Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE BY THE LIGHTHOUSE
Detective Martinez traced the phone to the Hudson River.
The red lighthouse narrowed the possibilities.
Within forty minutes, police identified an abandoned property owned through a Northstar subsidiary.
Mary insisted on going.
Martinez refused to let her approach until officers cleared the house.
She waited inside an unmarked SUV while rain hammered the roof.
Every minute felt endless.
Finally, Martinez returned.
“We found your mother.”
Mary ran from the vehicle.
Eleanor was wrapped in a blanket outside the house.
Mary hugged her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Who came through the door?”
“One of Thomas’s men.”
“What happened?”
“Police arrived seconds later.”
Mary closed her eyes with relief.
Eleanor held her tightly.
Then whispered, “I lied to Thomas.”
Mary pulled back.
“About what?”
“The agreement.”
“You told him you knew where it was.”
“I do.”
“Where?”
Eleanor smiled weakly.
“Your father hid it in the only place Thomas would never willingly enter.”
Mary frowned.
Thirty minutes later, they drove to St. Catherine’s Cemetery.
Richard Bennett had purchased a family mausoleum years earlier.
Thomas hated cemeteries.
He had refused to attend even Rebecca Bennett’s burial.
Inside the mausoleum, Eleanor removed a brass panel beneath Rebecca’s memorial plaque.
Behind it sat a sealed document tube.
Mary opened it.
The original Northstar agreement was inside.
So was a handwritten letter from Rebecca.
To the Bennett who finds this when our family needs it most.
Mary read in silence.
Rebecca had anticipated betrayal.
She wrote that wealth rarely destroyed families by itself.
The belief that one person deserved all of it did.
She warned future heirs never to confuse loyalty with obedience.
Mary thought of Ethan.
Thomas.
Even herself.
She had spent six years confusing love with trust.
Daniel examined the agreement.
“This is enough to trigger the fraud clause if we prove Thomas’s misconduct.”
Mary looked at him.
“Can we take control of Northstar?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Not immediately.”
“Why?”
“Thomas has thirty days to challenge the transfer.”
Mary’s phone vibrated.
A news alert appeared.
BENNETT HOLDINGS CEO MARY BENNETT ACCUSED OF FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT.
Mary opened the article.
Anonymous sources claimed she had misused company funds to finance her canceled wedding.
A second article appeared.
Then a third.
Olivia called.
“Mary, our stock is dropping.”
“How fast?”
“Eight percent in twelve minutes.”
Mary stared at the headlines.
Thomas had failed to get the agreement.
So he had begun destroying the company publicly.
Then Ethan called.
“Turn on Channel Eight.”
Mary did.
Ethan was standing outside Bennett Holdings headquarters surrounded by reporters.
A journalist shouted, “Mr. Cole, did Mary Bennett misuse company money?”
Ethan looked directly into the cameras.
Mary waited.
This was his choice.
Ethan stepped toward the microphones.
“Yes.”
Mary’s face went still.
Then Ethan continued.
May you like
“But she isn’t the person who stole it.”
And he held up a folder bearing Thomas Bennett’s signature.
