He was 40 years old, and a wealthy man. Niles Pierson had started out with one shoe store, really just a hole in the wall retail outlet, and built himself an empire. His wife had died in an auto accident shortly after their only child was born, and he never re-married. He became bitter after the loss of his Miriam; some said it was because he'd wanted a son, and had gotten a daughter instead. He'd had his heart set on an heir, someone who would take over his empire when he was dead, and his upbringing didn't allow him to consider a woman as a suitable replacement for himself.
Marian took after her father, for all that she would deny it. She was strong, independent and decisive. She knew that she was capable of taking over her father's vast enterprises, and she wanted them. But while he was alive he refused to let her get involved. It wasn't proper, he said, for a young lady.
The obvious lie galled Marian. Her hatred for her father grew daily. He, uncaring, spent every waking minute with his company, leaving the care of his daughter entirely to the family servants. Marian knew exactly where she stood with him.
One day when Marian was 22, she decided to confront Niles, to demand that he allow her to become involved with his business, to prove that she was every bit as able as he was. The servants stood just outside the closed door to his study, afraid of the tempers of their two employers but far too curious to stay away. For 20 minutes all they heard was screaming and yelling. Then the door burst open. "Call an ambulance!" Marian told the servants. Behind her they could see Niles lying on the Persian rug, his eyes wide and staring, drool slipping from his slack mouth.
Niles had a weak heart. When the ambulance reached the hospital, Niles Pierson was pronounced dead on arrival; his cause of death was listed as a heart attack. The next day his daughter walked through the company's front doors and took charge.
Marian was every bit as good at running the shoe empire as she'd believed she would be. She'd learned from the best, after all, and she was every bit as penny-pinching and hard-nosed as her father had been. By this time, however, she'd grown to hate the business almost as much as she'd hated her father. It represented everything she'd hated Niles for. After six months, once she'd proven to her own satisfaction that she was just as intelligent and sharp as her father had ever been, she decided to sell. It was the only way she knew to get revenge on her father now that he was dead.
Niles was angry enough that his daughter had taken over his company, and even more angry that she was doing well with it - he'd always hated to admit when he was wrong. But when he saw her attempting to sell the company, his company, the one he'd started when he was just 19 years old, that was it. He made his way back into the land of the living to stop the sale.
The night before the deal was closed, Niles killed the buyer's bodyguards and ambushed him just outside of his mansion. The unfortunate investor got his head caved in with a baseball bat. Niles did this to buyers two and three as well, before his daughter finally discovered and confronted him, her own pride and stubbornness not allowing her to display any emotion other than anger before him.
Marian's lack of fear of her dead father threw him a bit, but he quickly recovered and gave her his terms: he would not interfere with her attempts to run the company, but he would never allow her to sell it.
Marian tried to fool Niles a couple of times, but it didn't work. He always knew. The Pierson Shoe Company gained a reputation as being cursed, and eventually there simply were no more interested buyers. As far as Marian can tell, Niles has kept his word and not interfered with her attempts to run the company, but every once in a while someone comes sniffing around, wanting to know more about the company's reputation and how it was acquired. As much as she hates it, she has once or twice had to call on her father to get rid of these people. Niles, grinning, hasn't let her down yet.
