Chapter 8 - THE ADOPTION MARCUS STOPPED
Rebecca had never told Ethan about the failed adoption.
When he confronted her, she cried.
“I thought it would make you feel rejected.”
“Why did Dad stop it?”
“He said legal adoption might provoke Dana.”
“Dana had been gone for six years.”
“I know.”
Samuel found the old correspondence.
Marcus’s private note to his attorney explained the decision.
If Rebecca adopts Ethan, she could gain independent custody rights in a divorce.
Marcus wanted Rebecca to perform every responsibility of motherhood without possessing legal protection.
She could attend doctor appointments.
Pay school tuition.
Stay awake during fevers.
But if the marriage ended, Marcus could threaten to remove Ethan from her life.
The arrangement gave him leverage.
Ethan sat in Samuel’s office reading the letter.
“He used me to control her.”
Samuel answered carefully.
“He understood she loved you enough to tolerate almost anything.”
Ethan felt anger toward his father.
He also felt guilt.
During college, he had become busy.
He called Rebecca less.
He assumed she would always be there.
Marcus and Dana believed that distance meant Ethan could be persuaded to view twenty years of motherhood as an illusion.
Instead, Ethan began investigating.
He copied Marcus’s proposed divorce petition.
He requested the company’s shareholder records.
He learned Rebecca owned 52 percent.
Marcus had repeatedly told him the company was “his life’s work.”
He never mentioned that Rebecca had funded it.
Ethan also reviewed his trust.
At graduation, he would receive the ten percent stake his grandfather had created.
Marcus needed Ethan’s signature to obtain voting control.
Dana’s return suddenly made sense.
Marcus wanted Ethan emotionally destabilized before presenting the proxy.
Ethan pretended he knew nothing.
He accepted the company car.
He allowed Marcus to show him the new office.
He agreed to meet Dana privately.
Then he activated the recorder on his phone.
Dana told him Rebecca had stolen her life.
Ethan asked what she wanted now.
“A family,” Dana said.
“And nothing else?”
Dana hesitated.
“I deserve security after everything I lost.”
That answer led Ethan to search Marcus’s private email.
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He found a contract promising Dana a condo, $500,000, and a company advisory position after the divorce.
👉 Dana’s reunion with Ethan had been purchased, and Marcus intended to fund it with Rebecca’s stolen shares.
