Chapter 10 - Elena’s House
Cassidy had not entered the house in four years.
Dust covered the piano.
Her mother’s books remained exactly where she left them.
Naomi stood in the living room.
Alone.
Mara’s team waited outside.
Cassidy wore a recording device.
“You look like her.”
Naomi said.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“That always bothered my father.”
Cassidy stared.
“Why?”
“Because Elena got everything.”
Naomi spoke as though describing a childhood rivalry.
But Elena had been almost thirty years older.
Arthur Pierce had raised Naomi to believe Elena stole a family destiny.
Cassidy looked around.
“What do you want?”
“The Mercer trust invalidated.”
“No.”
“Then expose the adoption publicly.”
Cassidy frowned.
“That changes nothing legally.”
“It changes legitimacy.”
Cassidy almost smiled.
“There it is.”
Naomi’s face tightened.
“You don’t understand old companies.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Investors care about confidence.”
“Boards care about continuity.”
“If people believe you were never a real Mercer—”
Cassidy interrupted.
“My grandfather adopted my mother.”
“He raised her.”
“He named her.”
“He wrote the trust for her.”
“Real enough.”
Naomi looked angry.
Cassidy continued.
“You built a war around blood because blood was the only argument your father still had.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“Your mother knew Pierce money built Mercer Industrial.”
“Show me.”
Naomi pointed upstairs.
“Her bedroom.”
Cassidy followed.
Inside the old closet, Naomi removed a floorboard.
A metal case lay beneath it.
Cassidy stared.
“You knew this was here?”
“My father did.”
Inside were ledgers from Jonathan’s earliest years.
One showed a loan.
Rose Pierce.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Start-up capital.
Cassidy understood.
Her biological grandmother had financed part of the company.
Naomi smiled.
“Halcyon began with Pierce money.”
Cassidy read farther.
The loan had been repaid.
With interest.
Then Rose purchased equity.
That equity passed to Elena.
Then to Cassidy.
Naomi’s smile disappeared.
The records did not support theft.
They supported Cassidy’s ownership.
Naomi stared.
“My father said…”
Cassidy looked at her.
“Your father told you the version that kept you loyal.”
For the first time, Naomi looked uncertain.
Then a sound came downstairs.
A door.
Mara shouted from outside.
“Cassidy, stay upstairs.”
Naomi went pale.
“That’s Victor.”
May you like
“How do you know?”
“Because he said if I failed, he would finish it.”
