Chapter 2 - Four Minutes to MidnightI made it twenty steps down the front hall before Adrian ran after me.
“You're not leaving.”
He grabbed my wrist.
I jerked away.
“Don't touch me.”
His fingers loosened.
Perhaps because somewhere inside his rapidly collapsing mind, he finally understood that the rules had changed.
The front door opened before either of us touched it.
Two men in dark suits entered.
They weren't police.
They didn't need badges.
The older one held a leather folder embossed with a small silver E.
Ellison.
“Ms. Ellison,” he said.
Adrian froze.
Vanessa appeared behind him.
“You called them?”
“No.”
I looked at the man.
“Who are you?”
“Ethan Cole. General counsel for Ellison Holdings.”
Adrian's face went blank.
“You're Marcus Ellison's lawyer.”
Ethan nodded.
“I was instructed to come here immediately.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“This is my house.”
Ethan opened the folder.
“Legally, part of the property is held through an Ellison family trust.”
Adrian blinked.
“What?”
I almost laughed.
That was something my father had never told me.
Apparently, he had owned the house before our marriage.
The deed had simply been placed under a structure Adrian never bothered to examine.
It was another tiny test.
Adrian had never cared about the paperwork because he assumed my family background was irrelevant.
Now it was becoming very relevant.
Ethan handed me a document.
“Your father wants you to leave immediately.”
“I am leaving.”
“There is one more matter.”
He turned toward Adrian.
“Mr. Mercer, effective immediately, Mercer Dynamics' revolving credit facilities associated with Ellison-backed institutions have been suspended pending review.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You can't do that.”
“We already did.”
“My company has payroll tomorrow.”
“Then I recommend you find another source of liquidity.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“This is retaliation.”
Ethan's expression never changed.
“No. Retaliation is personal.”
He placed another document on the table.
“This is compliance.”
Adrian grabbed it.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then back again.
“No.”
Vanessa touched his shoulder.
“What is it?”
He didn't answer.
I did.
“An audit request.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“For what?”
“Everything.”
The word landed heavily.
Bank transfers.
Executive reimbursements.
Acquisition records.
Consulting contracts.
Offshore subsidiaries.
Insider transactions.
Political donations.
Private expenditures disguised as business expenses.
I had spent years analyzing corporate financial structures.
I knew exactly where companies hid their secrets.
And Mercer Dynamics had secrets.
Thousands of them.
Adrian had always believed his business brilliance made him untouchable.
But even brilliance eventually leaves paperwork.
I opened the front door.
Before stepping outside, I turned around.
Vanessa was staring at me.
“You planned this.”
“No.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You expect me to believe that?”
I looked at her.
“I expected my husband to remain human.”
Her face tightened.
“You've always looked down on me.”
I shook my head.
“I never knew you well enough to look down on you.”
I walked out.
Rain had started.
Cold autumn rain.
My driver's car waited at the curb.
Inside, I finally allowed my hands to shake.
My father called again.
“Where are you?”
“In the car.”
“Good. Ethan is with you?”
“Yes.”
“Claire.”
His voice softened.
“I'm sorry.”
I looked through the window.
The Mercer mansion was still glowing behind the rain.
“I knew what Adrian was capable of.”
“You knew he was cheating?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you needed to make the decision yourself.”
I swallowed.
“And now?”
“Now I want the truth.”
“About Adrian?”
“About everything.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
My father paused.
Then said something that made my blood run cold.
“The forged emails weren't created tonight.”
I sat upright.
“What?”
“We found evidence three months ago that someone was building a case against you.”
“Who?”
“We don't know yet.”
“But Vanessa?”
“She's involved.”
“Adrian?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
My father's silence was answer enough.
“There is something else,” he said.
“What?”
“The person who supplied Vanessa with the original data wasn't outside Mercer Dynamics.”
I stared into the darkness.
“Who was it?”
“We'll talk tomorrow.”
“Dad, tell me now.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't trust the phone.”
The line went dead.
I lowered it slowly.
Ethan looked at me from the front seat.
“You heard him?”
“Yes.”
His face was grim.
“Then we have a bigger problem.”
My stomach tightened.
“What problem?”
He turned toward me.
“The leak that framed you came from someone who knew exactly how your father thinks.”
A pause.
“Someone may have been watching the Ellison family for a long time.”
I stared at him.
My father's warning repeated in my head.
I don't trust the phone.
May you like
For the first time that night, I stopped thinking about Adrian.
And started wondering who else wanted me destroyed.
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