Chapter 8 - THE WAREHOUSE
“Call him back,” Dad said.
I did.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Dad called security.
I called Detective Ramirez.
Within ten minutes, three police units were heading toward Vale Meridian headquarters.
I wanted to go.
Dad refused.
“Absolutely not.”
“He's still my husband.”
“He assaulted you twelve hours ago.”
“And someone may be attacking him now.”
Dad stared at me.
I hated that he could still read my face.
“You still love him.”
“No.”
“That wasn't an accusation.”
I swallowed.
“I don't know what I feel.”
“That makes sense.”
I hated how gentle his answer was.
We drove anyway.
Not to Adrian's office.
To the river warehouse.
Dad's security team had confirmed motion inside.
Ramirez met us outside.
“You stay behind the line.”
I nodded.
For once, I listened.
Police entered.
Ten minutes later, an officer came back out.
They found Marcus.
Alive.
He was unconscious in a locked office, dehydrated and bleeding from a wound near his hairline.
But alive.
An ambulance rushed him away.
No Vanessa.
No Adrian.
Ramirez found something else.
A laptop.
It belonged to Marcus.
And the hard drive contained everything.
Invoices.
Transfer records.
Copies of my trust documents.
Emails between Vanessa and Marcus.
At first, they had worked together.
Marcus had helped her move money.
But six weeks earlier, something changed.
He wanted out.
Vanessa didn't.
One email made my skin crawl.
WE REMOVE ELEANOR, ADRIAN BECOMES DEPENDENT ON US, AND THE MERCER BACKING BECOMES ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE DIVORCE SETTLEMENT.
Dad read it twice.
“She planned to use Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“And Adrian planned to use me.”
I looked at him.
My father said nothing.
He didn't need to.
Another message appeared.
Marcus to Vanessa:
THE PREGNANCY CHANGES NOTHING. YOU CANNOT KEEP TELLING BOTH MEN THEY ARE THE FATHER.
I stared.
“Both men?”
Daniel, who had joined us, scrolled farther.
There it was.
Vanessa had not only been sleeping with Adrian.
She had been sleeping with Marcus.
But there was a third name in her messages.
Someone identified only as D.
D had been giving her internal information about Mercer Global.
D had shown her how my trusts were structured.
D had explained which lenders depended on my father's guarantees.
D had known exactly how to make Adrian's company collapse.
“Who is D?” I asked.
Dad's expression worried me.
“Someone inside Mercer.”
I stared at him.
“You have a traitor?”
“Apparently.”
Then Daniel found a message sent three weeks earlier.
D TO VANESSA:
ONCE ELEANOR IS OUT, THOMAS WILL MOVE TO PROTECT HER. THAT'S WHEN WE HIT HIM.
I looked at Dad.
“This was never just about Adrian.”
“No.”
Another message arrived.
D TO VANESSA:
MAKE SURE THE DIVORCE IS SIGNED BEFORE HER FATHER LEARNS ABOUT THE BABY.
My pulse stopped.
“What does my father have to do with Vanessa's baby?”
Dad looked as confused as I felt.
Daniel opened an attachment.
It was a medical document.
A prenatal DNA screening request.
Patient: Vanessa Cole.
Possible father listed:
Adrian Vale.
Then Daniel scrolled.
There was a second page.
A second possible father.
Not Marcus.
Dad stepped closer.
His face went completely white.
May you like
The second name was—
Daniel Mercer.
