Chapter 12 - THE SON HELEN USED
Robert did not believe me when I told him.
We met at Mara’s office with attorneys present.
I placed Helen’s proxy documents in front of him.
He read the first.
Then the second.
Then the third.
His face lost color.
“What is this?”
“Your mother’s contingency plan.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Melissa sat across from him.
“I found them in her safe.”
Robert looked at his sister.
“You went through Mom’s safe?”
“She asked me to get her passport.”
Melissa’s eyes filled.
“I saw my name.”
Robert found the page.
If Robert becomes compromised, nominate Melissa Mercer as interim operating chair.
Robert stared at it.
Then another memo.
Ethan’s eventual trust position should be protected from both parents.
Robert stood.
“She wouldn’t.”
Melissa whispered.
“She would.”
He turned toward me.
For the first time, he was not angry at me.
He was afraid.
“Did she plan all of this?”
I looked at him.
“You tell me.”
He sat down slowly.
Memories were rearranging themselves in his face.
Every compliment.
Every instruction.
Every warning about me.
Every time Helen told him he was the only person capable of saving the Bennett company.
Robert had believed he was using my family.
Now he understood his mother had been using him.
He covered his mouth.
“Oh, God.”
I did not comfort him.
Some realizations must hurt.
He looked at Melissa.
“Why you?”
She laughed bitterly.
“Because she thinks I’m easier to control.”
Robert stared at the table.
Mara leaned forward.
“Mr. Mercer, we need the forged document.”
He looked at her.
“I don’t have it.”
“Your attorney said he did.”
“He was instructed by my mother.”
“Where is the original file?”
Robert closed his eyes.
“There is no original.”
Mara remained still.
He continued.
“She gave me the PDF last month.”
“You knew it was fake?”
“No.”
He hesitated.
Then corrected himself.
“I suspected.”
I looked at him.
He could barely meet my eyes.
“But you used it anyway.”
“Yes.”
The room was silent.
Robert finally understood how far he had fallen.
Then he reached into his briefcase.
“I have something too.”
He placed a small black drive on the table.
“What is it?”
“My mother’s private accounting backup.”
Melissa stared at him.
“You stole it?”
“No.”
Robert looked toward me.
“She made me keep a copy in case something happened to her.”
Mara inserted it into an isolated computer.
Folders appeared.
Accounts.
Property.
Transfers.
Then one file named LILY.
I stopped breathing.
Robert frowned.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Mara opened it.
Inside was a draft enrollment agreement.
A boarding school in Switzerland.
Start date.
Three months away.
Student.
Lily Bennett Mercer.
Parent authorization.
May you like
Robert’s signature line was already filled.
Mine was forged.
