Chapter 12 - The Enemy Buying Her Company
Adrian Cross built Asterion Group by buying businesses during moments of personal crisis.
Divorces.
Deaths.
Scandals.
Criminal investigations.
He described himself as a rescuer of distressed assets.
Others called him a professional vulture.
Clara had met him once at an investment conference.
He was polished, charming, and unsettlingly informed about everyone he spoke to.
Now his company was attempting to remove her from Bennett Artisan Foods.
And genetic evidence suggested someone in his family had fathered Chloe’s child.
Clara arranged a meeting.
Adrian chose a private dining room at one of her own restaurants.
He arrived alone.
At forty-one, he was lean, dark-haired, and impeccably dressed. A faint scar ran along his left temple.
He smiled when Clara entered.
“I wondered when you would connect the pieces.”
“You know about the DNA test.”
“I know Evelyn’s clinic made a mistake.”
“Was it a mistake?”
Adrian poured water into two glasses.
“No.”
Clara remained standing.
“Did you provide the biological material?”
“Yes.”
The direct answer surprised her.
“Why?”
“To prevent Evelyn from producing what she believed was a Mercer heir.”
“You used Chloe.”
“I never met her.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No.”
“Are you connected to Sebastian?”
Adrian smiled slightly.
“Sebastian believes he is controlling this game.”
“And you?”
“I know nobody controls it.”
Clara sat across from him.
“Are you Arthur Mercer’s biological son?”
His expression revealed nothing.
“Why do you ask?”
“My mother saved Arthur’s child from the maternity residence.”
Adrian’s fingers paused against the glass.
It was a small reaction, but Clara saw it.
“You knew Margaret,” she said.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She raised me for the first two years of my life.”
The room became silent.
Clara stared at him.
“My mother raised you?”
“Until it became dangerous.”
“Who raised you afterward?”
“A family in Boston. Cross was their name.”
“Why didn’t she ever tell me?”
“She wanted you to have a life outside this.”
“And yet here you are trying to take my company.”
“I’m trying to keep it from Evelyn.”
“You offered my board money to remove me.”
“Because your company is connected to the loan. If Evelyn forces default, Mercer creditors will seize it.”
“So your solution is to seize it first?”
“My solution is to place it beyond her reach.”
Clara leaned forward.
“You could have spoken to me.”
“I didn’t know whether Arthur’s clause had shaped you into his successor or his next victim.”
“What does that mean?”
“Arthur admired people he could use.”
“You speak as if you knew him.”
“I did.”
“You were a child when he died.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“Arthur did not die in the plane crash.”
Clara waited.
“He lived for seven more years under another identity.”
“Where?”
“Switzerland. Near the Continuum facility.”
“Why?”
“To finish the genetic succession project?”
“To destroy it.”
“Then why does it still exist?”
“Because Evelyn found him.”
Clara remembered the warning.
The truth is only useful when people survive long enough to tell it.
“Did Evelyn kill Arthur?”
“I can’t prove it.”
“Where is Sebastian?”
“Trying to convince you he is a hero.”
“Is he?”
“No.”
“Are you?”
Adrian smiled without humor.
“No.”
At least the answer was honest.
Clara placed the DNA report on the table.
“Why use your genetic material?”
“Because Evelyn’s succession plan required a child she believed was connected to Arthur’s line.”
“You are connected.”
“Yes.”
“Then the child may still qualify under the original trust.”
“Not under the wife clause.”
“You wanted control to pass to me.”
“I wanted it to pass away from Evelyn.”
“Why?”
“Because she killed my mother.”
Clara’s breath caught.
“The woman from the maternity residence?”
“Yes. Her name was Lillian Cross.”
Adrian slid a folder across the table.
Inside were photographs of Margaret, Lillian, and Arthur.
One showed Margaret and Lillian standing beside a younger Evelyn at the maternity residence.
Another showed Lillian holding an infant.
On the back was written Adrian.
Clara looked up.
“My mother knew your birth mother.”
“She helped her escape.”
“What happened to Lillian?”
“Evelyn found her four years later.”
“How did she die?”
“A house fire.”
Clara thought of the fire alarm at Chloe’s hotel.
“The attack on Chloe.”
“Was not mine.”
“Can you prove it?”
“No.”
“Did you send me the messages?”
“Some of them.”
“Some?”
Adrian’s expression became serious.
“There are three people contacting you through the same anonymous relay.”
“You, Sebastian, and who else?”
“I don’t know.”
Clara’s phone rang.
It was Nina.
She answered.
Nina spoke quickly.
“Clara, the board voted.”
“What happened?”
“They removed you as chief executive pending the fraud investigation.”
Clara looked at Adrian.
He did not appear surprised.
“Who replaced me?”
May you like
Nina hesitated.
“Julian.”
