Chapter 13 - Mark’s DealMark requested a meeting with Eleanor.
He offered information about April’s treatment in exchange for Eleanor asking prosecutors to consider his cooperation.
Eleanor refused to promise anything.
She agreed to listen through glass.
Mark looked thinner than at the custody hearing. The blue suit had been replaced by detention clothing. His confidence had collapsed, but self-pity remained.
“I didn’t know the treatment could become dangerous,” he said.
“You signed it.”
“Your father said it was preventive.”
“You trusted a man who had abandoned me.”
“He told me he stayed away because Marianne tried to kill him.”
“And you believed him.”
“I wanted to.”
The answer was more honest than his earlier defenses.
Richard contacted Mark shortly after April’s birth. He revealed the trust and offered business funding if Mark monitored Eleanor.
At first, Mark reported only financial decisions and family conversations.
He told himself it was harmless.
Then his company failed.
The reporting became dependency.
Richard introduced Brooke.
The affair gave Mark another place where he felt admired.
By the time Richard proposed the custody plan, Mark had already betrayed Eleanor enough that exposure would destroy the marriage.
So he went deeper.
“You drugged me to avoid being exposed for cheating and spying?”
“I thought temporary custody would give everyone time.”
“You prepared permanent trust transfers.”
Mark lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
He provided the code to April’s treatment file.
The medication was not proprietary in the way Richard claimed. The formula was based on existing drugs with one customized protein sequence.
An independent pediatric specialist could recreate it.
Richard’s leverage over April’s health was not absolute.
He depended on secrecy.
Eleanor sent the code to Judge Parker and the medical team.
The doctors confirmed April was stable and could receive safe follow-up outside Hayes Biomedical.
One hidden chain broke.
Mark then revealed why Marianne might cooperate with Richard.
The company archive contained evidence that Eleanor’s younger brother, Daniel Hayes, had survived infancy.
Eleanor had been told the baby died shortly after birth.
Marianne believed Richard placed him with another family to control her.
The silver medical case might contain Daniel’s identity records.
Eleanor had barely remembered the pregnancy.
She was four.
Her mother came home from the hospital empty-handed and never spoke about it again.
Richard had used children as leverage for decades.
Marianne might be following him to find the son she lost.
Mark claimed Jenna knew the possible identity.
“Who is he?”
Mark looked through the glass.
“Detective Gabriel Reed.”
Eleanor stopped breathing.
Reed was approximately the right age.
His adoption records were sealed.
He had told Eleanor nothing about his biological family.
Mark said Richard selected Reed to investigate the case because the detective’s presence would pressure Marianne into revealing herself.
“Does Reed know?”
“I don’t think so.”
Eleanor confronted the detective privately.
Reed did not become defensive.
He admitted he was adopted as an infant through a hospital connected to St. Agatha. His original birth name was unavailable.
Independent DNA testing compared him with Eleanor.
The result showed a strong sibling probability.
Gabriel Reed was likely Daniel Hayes.
The detective investigating Marianne’s disappearance was her lost son.
He sat alone after reading the report.
“I spent my career finding missing people.”
Eleanor joined him.
“Maybe that began before you knew why.”
He looked toward her.
“Do you want me to call you my sister?”
“No one gets another forced family role.”
He almost smiled.
“Good.”
They would learn each other gradually if the evidence held.
Mark’s information had helped.
It did not erase his crimes.
Before leaving the interview, Eleanor asked one final question.
“Why did Brooke say Jenna was bringing April to Richard?”
“Because that’s what Richard told us.”
“He expected you to believe Jenna betrayed everyone.”
“He always gave us a villain so we wouldn’t look at him.”
Eleanor stood.
Mark touched the glass.
“I loved you.”
She looked at him.
“You loved what I trusted you with.”
The distinction ended the conversation.
That evening, the cloud server received an encrypted audio file.
Marianne’s voice addressed both Eleanor and Reed.
“My children, Richard is not taking me anywhere. I am taking him to the original Hayes laboratory.”
A man spoke behind her.
Richard.
“You still believe you control this.”
Marianne answered calmly.
“I learned from you.”
A struggle followed.
The recording cut off.
The location data pointed toward an abandoned research facility beneath the courthouse district.
May you like
Directly under Judge Parker’s building.
👉 Mark revealed Detective Reed was Eleanor’s lost brother, while Marianne’s message suggested she had turned herself into bait to lead Richard beneath the very courthouse where April exposed the conspiracy.
