Chapter 8 - THE SCANDAL THEY TRIED TO TURN AGAINST HER
Three days later, Mara woke to her own medical history on the internet.
Not the kidney stone itself.
Something worse.
An anonymous business blog claimed she had suffered “an emotional breakdown” during the previous year and was now exploiting Ronan’s affair to seize Ellison House while “medically unstable.”
The article cited unnamed employees.
It included the date of her emergency-room visit.
Her blood pressure.
Medication.
Even the name of the attending physician.
Mara stared at the screen.
“How?”
Grant’s face hardened.
“Someone accessed private medical data.”
Naomi swore.
Within two hours, the story spread.
MARA ELLISON POWER GRAB?
CEO’S WIFE TAKES CONTROL AMID MARRIAGE COLLAPSE.
Reporters gathered outside headquarters.
Kelsey said nothing publicly.
That told Mara everything.
“She wants me emotional.”
Grant nodded.
“She wants you to deny every detail so the story becomes about your health.”
Mara closed the laptop.
“Then we don’t play.”
At noon, she walked into Ellison House through the front entrance.
No back door.
No private elevator.
Cameras waited.
Mara stopped.
“I won’t discuss private medical records stolen without my consent.”
Microphones moved closer.
“But I will correct one thing.”
Silence.
“I am not taking control of Ellison House because my marriage failed.”
She looked directly into the cameras.
“I am exercising rights I have held since before my husband joined this company.”
A reporter shouted, “Did Ronan Ellison found the business?”
“No.”
That answer traveled instantly.
“I incorporated Ellison House five years before Ronan came aboard. He helped expand it. He served as an exceptional CEO for many years.”
Mara paused.
“He also made personal decisions that created unacceptable corporate risk. Both statements can be true.”
Another reporter called, “Are you trying to destroy him?”
“No.”
“Do you still love him?”
Grant took one step forward.
Mara stopped him with a glance.
“Yes.”
The crowd quieted.
“I loved my husband for fifteen years.”
Her voice remained steady.
“Love does not require me to surrender my judgment, my ownership, or my dignity.”
Then she walked inside.
By evening, public opinion had shifted.
Not completely.
Enough.
But Grant’s investigation uncovered something more important.
The medical-data leak came from a third-party benefits administrator.
The user who requested Mara’s record had logged in using credentials assigned to Evan Locke.
The CFO.
He had supposedly been cooperating.
Grant called him immediately.
No answer.
Security checked his condominium.
Empty.
Passport gone.
Then Naomi found a bank transfer.
Evan had moved $900,000 to the Cayman Islands that morning.
Kelsey had not been acting alone.
And Evan had just abandoned her.
At 8:16 P.M., Mara received an unknown text.
It contained a photograph of Evan standing inside O’Hare Airport.
Below it:
IF I GO DOWN, KELSEY GOES FIRST.
Then a second message arrived.
ASK HER WHAT SHE DID TO RONAN’S CAR LAST WINTER.
May you like
Mara’s blood went cold.
Last winter, Ronan had nearly died when his brakes failed on Lake Shore Drive.
