Chapter 8 - The Empire He Chose to Burn
Marcus returned to Chicago two days later.
Not as the untouchable head of the Hale organization.
As a cooperating witness.
Lauren and Ethan did not go with him.
That was Marcus's decision, and for once Lauren agreed with it immediately.
They returned to Seattle under temporary federal protection while Ethan resumed school remotely and Lauren tried to rescue a company suddenly dragged into a national scandal.
Her employees surprised her.
On the morning she joined the company-wide video call, more than four hundred people were logged in across twelve locations.
Lauren expected fear.
She expected resignations.
Instead, the manager of her first coffee shop held up a handwritten sign.
WE'VE GOT THE COFFEE. YOU HANDLE THE CHAOS.
Then other employees lifted signs of their own.
WE STAND WITH LAUREN AND ETHAN.
NO SECRET SURVEILLANCE DISCOUNT.
ETHAN GETS FREE HOT CHOCOLATE FOR LIFE.
Lauren laughed until she cried.
For ten years, she had believed she built the company alone.
She realized that was not true anymore.
She had built a community.
In Chicago, Marcus was dismantling an empire.
He turned over ledgers.
He named shell companies.
He surrendered control of businesses that had been used to hide criminal revenue and placed the legitimate companies under independent management.
Men who had spent years calling him brother stopped answering his calls.
Others called only to threaten him.
Daniel stayed.
"You know you can leave," Marcus told him late one night.
They stood in the study where Marcus had first seen Ethan on television.
The broken whiskey glass had been cleaned days ago, but a small mark remained in the hardwood floor.
Daniel looked at him.
"You planning to fire me?"
"No."
"Then stop trying to give me dramatic exits."
Marcus almost smiled.
"Federal agents may seize half of this house tomorrow."
Daniel shrugged. "Always hated the furniture."
Marcus looked toward the television.
It was off.
"I missed ten years."
Daniel's expression softened.
"Yes."
"I keep thinking about all the stupid things."
"Such as?"
"First tooth. First day of school. First time he rode a bicycle."
Daniel leaned against the desk.
"You can't go back."
"I am aware."
"Then stop trying to suffer backward."
Marcus looked at him.
Daniel continued.
"You have a son who asked if he could write to you in prison after knowing you less than a week. Maybe spend your energy becoming the kind of man worth writing to."
Marcus stared at him.
"When did you become philosophical?"
"Around the time a ten-year-old beat me at chess six times and called me predictable."
Marcus laughed quietly.
His phone rang.
Lauren.
He answered immediately.
"Is Ethan all right?"
"Hello to you too."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"Sorry. Hello."
"He's fine."
"Good."
"He has a science project due Monday and believes discovering a criminal conspiracy should qualify for an extension."
Marcus sat down.
"Reasonable argument."
"Do not encourage him."
"Of course not."
A pause.
Then Lauren said, "How bad is it?"
Marcus knew she did not mean the science project.
"Federal prosecutors think the cooperation is substantial."
"That wasn't my question."
He looked at the files covering his desk.
"Bad."
"Prison?"
"Probably some time."
Lauren was quiet.
Marcus continued before hope could turn her silence into something it was not.
"You do not owe me waiting."
"I know."
"I mean it."
"Marcus, I spent ten years not waiting for you. I am very experienced at it."
He winced.
"Fair."
Her voice softened slightly.
"Ethan will wait, though."
Marcus looked down.
"He shouldn't have to."
"No. But children often have to live with consequences they didn't create. Our job is to make sure those consequences don't convince them they caused them."
Marcus closed his eyes.
"You became very good at this."
"At what?"
"Being a parent."
Lauren went silent.
"I had practice."
"I know."
Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.
Then Lauren asked, "Did they find anything at the Lake Geneva property?"
Marcus's expression changed.
"They're serving the warrant tomorrow morning."
"And Raymond?"
"Still missing."
"Cassandra?"
"In federal custody. Her attorney is negotiating."
Lauren sighed.
"I don't know whether I want her punished or whether I just want her out of our lives forever."
Marcus looked toward the dark window.
"Both are allowed."
"That's surprisingly emotionally healthy."
"Ethan recommended a book."
Lauren laughed.
Marcus went still.
There it was again.
Her laugh.
A sound he had spent ten years remembering badly because memory could not reproduce it properly.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Marcus."
He almost told her.
Instead he said, "Tell Ethan I will call before bed."
"Tell him yourself."
"I will."
The next morning, federal agents entered the Lake Geneva property.
Raymond was not there.
But the records were.
Forty years of them.
Bribery payments.
Blackmail files.
Illegal contracts.
Photographs.
Offshore accounts.
Evidence linking Raymond to Evelyn's murder.
And, inside an old steel cabinet, a file labeled LAUREN M.
Marcus was present when Agent Bell opened it.
The first page was dated nine months before Marcus asked Lauren for a divorce.
OBJECTIVE: SEPARATE M.H. FROM L.M. BEFORE ISSUE OF HEIR.
Marcus stared at the words.
"Before issue of heir," Bell repeated. "They were planning around a child before Lauren was even pregnant."
Daniel turned another page.
There were notes about Lauren's medical appointments.
Not the pregnancy.
Earlier fertility appointments.
Marcus went pale.
Lauren and Marcus had spent years trying for a baby.
They had gone through tests.
Treatments.
Disappointments.
Private grief.
Someone had been watching that too.
Bell looked at Marcus.
"Raymond knew you were trying to have a child."
Marcus's mouth became a hard line.
"Apparently."
The next page contained a proposal.
If conception occurs before marital separation, immediate contingency required.
Daniel swore.
Marcus felt sick.
"What does contingency mean?"
Bell asked.
Marcus thought of Evelyn.
Then of the gas station.
"Nothing good."
Bell turned to the final section.
A photograph slipped onto the table.
It had been taken ten years earlier.
Lauren stood outside her first Seattle coffee shop, visibly pregnant, one hand on her lower back.
Beside her was Megan.
Behind them, reflected in the window, was a man sitting inside a parked car.
Marcus recognized him.
"That's Owen Pike."
Daniel frowned. "Raymond's old driver?"
"Yes."
Bell looked at the photo.
"Where is he now?"
Daniel pulled out his phone.
"Retired. Supposedly in Wisconsin."
Marcus's phone rang before he could finish.
Lauren.
He answered.
There was no greeting.
Lauren's voice shook.
"Marcus, Ethan is gone."
Every person in the room froze.
Marcus stood.
"What do you mean gone?"
"He was upstairs doing schoolwork. The protection officer checked the hall ten minutes ago. His window is open."
Marcus's blood turned to ice.
"Lauren, listen to me. Get out of the house. Now."
"I'm not leaving without him."
"Daniel is calling Seattle. Police are coming. Do not search alone."
Then another call flashed onto Marcus's screen.
Unknown number.
A text arrived beneath it.
A photograph.
Ethan sat in the back seat of a car.
He was alive.
Terrified.
Beside the image was a message.
YOU BURNED THE EMPIRE. NOW COME WATCH WHAT BURNS WITH IT.
A location pin followed.
Lake Geneva.
May you like
Marcus looked at Agent Bell.
"Raymond has my son."
