Chapter 6 - DANIEL MERCER
The old medical office looked abandoned.
Daniel Mercer did not.
He was in his early sixties, broad-shouldered, gray-haired, and alert.
He locked the door behind Ethan.
Then he looked at Sophie.
His expression softened.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
Sophie moved closer to Ethan.
Daniel did not approach her.
He simply nodded.
“That’s smart.”
“Stay close to your dad.”
Ethan placed the leather folder from the blue room on a metal table.
Daniel opened it.
Inside were copies of corporate records, trust agreements, photographs, and handwritten timelines.
Claire had documented everything.
Richard’s shell companies.
False invoices.
Real estate purchases.
Payments to outside consultants who did not exist.
Celeste stood near the wall.
Then Daniel found the twenty-million-dollar transfer confirmation.
He stared at it.
“This is new.”
Ethan told him where Sophie had found it.
Daniel examined the company name.
“Marwick Holdings.”
“You know it?”
“It belonged to Richard’s father.”
“Belonged?”
“He died fifteen years ago.”
Daniel pulled up an encrypted file on an old laptop.
He entered a password Claire had provided years earlier.
A financial map appeared.
Dozens of companies were connected to one another.
At the center was Marwick Holdings.
Daniel pointed at the screen.
“This is where Richard moved the money.”
Ethan looked at Celeste.
“Why Switzerland?”
Daniel answered.
“Because Claire opened an account there.”
Ethan frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if she wanted to trap him.”
Daniel opened another document.
Claire had created a private trust in Sophie’s name.
The trust held controlling rights over a large portion of Ethan’s family business.
Richard could not sell, transfer, or borrow against those shares without Sophie’s future authorization.
But Claire had inserted one unusual provision.
If Sophie were taken outside the United States under suspicious circumstances, the trust would automatically freeze and send its records to federal investigators.
Ethan looked stunned.
“She knew someone might try to take Sophie.”
Daniel nodded.
“She was building a legal alarm system.”
Celeste covered her mouth.
“Then Richard’s trip would expose him.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Unless he had someone ready to disable the trigger.”
Ethan looked at the trust documents.
“Who could do that?”
“Only one of three people.”
“Claire.”
“You.”
Daniel paused.
“And the attorney who drafted the trust.”
Ethan knew the answer before he asked.
“Who was the attorney?”
Daniel turned the document around.
The signature at the bottom belonged to someone Ethan had trusted for nearly twenty years.
His family lawyer.
Samuel Grant.
May you like
At that exact moment, Ethan’s phone rang.
The caller ID displayed Samuel Grant’s name.
