Chapter 15 - An Unlikely Ally
With Richard Halston locked in county custody awaiting a million-dollar bond hearing alongside his disgraced son Drew, Charleston’s high society experienced a seismic shift. The Halston name, once spoken with reverence at the St. Cecilia Society balls and Carolina Yacht Club dinners, had become synonymous with scandal, greed, and toxic deceit.
On Monday morning, I was sitting in my newly leased headquarters overlooking Waterfront Park. Our firm had officially cleared all regulatory hurdles, the environmental cleanup plan for the Cooper River site had been greenlit, and our team was being hailed as the gold standard of regional risk management.
Maya tapped lightly on my door. "Maren, you have a visitor. She doesn't have an appointment, but she insists it's urgent."
"Who is it?"
"Helena Halston. Drew's mother."
My stomach tightened slightly. Helena Halston had spent our entire marriage treating me like an invisible ghost. Whenever I spoke at family dinners, she would look straight through me to ask Drew if he needed more dessert. When Drew filed for divorce, she had sent me a single text message instructing me to leave the family silver in the pantry because 'people from your background wouldn't know how to polish it anyway.'
"Show her in, Maya," I said calmly.
A moment later, Helena stepped into the office. She was in her late fifties, impeccably groomed in a beige Chanel dress, but she looked like a shadow of her former arrogant self. Her eyes were sunken, dark bags masked by heavy foundation, and her hands trembled as she clutched a leather handbag.
"Maren," Helena said, her voice lacking all its former haughty condescension.
"Mrs. Halston," I replied evenly, remaining standing behind my desk. "To what do I owe this visit?"
Helena looked around the expansive, sunlight-drenched office—a space far grander than any corporate suite Drew had ever operated. A flicker of shame crossed her features before she stepped forward, stopping at the edge of my mahogany desk.
"I didn't come here to threaten you," Helena whispered, looking down at the floor. "Richard forbade me from ever speaking to you, but Richard is in jail. Drew is in jail. And the bank is foreclosing on our house on South Battery on Friday."
"I know," I said. "The civil restitution orders from the state fraud case Froze all unshielded family assets."
"Maren... I know how I treated you," Helena said, her voice cracking as a single tear escaped down her wrinkled cheek. "When you were married to Drew, I made you feel unworthy. I took Drew's side in everything because I was terrified of Richard. Richard controlled every cent, every dinner, every relationship in our house. When Drew started showing the exact same cruel tendencies toward you, I stayed silent. I told myself it was just how Halston men were."
I listened quietly, feeling neither hatred nor pity—only the clear perspective of someone who had long since healed.
"Why are you telling me this now, Helena?"
Helena opened her bag and pulled out a worn, leather-bound ledger. She laid it gently on my desk.
"What is this?" I asked.
"Drew and Richard hid a second set of bank books," Helena confessed, wiping her tears. "Before Drew was arrested, he transferred three million dollars of embezzled Crowley Maritime subcontractor funds into an offshore account registered in my maiden name. They wanted me to hold it until they finished their prison sentences so they could rebuild their empire."
I stared at the ledger, stunned by the sheer depth of their calculated criminality.
"Why are you giving this to me instead of keeping it for yourself?" I asked.
Helena looked at me with raw, honest desperation. "Because I don't want to live in their toxic prison anymore, Maren. Watching you stand on those steps on live television... watching you look Richard in the eye without a shred of fear... it woke me up. You showed me that a woman doesn't have to spend her life serving a monster just to keep a roof over her head. Give this ledger to the state prosecutor. Let them return every stolen dollar to Arthur Crowley and the state. I just want out."
I looked at the ledger, then at the broken woman standing before me. In that moment, the cycle of generational abuse that had poisoned the Halston family for decades came to a complete, shuddering halt.
May you like
"Thank you, Helena," I said gently. "I will call the Attorney General right now. And I will make sure they record your full cooperation."
Helena let out a long, ragged sob, bowing her head in profound relief. "Thank you, Maren. You were always too good for my son. I was just too blind to see it."
