Chapter 12
Mark finally agreed to meet Richard face-to-face.
Attorneys were present.
So was Claudia.
The conference room belonged to Miriam’s firm, not the Bellacortes.
Neutral carpet.
Bad coffee.
No bodyguards inside.
Mark looked exhausted.
The expensive sweater and polished shoes remained, but the confidence was gone.
Richard placed no documents on the table.
Everything had already been exchanged.
He wanted answers.
“Why didn’t you ask me for help with Summit Crest?”
Mark laughed.
“You told me not to do the deal.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is.”
Mark leaned forward.
“If I came back and said you were right, you would’ve fixed it.”
“Yes.”
“Exactly.”
Richard frowned.
Mark continued.
“You don’t understand how humiliating that is.”
“So stealing was less humiliating?”
“At first I wasn’t stealing.”
He had moved money he believed he could repay.
A short-term bridge.
Then another.
Then invoices.
Then false providers.
Every step was supposed to be temporary.
Every temporary choice made the next one easier.
“And Noah?” Richard asked.
Mark looked away.
“His expenses gave me access.”
“You mean his name.”
Mark said nothing.
Richard felt anger rise.
He lowered his voice instead.
“You used your dead wife’s child.”
“He’s my child too.”
“Then why were you leaving him?”
Mark’s face tightened.
Claudia answered before he could.
“Because he convinced himself Noah would be better with you.”
Mark turned toward her.
“Shut up.”
“No.”
She looked at Richard.
“He said Noah loved you more. He said the boy needed stability. He said once we fixed Arizona, we could bring him later.”
Richard looked at Mark.
“Did you believe that?”
Mark rubbed both hands across his face.
“I didn’t know what I believed.”
“Try.”
For the first time, Mark looked directly at his father.
“I hated being around him.”
Richard went still.
Mark’s voice weakened.
“Every time I looked at Noah, I saw Emily.”
His first wife.
Noah’s mother.
“She got sick and I couldn’t fix it. Then she died and everybody looked at me like I was supposed to become this incredible single father because tragedy makes people noble.”
Richard said nothing.
“I wasn’t noble.”
Mark swallowed.
“I was angry.”
“At Noah?”
“At everything.”
Claudia stared at him.
It seemed she had never heard this version either.
Mark continued.
“Then Summit Crest started failing. Claudia wanted a life. Noah needed things. You were always there with money.”
Richard interrupted.
“Noah needed normal things.”
“I know that now.”
“No. You knew it then.”
Mark looked down.
That was the emotional truth.
He had known.
Claudia had known.
Grief explained.
Debt pressured.
Resentment distorted.
But adults had made choices.
Richard leaned back.
“What were you protecting, Mark?”
His son answered without looking up.
“The version of me that wasn’t a failure.”
May you like
Richard nodded.
“And you nearly destroyed your son to keep him alive.”
