sedative existed.
He knew the trust amendment.
He knew Mara’s grief history.
Conrad had not invented the vulnerabilities.
He hired someone who knew where they were.
Then Evelyn said something painful.
“I should have told you about the medication order.”
“Yes.”
“I thought I was protecting you from a period you wanted forgotten.”
“No.”
Mara stared.
“You were protecting yourself from explaining what decisions you made for me.”
Evelyn looked down.
That difference mattered.
Then the independent appraisal of the hotel arrived.
It confirmed Mara had been too emotionally attached.
The hotel needed sale or major recapitalization within a year.
Mara sat alone with the report.
Conrad had exploited a real problem.
Again.
She could not win by pretending the hotel should never be sold.
So she called three investment banks.
“Run a clean auction.”
Naomi looked surprised.
“You’re ready?”
“No.”
“But?”
“I’m done confusing love with ownership.”
That decision changed everything.
Then one bank returned within hours with a preliminary valuation twenty percent above Halcyon’s offer.
Conrad’s “necessary” deal was not only conflicted.
May you like
It was cheap.
And now Mara could prove it.
