CHAPTER 34: Maya’s Intervention

POV: Selene Castellano

Selene woke up to seventeen missed calls from Maya.

Not texts. Calls.

At 3 AM.

Her heart just stopped beating. It must have been the treatment that caused it. Something clearly didn't go as planned with the treatment, and now her heart wasn't working.

She called back immediately, hands shaking.

Maya answered on the first ring.

“Finally. I’ve been calling for hours.”

“It’s three in the morning. I was asleep. Maya, what’s wrong? Is it the cancer? Did something—”

"I'm doing okay, the cancer is still under control, but this isn't about my health, let's focus on something else."

Selene exhaled. “ Then why—”

I read the article, the one about Elena, and it said you were keeping the pregnancy a secret, it talked about everything that's been going on.

Selene’s stomach dropped. “ Maya—”

I saw all the comments, thousands of people we've never met, calling you a liar and saying you're just in it for the money, this kept me up all night, thinking about how you must be reading them too, and how that must feel.

“I’m not reading them.”

“Liar. You absolutely are, you  always do this—you read every criticism, internalize it, decide everyone’s right and you’re wrong.”

“They’re not entirely wrong you know.”

Maya's voice was full of conviction as she spoke. "They're completely wrong, every single one of them," she said, her words firm and resolute. "Lena, think back to when you were twenty-two, pregnant, and scared - you were in a really tough spot, and then Catherine Pierce, a woman with basically unlimited power and money, came along and threatened to ruin the life of the man you loved all because you existed. So, you made the only choice you could live with, no matter how impossible it seemed. You left, and you've been beating yourself up over it ever since."

“I should have told him.”

“Maybe, or maybe you were surviving the best way you knew how. Either way, it’s not anyone else’s business, eapcially not some random people on the internet who do not know you.”

Selene felt tears burning. “ I’m tired, Maya , tired of fighting, tired of Marcus and tired of defending myself.”

“Then stop defending Lena... start attacking.”

“What?”

"Marcus has gone too far, he has broken the law by sharing your private medical records and to make matters worse, he's dragging your late daughter Elena into this, using her memory to hurt you. Meanwhile, you're wasting time reading nasty comments when you should be taking action and making him pay for what he's done."

“It’s not that simple.”

"You're right, he did hurt us. He hurt you, he hurt Avalon, and he disrespected Elena's memory. Now it's time for him to feel some pain. Make him pay for what he's done."

Selene sat up in bed. Avalon was still asleep beside her, face peaceful in the dim light.

“How?” she asked quietly.

"Come on, you're the one who's married to a billionaire CEO, you must have some idea," Maya said, her voice firm but laced with a hint of frustration. She paused, collecting her thoughts before continuing. "But Lena, I need you to stop thinking of yourself as a victim. You're not one - you're a survivor, and it's time you started acting like it."

After Maya hung up, Selene sat in the darkness.

Stop being a victim.

Start attacking.

She looked at Avalon, still sleeping.

He had been fighting for her and their relationship from the very start, maybe it was time she fought back too.

The next morning, Selene called Diana.

“Hello Diana, I need to know how to hurt Marcus. Legally.”

Diana was silent for a moment, then asked, "What made you think of this?"

He's gone too far this time, leaking my private medical records and dragging my daughter into his drama? I am exhausted from trying to defend myself and so done with the drama.

“Good. That's about time.” Diana’s tone shifted to business. “ What are you thinking?”

What can be done to really hurt him, that's what I'm trying to figure out, I don't have the answer, which is why I'm reaching out to you, I believe you help me with that?

"The leak of medical records is a serious federal offense. If we can show that he played a role in it, he could face criminal charges, which would likely end his career. However, getting proof won't be easy."

“What else?”

“We could go after his business interests. Marcus has his own investments, separate from Pierce Holdings. If any of them have vulnerabilities—tax issues, regulatory problems, shady partnerships—we could expose them.”

“Can we do that?”

“We can hire a private investigators , it is expensive but—”

“I don’t care about the price, Avalon has the money. What else?”

Marcus has a reputation for being a respectable and trustworthy person, with many connections and a good name. But, what if we could find something that shows he's not as perfect as he seems? Maybe he's had affairs or done something wrong with money. If we could find something like that, we could make it public, just like he did to you. That would show everyone that he's a hypocrite, and it would hurt his reputation.

Selene felt a sudden change inside her. "You have to fight back just as strongly as you're being attacked."

“Exactly.”

"Get to the bottom of this, bring in some investigators and dig up everything you can on Marcus Pierce. I want to uncover all his secrets, every last one of them."

"Selene, things can escalate quickly are you certain you're prepared for this?"

He messed it up to start with, I'm just putting the final touches on it.

After the call ended, Selene felt lighter, like she had been carrying a weight and finally set it down.

She found Avalon in his study, on a call with Margaret.

As soon as he caught a glimpse of her face, he quickly hung up the phone.

“What happened?”

“I hired investigators to dig into Marcus and find anything we can use against him.”

Avalon blinked. “ You did what?”

“I’m tired of being defensive. So I’m attacking back.”

“Selene—”

I won't lecture you on taking the high road or trying to be the bigger person. What he did was completely unacceptable - leaking your medical records and using Elena against you, it's all just a vicious attempt to tear you down. So, if you're determined to fight back and take him down before he can do any more damage, I get it. You're not going to let him win, and you're going to make sure he pays for what he's done.

Avalon stared at her for a long moment.

Then he smiled. “ Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, I support your decision.”

"Aren't you going to say this is a terrible plan?"

I'm so done with following the rules when Marcus doesn't even bother. Let's turn the tables and play by his rules, but we're going to do it way better than he ever could.

Selene felt relief flood through her. “ I thought you were going to be angry.”

I'm not mad, I'm actually really proud of you. You've been carrying around all this guilt for ten whole years, feeling bad about the pregnancy, about leaving, and about everything that had happened. But now, you're finally standing up for yourself and fighting back. That's not something to be upset about, that's something to be happy about and celebrate. It takes a lot of courage to do what you're doing, and I think it's great that you're taking control and moving forward.

He pulled her into his arms.

"You told me we're in this together," he said quietly. "We need to search everywhere, use every clue we can find and by the time Marcus figures out what's going on, it will be too late for him to do anything about it."

The private investigators worked fast. Within a week, they already had preliminary findings.

Diana called them both to her office to go over everything.

"Take a look at this," she said, laying out the papers on the table, "you won't believe what's here."

Selene leaned forward. “ What?”

“Marcus Pierce has been running a shell company in the Cayman Islands for eight years. Funneling money through offshore accounts, avoiding taxes which is technically legal if structured correctly, but his isn’t.”

Avalon picked up one of the documents. “ How much?”

“Twelve million over eight years. If the IRS knew about this—”

“They would audit him immediately,” Avalon finished. “ Fines, penalties, possibly criminal charges.”

“Exactly.”

“What else?” Selene asked.

Diana pulled out another folder and began to explain. Marcus seems to have been carrying on an affair for three whole years. There is a woman's name Jennifer Hartley, who was employed by a nonprofit organization that just so happened to receive a sizable donation from Pierce Holdings every year.

“So?”

“It would interest you to know that, Marcus sits on the nonprofit’s board. He personally approves donations which means he is using company money to fund an organization where his mistress works. Conflict of interest potential self-dealing. At minimum, this looks terrible.”

Avalon looked at Selene. “ This is enough right? We can leak the tax stuff to the IRS, leak the affair to the board and watch Marcus lose everything.”

“Wait,” Diana said. “ There’s more.”

She pulled out one last folder, and it was noticeably thicker than the others.

“What?” Selene asked.

“The investigators found something interesting about the medical records leak. They traced the access point back to a law clerk in the San Francisco County records office. A woman named Rebecca Shyn.”

“Does she have connection to Marcus?”

“Not directly but her brother-in-law works for Sullivan—Marcus’s lawyer.”

Avalon leaned back. “ So Sullivan’s firm accessed the records through a connected clerk. That’s conspiracy and multiple felonies.”

"We need solid proof, not just suspicions. Right now, everything is circumstantial, but if we keep pushing and file official complaints, maybe we can get to the bottom of this and spark a real investigation."

Selene's voice was firm, "They won't be able to keep quiet for long, the clerk will eventually break down and reveal Sullivan's involvement, and then Sullivan will crack under the pressure and give up Marcus."

Diana nodded slowly. "It's possible," she said. "But we're talking about a long process here - months, maybe even a year or more."

"Avalon gave the order, her voice firm. 'We've got time, so let's do this. File all the necessary paperwork - every criminal complaint, every ethics violation, everything. Let's make sure we cover all our bases.'"

"Are you certain about this? Once we take this step, it's irreversible. Marcus will be aware that you're a threat to him."

"Good," Selene said, her voice firm. "I want him to know."

Diana looked between them. “ You both have changed. Just a month ago you wanted to avoid escalation and now you’re starting a war.”

Avalon spoke up, "We're not the ones who started this whole thing. Marcus is the one who got the ball rolling when he went and shared Selene's private medical records without her permission.... we... we are just seeing it through to the end now."

That night, Selene couldn’t sleep again but it wasn't from anxiety this time.

It was adrenaline.

They had ammunition now. Real and devastating ammunition.

Marcus’s tax fraud, his affair and the connection to the medical records leak.

Everything they needed to destroy him.

She woke up and headed to the kitchen, where she found Avalon busy making a cup of tea.

“Can’t sleep either?” he asked.

“No. I Keep thinking about what happens next.”

“We will file the complaints, leak the tax fraud, expose the affair as Marcus’s reputation implodes. The board turns on him while he loses everything.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

"We're going to try a different approach, but Selene, let me make one thing clear - we're not giving up, not this time."

It's just that it feels like a change of pace, you know, taking the initiative instead of just reacting to things.

“Good different or bad different?”

Selene thought about it. “ Good, scary, but good.”

They sat at the kitchen counter in comfortable silence.

Outside, the city slept but inside, they plotted Marcus’s downfall.

Tomorrow, Diana would file the formal complaints.

By this time next week, the IRS should have all the tax documents they need.

In about a month's time, the news of the affair would finally reach the board.

And Marcus?

Marcus would finally understand what it felt like to be attacked from all sides.

To have your private life exposed.

To fight a battle you were losing.

Selene should have felt guilty, instead, she felt powerful.

The phone rang at 6 in the morning, and it was the call I had been waiting for.

Margaret's voice was shaking.

“Turn on the news. Any channel. Now.”

Avalon grabbed the remote, turned on the tv and switched to CNN and froze.

BREAKING NEWS: MARCUS PIERCE DEAD IN APPARENT SUICIDE

Selene's tea mug fell from her grasp, shattering into pieces as it hit the floor.

The news anchor’s voice continued.

A body was found this morning in a home in Pacific Heights. It is been said that a note was left behind, but nobody knows what it says yet. This is all happening just a few days after there were rumors about the marriage of Avalon Pierce, who is the CEO of Pierce Holdings, and his wife Selene Castellano. Many people thought these rumors were started by Marcus Pierce, who was trying to cause trouble for his nephew and maybe even affect his inheritance.

Avalon muted the TV.

Silence filled the penthouse.

Marcus was dead.

Dead.

“This isn’t real,” Selene whispered. “ This isn’t—”

Avalon’s phone rang.

Diana.

"Have you filed the complaints yet?" he asked right away.

“No. I was going to that this morning. Why?”

“Don’t. Don’t file anything. Marcus is dead.”

Silence on the other end.

“Jesus,” Diana breathed. “ How?”

“They’re calling it suicide.”

“Do you believe that?”

Avalon turned to Selene, and what he saw took his breath away - his own shock staring back at him, mirrored in her eyes.

"He wasn't sure," he admitted. "But it was clear they had to get to the bottom of it."

Marcus Pierce just didn't seem like the kind of guy who would take his own life, he had given  the impression of someone who would rather destroy everything than concede.

Could this mean they had gone too far with him? Or is this more than they thought? 

Or could someone else be the culprit?