Chapter 13 - The Missing Fortune
Sofia was the first person to understand the accounting.
Even tied to a chair, she saw what everyone else had missed.
“You didn’t steal millions.”
Mercer looked at her.
She continued.
“You stole the ownership structure itself.”
Emily frowned.
Sofia looked at her.
“The shell companies weren’t just moving cash.”
“They were buying Harrington debt.”
Mercer’s face remained still.
Sofia’s voice grew stronger.
“Then Mercer used that debt to move assets into companies he secretly controlled.”
Rosa stared at her daughter.
Nathan struggled to sit up.
“What are you talking about?”
Sofia looked at him with disgust.
“You thought you were stealing from your family.”
“You were actually helping him steal the entire family.”
Mercer’s jaw tightened.
That was confirmation enough.
Emily suddenly understood why Claire had been killed.
Not only because of her inheritance.
Claire had discovered the structure.
Charles discovered it later.
Emily’s mother had helped investigate.
Three people had gotten too close.
Claire died.
Charles died.
Emily’s mother died.
Emily felt dizzy.
“My mother.”
Mercer looked at her.
“Caroline was stubborn.”
Emily’s body went cold.
Her mother had not died from an aneurysm.
“You killed her.”
Mercer said nothing.
Emily took a step forward.
“You killed my mother.”
Nathan looked at Mercer.
“You told me Caroline died naturally.”
Mercer sighed.
“There were too many loose ends.”
Nathan stared at him.
The reality finally broke through his arrogance.
“You used me as the monster.”
Mercer gave him a thin smile.
“You were a monster.”
“You simply weren’t the only one.”
Police sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Mercer’s eyes shifted toward the mill entrance.
He grabbed Sofia by the hair and pulled her upright with the chair.
Rosa lunged.
Emily stopped her.
Mercer shouted.
“Back.”
Margaret stepped toward her son.
Nathan was losing blood.
“Nathan.”
He looked at her.
For one second, Emily saw the child he must once have been.
Then Nathan looked toward Sofia.
Toward the daughter he had tried to erase.
Something changed inside him.
Perhaps it was guilt.
Perhaps self-preservation.
Perhaps rage at Mercer.
Nathan reached beneath the scattered papers.
His fingers closed around the knife he had carried earlier.
Mercer did not see it.
Emily did.
Nathan met her eyes.
For the first time that night, they understood each other without speaking.
Mercer started dragging Sofia toward a side exit.
Nathan pushed himself up.
He rushed him.
The knife struck Mercer’s gun hand.
A shot exploded into the ceiling.
Sofia fell sideways.
Rosa grabbed her.
Emily ducked.
Mercer slammed Nathan against a steel column.
Nathan cried out.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Margaret moved toward it.
Mercer saw her.
May you like
He kicked Nathan away and ran for the weapon.
Emily got there first.
