Chapter 2 - The Shares No One Told Her She Owned
Carrie stared at the document for almost a full minute.
“Seventeen percent?”
“Yes.”
“That could be worth—”
“Depending on the most recent private valuation? Between one hundred and forty and one hundred seventy million dollars.”
Carrie actually laughed.
It was a small, stunned sound.
“I had twelve dollars of room-service oatmeal this morning and spent ten minutes wondering whether I should order fruit.”
Evelyn did not smile.
“That is one reason I tell clients never to assume they know their own financial position until we investigate.”
Carrie looked back at the paperwork.
“Why didn’t Dominic tell me?”
“I don’t know that Dominic knows.”
Carrie shook her head.
“He knows everything about Marino Holdings.”
“His father may not have wanted him to know.”
That was possible.
Salvatore had loved his only son fiercely.
He had also understood Dominic better than anyone.
Proud.
Possessive.
Accustomed to obedience.
Before the wedding, Salvatore had once pulled Carrie aside after watching Dominic interrupt her three times during dinner.
“My son loves you,” he had said.
Carrie smiled. “I know.”
Salvatore’s expression had remained serious.
“That was not the question.”
“What question?”
“Whether he knows how to deserve you.”
Carrie had never forgotten it.
She had simply stopped thinking about it.
Evelyn closed the file.
“I advise you not to discuss these shares with Dominic yet.”
“Why?”
“Because first I need to know what else exists.”
Carrie’s phone vibrated.
Margaret.
For the third time.
Carrie looked at Evelyn.
“My mother-in-law.”
“Do you trust her?”
“Yes.”
The answer required no thought.
Carrie stepped into the hallway and answered.
“Margaret?”
“Thank God.”
Margaret sounded as though she had been holding her breath for hours.
“Where are you?”
“I’m safe.”
“Where?”
Carrie hesitated.
“White Plains.”
“I’m coming.”
“Margaret—”
“Caroline, if you think I am going to sit in that house while you are alone in a hotel at thirty-two weeks pregnant, then nine years with this family have taught you nothing about me.”
Despite everything, Carrie smiled.
“Okay.”
Twenty-five minutes later, Margaret entered the hotel lobby with one suitcase and no driver.
Carrie met her near the elevators.
Margaret took one look at her and immediately pulled her into her arms.
Carrie held herself together for approximately three seconds.
Then she began to cry.
Margaret said nothing.
She simply held her.
When Carrie finally stepped back, embarrassed, Margaret wiped tears from her cheek.
“Where is that fool of a son of mine?”
“At home.”
“With her?”
Carrie nodded.
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Your father-in-law is going to haunt him.”
Carrie laughed through her tears.
Upstairs, Margaret inspected the hotel room.
“This chair is terrible.”
“It’s a hotel.”
“This mattress is worse.”
“You’ve been here thirty seconds.”
“I can tell.”
Carrie sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m not going home.”
Margaret stopped criticizing the furniture.
“I know.”
Carrie looked up.
“You do?”
“If you went back because Dominic ordered you to, he would learn nothing.”
Margaret sat beside her.
“And if you went back because I begged you to, you would learn something worse.”
“What?”
“That your dignity is negotiable.”
Carrie looked at her hands.
Margaret noticed the missing ring but did not mention it.
“You can stay at my Manhattan apartment.”
“No.”
“Caroline—”
“I need somewhere Dominic does not own, manage, monitor or associate with his family.”
Margaret absorbed that.
Then nodded.
“Fair.”
“I’m finding an apartment.”
“You are also about to have a baby.”
“I know.”
“Then I will help you find an apartment.”
Carrie smiled faintly.
“There’s no stopping you, is there?”
“Your daughter will discover that soon.”
The mention of the baby softened them both.
Margaret placed a hand gently against Carrie’s stomach.
“She’s moving?”
Carrie nodded.
“She likes orange juice and apparently hates boardrooms.”
“Sensible girl.”
For several minutes, the room felt almost peaceful.
Then Margaret noticed the folder on the desk.
“Lawyer?”
Carrie’s body tensed.
Margaret followed her expression.
“You do not have to explain.”
“I found something.”
“What?”
Carrie hesitated.
Then turned the laptop.
Margaret read the first page.
All color disappeared from her face.
“Where did you get this?”
“My lawyer.”
Margaret sat down.
“Whitaker Holdings.”
“You know about it?”
Margaret did not answer immediately.
“Margaret?”
“My husband created it.”
Carrie stared.
“You knew?”
“Not all of it.”
“But you knew something.”
Margaret looked guilty.
“Salvatore told me he had made provisions for you.”
“What provisions?”
“He did not say.”
“Why?”
Margaret’s eyes filled with an old sadness.
“Because he was already sick when he arranged them.”
Carrie had known Salvatore’s pancreatic cancer had progressed quickly.
Four months from diagnosis to funeral.
“He made me promise not to interfere,” Margaret continued. “He said that if the day ever came when you needed what he had left you, the lawyers would find you.”
Carrie looked back at the screen.
“He gave me seventeen percent of the company.”
Margaret’s eyebrows lifted.
“Well.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Then, despite the seriousness of everything, Margaret smiled.
“My husband always did enjoy dramatic gestures.”
Carrie rubbed her forehead.
“I don’t want Dominic’s company.”
“It is not Dominic’s company.”
Carrie looked up.
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“That is the first thing you need to understand. Salvatore built Marino Holdings before Dominic could tie his own shoes. If he chose to give you part of it, it was his right.”
“Why me?”
Margaret’s expression changed.
“Because you saved it.”
Carrie frowned.
“What?”
“Ten years ago, before you and Dominic married, Marino Holdings nearly collapsed.”
“I knew there were problems.”
“You knew more than that. You were the junior analyst who found the accounting discrepancy in the Bergen acquisition.”
Carrie remembered.
She had been twenty-eight, working for an outside consulting firm.
She had discovered that the acquisition target had understated liabilities by twenty-three million dollars.
Her report stopped the deal.
“I did my job.”
“You saved Salvatore from signing a contract that would have dragged the company into years of litigation.”
Margaret touched the screen.
“He never forgot.”
Carrie stared.
“And perhaps,” Margaret said quietly, “he suspected that someday Dominic might.”
Carrie’s phone buzzed again.
This time the caller was unknown.
She answered.
“Mrs. Marino?”
A male voice.
“Yes?”
“My name is Ethan Cole.”
Carrie went completely still.
Margaret noticed.
“I think we need to talk about Vanessa Langford.”
Carrie stood.
“What about her?”
Ethan’s next words turned her blood cold.
“She isn’t hiding from me.”
A pause.
May you like
“I’ve been hiding from her.”
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