Chapter 9 - Helena Vale
Helena chose an expensive rooftop restaurant overlooking the city.
Rachel arrived alone.
At least, Helena believed she did.
Pierce sat two tables away disguised behind glasses and a newspaper.
Daniel remained in a vehicle downstairs.
Helena was already seated.
She looked nearly identical to the woman Rachel remembered from years earlier.
Tall.
Elegant.
Dark blonde hair.
Perfect posture.
Cold eyes.
“Rachel.”
“Helena.”
“It's been a long time.”
“Not long enough.”
Helena smiled.
“I always liked that about you.”
“What?”
“You never pretend to be charming.”
Rachel sat.
“You mentioned my daughter.”
Helena lifted her glass.
“That got your attention.”
“If you use her again, this conversation ends.”
“Fair.”
Helena opened a folder.
Inside was the forty-percent ownership document.
Rachel did not react.
“Interesting, isn't it?”
“I've seen it.”
Helena's smile faded slightly.
“So Daniel already knows.”
Rachel said nothing.
Helena leaned back.
“Margaret was clever.”
“Yes.”
“She nearly ruined everything.”
Rachel watched her.
“Everything being what?”
Helena smiled again.
“You want me to confess?”
“I want to know why you spent years inserting yourself into Daniel's life.”
Helena's face remained calm.
“Daniel's company should have been mine.”
Rachel laughed.
“That is ambitious.”
“My original land models built Morgan Development.”
“You were paid for consulting.”
“I created the strategy.”
“Then you should have negotiated better.”
Helena's eyes hardened.
There it was.
The first crack.
“Daniel fired me and used my work.”
“Daniel fired you because you were negotiating against him.”
“He was a naïve little developer playing with inherited money.”
“He built a company.”
“With your money.”
Rachel stopped.
Helena noticed.
“You didn't know that at the time.”
Rachel remained silent.
“Evan moved your funds when Daniel's company was weeks from collapse.”
“You stole from me.”
Helena shrugged.
“I preserved your investment.”
“You forged my approval.”
“We used access you had already granted.”
“That is theft.”
“That is interpretation.”
Rachel felt disgust.
“You destroyed my marriage.”
Helena's expression changed.
“No.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“You manipulated our finances while Daniel and I were already struggling.”
“I didn't create your problems.”
“No.”
Rachel spoke quietly.
“You just made sure we couldn't solve them.”
Helena's smile returned.
“Perhaps.”
Rachel understood.
This woman did not feel guilt.
Only competition.
“Why Vanessa?”
“Daniel responds to admiration.”
Rachel flinched.
Helena continued.
“You stopped admiring him.”
“I was raising his child while working and helping fund his company.”
“And he felt invisible.”
Rachel hated that part because it contained truth.
Not justification.
Truth.
Daniel had felt ignored.
Rachel had felt abandoned.
Instead of communicating, they both retreated.
Helena had simply watched.
Then exploited the distance.
“Vanessa knew everything?”
“Enough.”
“Did she marry him for you?”
Helena laughed.
“My sister has her own reasons.”
“She loves him?”
“In her way.”
Rachel stared.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Vanessa likes beautiful things.”
“Daniel isn't a thing.”
“Neither was the necklace.”
Rachel's pulse changed.
Helena knew about the sapphire necklace.
“Why did Vanessa hide Ellie?”
For the first time, Helena looked annoyed.
“That was stupid.”
“So it wasn't part of your plan.”
“Of course not.”
Helena set down her drink.
“I told Vanessa never to involve the child.”
Rachel believed her.
That disturbed her more than a lie might have.
Helena was ruthless.
But apparently even she understood the line Vanessa crossed.
“What do you want from me?”
Helena slid a contract across the table.
Rachel read.
Purchase of thirty-one percent of Rachel's shares.
Price.
Eighty million dollars.
Rachel almost laughed.
“You're offering eighty million dollars?”
“Yes.”
“For a company you claim should already be yours?”
“Business is full of irony.”
Rachel closed the folder.
“No.”
Helena's smile vanished.
“You should consider it.”
“I did.”
“You would still own nine percent.”
“No.”
“Daniel will eventually push you out.”
“No.”
“You're divorced.”
“Yes.”
“And now you think because you share ownership and a child you'll somehow rebuild your old family?”
Rachel stiffened.
Helena smiled.
“That touched something.”
Rachel stood.
“This meeting is over.”
Helena remained seated.
“You haven't heard the important part.”
Rachel paused.
Helena took out her phone.
She played an audio recording.
Daniel's voice filled the table.
“If Rachel discovers the shares, we'll deal with it.”
Rachel froze.
Another male voice asked,
“Would you buy her out?”
Daniel answered.
“If necessary.”
The recording ended.
Rachel stared.
“When was that?”
“Three months ago.”
Rachel's chest tightened.
Daniel had known?
Helena smiled softly.
“Ask him.”
Rachel walked away.
Pierce immediately followed.
Downstairs, Daniel stepped from the vehicle.
“What did she say?”
Rachel stared at him.
“Did you know about my shares?”
Daniel's face changed.
“What?”
“Three months ago.”
She repeated the recording.
Daniel went pale.
“Rachel, that isn't what you think.”
“Did you say it?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than she expected.
Daniel stepped closer.
“But I wasn't talking about forty percent.”
Rachel's anger faltered.
“What were you talking about?”
“A different company.”
Helena appeared from the building behind them.
She stopped at the entrance.
Smiling.
Daniel continued.
“I was talking about Morgan Residential.”
Rachel stared.
“I gave you ten percent years ago.”
Rachel remembered.
A minor subsidiary.
Almost worthless.
Helena had edited the recording.
Rachel turned.
Helena's smile disappeared.
Pierce raised his phone.
“Thank you.”
Helena frowned.
“For what?”
“For providing evidence of manipulated recordings.”
Helena's expression turned cold.
She walked away.
Daniel looked at Rachel.
“What else did she offer?”
“Eighty million.”
“For?”
“Thirty-one percent.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
“She wants control.”
Rachel nodded.
Then her phone rang.
Thomas.
Rachel answered.
His voice was panicked.
“Rachel.”
Her heart stopped.
“What happened?”
“It's Ellie.”
Rachel gripped the phone.
May you like
“What about Ellie?”
“She isn't here.”
