Chapter 14 - The Betrayal Beneath the Betrayal
Grant asked to see me.
I refused twice.
The third time, I agreed.
Not because I missed him.
Because there were questions only he could answer.
He entered the attorney visitation room wearing no tie.
He looked older.
“Did you read my father’s letter?”
“Yes.”
He sat across from me.
“My mother told me Thomas Rowan forced him to surrender control.”
“She lied.”
“She told me my father died believing he had failed me.”
I said nothing.
Grant looked down at his hands.
“I spent fifteen years trying to undo something that never happened.”
“You still made your choices.”
“I know.”
“I won’t let you turn Victoria into an excuse.”
“I’m not.”
He looked up.
“I drugged your reputation even if I didn’t put the drug in your body.”
The phrasing stopped me.
“What does that mean?”
“I knew Lyle was building a medical file.”
My chest tightened.
“I knew he was documenting you as unstable.”
“Why?”
“Because the Northstar deal had been discussed for almost a year.”
“What?”
“We needed certainty that Rowan couldn’t block it.”
“So you prepared to neutralize me.”
“Yes.”
There was no defense.
No explanation.
Just yes.
I appreciated it more than I wanted to.
“Did you know your mother was paying Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
Another blow.
“How long?”
“Two years.”
“You watched me have dinner with her.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me trust her.”
“Yes.”
My eyes burned.
“How could you?”
Grant’s voice shook.
“I don’t have an answer that makes me less disgusting.”
For a moment, I saw not a victim.
Not a villain.
A man finally standing inside the full size of what he had done.
“Why tell me now?”
“Because I’m pleading guilty.”
I stared at him.
“To what?”
“Conspiracy to obstruct the audit.”
“Grant…”
“False statements.”
His mouth tightened.
“And improper financial approvals.”
“You could fight.”
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t you?”
“Because David kept recordings.”
That sounded more like Grant.
Then he surprised me.
“And because I’m tired.”
He looked through the glass wall toward the hallway.
“I spent my entire adult life trying to become powerful enough that nobody could humiliate me the way my father was humiliated.”
He smiled bitterly.
“I became my mother instead.”
I did not comfort him.
Some grief deserves witnesses, not rescue.
“What happens to Mercer?” he asked.
“We restructure.”
“Will you keep the name?”
“No.”
His eyes closed.
That hurt him.
I knew it would.
“Good,” he whispered.
I looked at him.
“Good?”
“My mother worshipped that name.”
He stood.
“Maybe it should end.”
As he reached the door, I asked one final question.
“If you could go back to the night you met me, would you still introduce yourself?”
Grant turned.
“Yes.”
I hated how quickly he answered.
“Even knowing this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the lie was mine.”
He looked at me with red eyes.
“You were the only real thing in it.”
Then he left.
I sat alone long after the door closed.
That evening, Naomi called.
Victoria had been indicted on multiple counts connected to fraud, evidence destruction, witness intimidation, and the medical conspiracy.
Dr. Lyle had agreed to cooperate.
Rebecca faced charges but was negotiating based on assistance.
The criminal case was finally moving.
Then Naomi said:
“There is one problem.”
I almost laughed.
“There’s always one problem.”
“Northstar is back.”
“What do they want?”
“To buy the healthy assets after restructuring.”
“No.”
“I assumed you’d say that.”
“What else?”
“They’re not the only bidder.”
“Who?”
Naomi sent me the proposal.
I read the first page.
Then the second.
My hands went cold.
The buyer was Arden Capital Partners.
Managing partner:
Julian Rowan.
My estranged uncle.
The man my father had removed from the family company twenty years earlier for trying to seize control.
May you like
The Mercers were falling.
And now my own family had come for what was left.
