Chapter 5 - THE SECOND PERSON SHE WANTED GONE
Chloe did not cry immediately.
That frightened Mark more.
She stared at the notebook.
“Am I bad?”
Mark’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“Is that why?”
“No.”
He moved beside her.
“No, sweetheart.”
“Then why would I have to go away?”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“But Lauren wrote—”
“I don’t care what Lauren wrote.”
Chloe looked at him.
“Can she make you send me?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
Mark almost said of course.
Then he remembered how many things had happened inside his own house while he assumed they could never happen.
He put both hands around Chloe’s.
“I promise you I will never send you somewhere because somebody else wants more room in my life.”
Her chin trembled.
“That’s not exactly no boarding school.”
Despite everything, Mark almost smiled.
“You’re definitely my daughter.”
Chloe did not smile back.
Mark became serious.
“You would only ever go to a school away from home if someday you wanted to and we decided together it was good for you.”
“Okay.”
“You understand?”
She nodded.
Then whispered:
“Lauren says I make the baby less excited.”
Mark frowned.
“What?”
“She said you already had a daughter, so having a son wasn’t as special for you as it was for her.”
His stomach turned.
“Did she say that to you?”
“She said I shouldn’t make everything about me.”
“When?”
“When I asked if Grandma could still come to Sunday dinner after the baby.”
Mark looked toward Evelyn.
His mother closed her eyes.
Chloe continued.
“I wasn’t trying to make it about me.”
“I know.”
“I just didn’t want Grandma to eat by herself.”
Mark pulled his daughter into his arms.
She resisted for about two seconds.
Then collapsed against him.
“I thought if I told you, you’d think I hated Lauren.”
“No.”
“I don’t hate her.”
“I know.”
“She used to be nice.”
That hurt differently.
Lauren had been nice.
Not fake every second.
She had taken Chloe shopping.
Helped with a school project.
Stayed up one night when Chloe had the flu while Mark was in London.
People were rarely one thing all the time.
That did not excuse what came later.
It made accepting it harder.
Mark called Lauren.
She answered immediately.
“Finally.”
“Did you discuss boarding school for Chloe?”
Silence.
“Lauren.”
“I researched schools.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s approaching middle school.”
“She’s eleven.”
“Plenty of good schools begin in sixth or seventh grade.”
“Did Chloe ask to go?”
“No.”
“Did I?”
“No.”
“Then why were you planning it?”
Lauren’s voice sharpened.
“I was thinking ahead.”
“To what?”
“A house where everybody isn’t still organized around Sarah.”
Mark went still.
“Chloe is not Sarah.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
“That is disgusting.”
“Then explain the notebook.”
“You went through my things?”
“Chloe found it.”
A pause.
“She had no business in my office.”
“It was under a printer.”
“Of course she says that.”
Mark’s voice changed.
“Be careful.”
Lauren went silent.
“You can be angry with me.”
He continued.
“You do not make my daughter into a liar because she discovered something you don’t want explained.”
Lauren sighed.
“Mark, you’re reacting emotionally.”
“My mother is being pushed out of her home.”
“I never pushed—”
“My signature is on a fake agreement.”
Silence.
“My mother’s money was redirected to renovate her cottage for Patricia.”
“I was planning for the baby.”
“My dead wife’s belongings are in a shed.”
“I was trying to create a healthier environment.”
“And now I find a plan to send Chloe away.”
“I researched boarding schools.”
“You wrote AFTER EVELYN MOVES.”
Lauren said nothing.
Mark looked at the notebook.
“Then you wrote REMOVE REMAINING SARAH ITEMS.”
Nothing.
“Then boarding school.”
Still nothing.
Mark’s voice became quieter.
“You weren’t making space for a baby.”
Lauren’s breathing changed.
“You were making space for a replacement family.”
“That is not fair.”
“Your mother in my mother’s cottage.”
“Mark—”
“Your child in this house.”
“Our child.”
“Yes.”
His throat tightened.
“Our child.”
Then he continued.
“And apparently my daughter somewhere else.”
“That is not what I wanted.”
“Then what did you want?”
Lauren finally exploded.
“I wanted one room in that house where I didn’t feel like somebody died before I arrived!”
Mark said nothing.
Lauren was crying now.
“I wanted one holiday that wasn’t about how Sarah did it.”
“Who made it that?”
“Everybody!”
“Name one person.”
“Your mother compares everything.”
“When?”
“Christmas cookies.”
Mark remembered Evelyn saying Sarah used too much cinnamon.
A passing comment.
Lauren had apparently kept it.
“Chloe talks about her constantly.”
“She was her mother.”
“I know!”
Lauren’s voice broke.
“And I know how horrible it sounds.”
For the first time, Mark heard the truth underneath all the manipulation.
Not justification.
Truth.
Lauren had entered a family that had survived a death together.
She had mistaken history for competition.
And rather than tell Mark she was drowning in it, she had tried to remove the evidence.
“I felt like there was no place for me,” Lauren whispered.
Mark closed his eyes.
“You had a place.”
“I didn’t feel it.”
“Then you should have told me.”
“You were never here.”
There it was.
Mark could not dismiss that.
“You’re right.”
Lauren went quiet.
“I was gone too much.”
Mark looked at Chloe.
“I let work become a reason not to notice what was happening at home.”
He took a breath.
“But being lonely does not give you permission to make other people disappear.”
Lauren cried silently on the other end.
“I’m coming home.”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“What?”
“Not tonight.”
“That is my home too.”
“Yes.”
Mark hated that this next part was necessary.
“But my attorney has advised that because you used my accounts and signature without permission, you should not access my study or financial systems until the review is complete.”
Lauren laughed through her tears.
“You called lawyers on your pregnant wife?”
“I called lawyers about forged legal documents.”
“You’re going to destroy this family.”
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“I think we already did that.”
He ended the call.
Chloe looked at him.
“Is she coming back?”
“Eventually we need to talk.”
“Are you getting divorced?”
“I don’t know.”
That was the truth.
Evelyn came closer.
“Don’t decide tonight.”
Mark almost laughed.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you keep trying to decide your whole life in one afternoon.”
Then the doorbell rang.
Tom opened it.
A woman stood outside.
Patricia Wells.
Lauren’s mother.
She looked frightened.
“I need to speak to Mark.”
Mark walked into the foyer.
Patricia held an envelope.
“I think Lauren lied to me.”
Mark stared at her.
“About what?”
“The cottage.”
Patricia swallowed.
“She told me Evelyn chose assisted living.”
Evelyn appeared behind Mark.
Patricia’s face fell.
“Oh, Evelyn.”
Evelyn said nothing.
Patricia looked ashamed.
“Lauren told me you wanted more care.”
“I don’t.”
“I know that now.”
Patricia handed Mark the envelope.
“These are the plans she sent me.”
Inside were architectural drawings.
EVELYN ELLISON COTTAGE — PROPOSED RENOVATION.
Patricia’s future bedroom.
Patricia’s sewing room.
Patricia’s bathroom.
Mark flipped through them.
Then stopped.
One page included demolition notes.
REMOVE ACCESSIBLE HANDRAIL / REPLACE WITH DECORATIVE IRON.
That handrail had been installed after Evelyn stopped driving.
Mark looked at Patricia.
“When did Lauren tell you I approved this?”
“January.”
“Did you speak to me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“She said…”
Patricia looked embarrassed.
“She said you didn’t want Evelyn to know until arrangements were final because she would become emotional.”
Evelyn laughed once.
“Apparently I’m very difficult.”
Patricia’s eyes filled.
“I’m sorry.”
Then she looked at Mark.
“There’s something else.”
Mark waited.
Patricia took out her phone.
“Lauren told me not to call you because you were having trouble with Chloe.”
Mark’s heart dropped.
“What kind of trouble?”
Patricia unlocked the screen.
Messages from Lauren.
Mark agrees Chloe has become overly attached to Evelyn since Sarah died. Once Evelyn relocates, we’ll encourage Chloe to become more independent.
Another.
If she resists, Mark is considering school away from home. It will be healthier once the baby is here.
Patricia whispered:
“I thought you knew.”
Mark looked toward his daughter.
Chloe had heard.
Her face had gone completely white.
Then another message arrived.
On Mark’s own phone.
From an unknown number.
A photograph.
Lauren leaving the Greenwich hotel.
Beside her was a man Mark recognized immediately.
Charles Denning.
A family-law attorney known for handling high-profile divorces.
Below the photograph was a news-alert preview.
BILLIONAIRE MARK ELLISON SEPARATES FROM PREGNANT WIFE AFTER FAMILY DISPUTE.
Mark stared at the screen.
His attorney called two seconds later.
“Mark, don’t talk to reporters.”
“I haven’t.”
“Lauren has.”
He closed his eyes.
“What did she say?”
A pause.
“She says you threw her out of the family home after your mother demanded she leave.”
Mark looked at Evelyn.
Then Chloe.
The story was already moving.
May you like
And for the first time since the grocery store, the fight was no longer happening privately.
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