Chapter 9 - The ChoiceThe final document revealed that Lily's trust wasn't simply financial.
It contained ownership rights to a portion of Cole Meridian.
My mother had been one of the original architects of the company's charitable foundation.
If Marcus wanted, he could legally absorb the trust.
No one would know.
No one could stop him.
I expected him to do exactly what powerful men usually did.
Protect the money.
Protect the company.
Protect himself.
Instead, Marcus signed the papers transferring full control of the trust to Lily.
Then he added something else.
A permanent foundation for children of low-income workers.
Named after my mother.
The Evelyn Bennett Foundation.
I stared at him.
“You don't have to do this.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
He looked at Lily.
“Because your mother spent her life protecting something my family nearly destroyed.”
Then he looked at me.
“And because I don't want Lily growing up thinking money is the most important thing a person can inherit.”
I cried.
Lily walked over and hugged his leg.
“Mister Marcus?”
He crouched.
“Yes?”
“Can I still come in the secret room?”
He laughed.
It was the first real laugh I had ever heard from him.
“No.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Because it's not secret anymore.”
She smiled.
“Okay.”
Then she whispered:
“Can I have pancakes?”
Marcus looked at me.
I laughed through my tears.
“She's negotiating.”
“I noticed.”
And for the first time, the mansion didn't feel like a workplace.
It felt like a home.
But there was still one thing left unresolved.
Marcus's wedding to Vanessa had been canceled.
And three months later, he asked me to dinner.
Not as his employee.
May you like
Not as Lily's mother.
As myself.
