Chapter 9 - Patricia’s Last Card
That evening, Patricia returned to the mansion.
Not quietly.
She arrived with two attorneys.
Daniel was waiting.
“So this is what we’re doing now?”
Patricia removed her coat.
“You suspended your own mother.”
“The board suspended access.”
“You supported it.”
“Yes.”
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the foyer.
Daniel didn’t move.
Patricia stared at the red mark forming on his cheek.
“You weak, ungrateful boy.”
Daniel almost laughed.
There it was.
The same voice Emily had endured for years.
He finally heard it without excuses.
“You hit me because I won’t protect you.”
“I hit you because you’ve lost your mind.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I think I’m finally using it.”
Patricia turned toward her lawyers.
“Start the challenge.”
Daniel frowned.
“What challenge?”
One attorney opened a briefcase.
Patricia smiled.
“You all seem convinced Emily owns fifty-one percent of Whitmore Development.”
“She does.”
“Maybe.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
The lawyer handed him a petition.
It challenged the emergency capital agreement.
Allegations of undue influence.
Fraud.
Conflict of interest.
Mental incapacity on Arthur’s part.
Daniel looked up.
“You’re going to claim Dad was incompetent?”
“Near the end, he was.”
“This agreement was signed before his accident.”
Patricia’s eyes flashed.
“We’ll see what a judge thinks.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You’d destroy Dad’s reputation to beat Emily.”
“I’m protecting what belongs to us.”
“No.”
Daniel dropped the petition.
“You’re protecting what you think belongs to you.”
Patricia stepped closer.
“Do you know what Emily will do if she wins?”
“Probably run the company better than I did.”
Patricia’s mouth opened.
Daniel continued.
“She already saved it once.”
“You sound pathetic.”
“And you sound scared.”
Patricia’s expression changed.
Daniel saw it.
He lowered his voice.
“Are you scared of losing the company?”
He stepped closer.
“Or are you scared of what the audit finds?”
Patricia said nothing.
Then the front door opened.
Claire entered.
Behind her was Detective Brooks.
Patricia froze.
Claire held a box.
“What is that?” Daniel asked.
Claire placed it on a table.
“Dad’s things.”
Patricia’s face lost all color.
Claire looked at Daniel.
“I found them in the storage room at my house.”
“You had Dad’s files?”
“Mom gave me boxes after he died.”
She looked at Patricia.
“She told me they were old tax records.”
Detective Brooks opened the box.
Inside were notebooks.
Receipts.
Photographs.
And a small voice recorder.
Patricia moved suddenly.
Daniel blocked her.
“Don’t.”
Claire picked up the recorder.
“There’s a label.”
She read it.
“June 14.”
Daniel froze.
That was three days before Arthur’s accident.
Detective Brooks put on gloves.
She pressed play.
Static filled the foyer.
Then Arthur’s voice.
Weak.
Tired.
But unmistakable.
“Patricia, I know about Mercer.”
Patricia staggered backward.
The recording continued.
“If anything happens to me, Emily gets everything she needs to stop you.”
Then another voice entered the recording.
Patricia’s.
Cold.
Controlled.
“You’re making a terrible mistake, Arthur.”
Arthur answered.
“No, Patricia.”
A pause.
“My mistake was protecting you for this long.”
The recording ended.
No one moved.
Detective Brooks looked at Patricia.
“We need to talk.”
Patricia’s lawyer stepped forward.
“My client will not answer questions.”
“That’s her right.”
Lena’s phone rang.
She listened.
Then looked toward Daniel.
Her expression sharpened.
“We found Samuel Mercer.”
Emily had just arrived behind them.
She heard the detective’s next words.
“He’s at the airport.”
Daniel asked, “Leaving?”
Lena shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
“He just landed.”
And according to the passenger manifest, he wasn’t alone.
