Chapter 12 - LYDIA CROSS MAKES A DEAL
Lydia called me that evening.
"Come alone."
"No."
"Then you'll never learn why Evelyn survived."
I went.
But I wasn't alone.
Rebecca's team followed at a distance.
Lydia waited in a hotel penthouse.
She poured tea.
I didn't touch it.
"You look like your mother."
"So everyone keeps telling me."
"She was difficult too."
"You tried to kill her."
Lydia almost smiled.
"No."
That answer surprised me.
"Malcolm arranged the crash."
"Your husband."
"Yes."
"You knew."
"Afterward."
"And you helped fake her death."
Lydia looked out the window.
"I helped Malcolm hide what he'd done."
"Difference without distinction."
"Perhaps."
"Why did you send Dad Mom's address eighteen months ago?"
Her eyes moved toward me.
"So Victor finally told you."
"Why?"
"Because Damian had become dangerous."
I laughed.
"He became dangerous?"
"He wasn't always like this."
I thought of every parent who had ever said that about a cruel son.
Lydia continued.
"Damian found Malcolm's private files after his death."
"The recordings."
"And more."
"What more?"
"The Hale Infrastructure Trust."
My stomach tightened.
"Damian controls it?"
"Not yet."
"Who does?"
Lydia looked almost embarrassed.
"I do."
There it was.
Fourteen years of money.
Hidden behind companies.
Controlled by Lydia Cross.
"Why marry Damian to me if you already had the trust?"
"Because the trust's principal could only be unlocked by consolidation with Claire Hale's voting shares."
My shares.
The marriage wasn't romance.
It had been a financial key.
"Did Damian know when he met me?"
"Yes."
The answer hurt even though I expected it.
Every dinner.
Every joke.
Every proposal.
Every promise.
A transaction.
I stood.
Lydia spoke quickly.
"I can give it back."
I turned.
"Why?"
"Because Damian plans to take everything from both families."
"Why would I believe you?"
"Because he tried to remove me from the trust this morning."
For the first time, Lydia Cross wasn't defending her son.
She was afraid of him.
"What do you want?"
"Immunity."
I laughed.
"Everyone wants immunity."
"I can give prosecutors every offshore account Malcolm created."
"Then do it."
"I need protection."
"From Damian?"
"From the person who actually controls the network."
I froze.
"You said you controlled it."
"The money."
She shook her head.
"Not the people."
"Who?"
Lydia's face changed.
The penthouse door opened.
Her daughter walked in.
Celeste Cross.
Damian's younger sister.
I had known Celeste for six years.
Beautiful.
Quiet.
Always watching.
She looked at her mother.
"Tell her."
Lydia closed her eyes.
Celeste looked at me.
"The person who controlled the network after Thomas Hale died was Rose Hale."
"My grandmother is dead."
"Yes."
"And after she died?"
May you like
Celeste swallowed.
"I took over."
