Chapter 9 - Her Turn to Test Him
The boardroom occupied the sixty-third floor.
Abby wore the only dark suit she owned.
It cost $89.
She had never felt less intimidated by expensive clothing.
Julian sat at the far end.
He could not vote on his own suspension.
Directors argued.
Lawyers whispered.
Numbers appeared on screens.
Billions.
Debt covenants.
Trust exposure.
Litigation reserves.
Everything sounded enormous.
Abby kept thinking about her mother buying store-brand cereal to save two dollars.
Camille leaned toward her.
“Under the interim order, your trust vote is valid for today.”
“So I can decide whether Julian stays.”
“You can influence it heavily.”
Julian looked at Abby once.
Then away.
He did not ask.
Good.
The board chair called her name.
“Ms. Mercer.”
Abby stood.
“You understand the seriousness of today’s vote?”
“Yes.”
“Do you intend to support Mr. Cross remaining chief executive?”
Abby looked at Julian.
Then said:
“No.”
The room erupted.
Julian did not move.
Abby continued.
“I also do not support removing him.”
Confusion.
She placed a document on the table.
“I support temporary independent management.”
Julian’s expression changed.
Abby proposed that Julian remain CEO but surrender unilateral control over trust-sensitive matters until the investigation ended.
An independent committee would review transactions.
No family-office authority.
No hidden employee surveillance.
No personal loyalty tests.
No secret security monitoring unrelated to genuine safety risks.
Julian stared.
She was not saving him.
She was limiting him.
Exactly what Margaret had done to Harrison.
The board approved.
Narrowly.
Afterward Julian found Abby alone near the elevator.
“You could have removed me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have protected me.”
“Yes.”
“You did neither.”
“No.”
He laughed softly.
“Your mother would have liked that.”
“Don’t use her to compliment me.”
“Right.”
He hesitated.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Not giving me what I wanted just because I wanted it.”
Abby looked at him.
“Is that unusual?”
“In my life?”
“Yes.”
“That explains a lot.”
He smiled.
Then it faded.
“There’s something else I owe you.”
He took her to the penthouse.
The $300,000 was gone.
The hidden security room was open.
Technicians were dismantling it.
Screens disconnected.
Cameras removed.
Abby watched.
“You’re getting rid of it?”
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
“Security cameras remain at entrances and common security points. Not bedrooms. Not employee spaces. Not tests.”
“Why?”
Julian looked at her.
“Because you were right.”
She waited.
“I exploited need and called it due diligence.”
That mattered more than apology.
“I fired people for taking money.”
“Did they steal?”
“Yes.”
“Then firing them wasn’t necessarily wrong.”
“No.”
“But tempting desperate people for sport was.”
Julian nodded.
“Yes.”
Abby glanced toward the empty monitoring room.
“What happened to the thirty-one?”
“Some stole enough to justify termination.”
“Some?”
His expression tightened.
“One took a hundred dollars.”
“The housekeeper you liked.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Her son needed medication.”
Abby closed her eyes.
“Did you know?”
“Not then.”
“And after?”
“I found out later.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
That was his real shame.
Abby looked at him.
“You should find her.”
“I already did.”
“Because of me?”
“Because I finally understood the question I should have asked.”
“What question?”
“Not ‘What is her price?’”
Julian paused.
“‘Why is someone who works for me unable to afford her son’s medicine?’”
Abby felt something shift.
Not love.
Trust was much slower.
But perhaps the first stone.
Then Marcus entered.
“We found a file in Eleanor’s archive.”
Julian looked at him.
“What file?”
Marcus handed Abby a folder.
Her name was on it.
ABIGAIL MERCER – CONTINGENCY.
Created six years ago.
The month her mother died.
Inside was surveillance.
School records.
Employment history.
Her father’s finances.
Noah’s birth certificate.
Eleanor Price had been tracking Abby’s family for years.
At the bottom was an instruction.
If Marianne’s daughter approaches Cross Meridian, redirect her toward Julian.
Abby looked up.
“Redirect me toward Julian?”
Marcus nodded.
Eleanor had known Julian was investigating the old scandal.
She wanted Abby and Julian to collide.
Why?
Because if the Mercer trust surfaced through Julian’s actions, Eleanor could frame him as manipulating a vulnerable employee to seize trust assets.
The $300,000 test.
The hidden cameras.
The secret hiring.
Everything Julian had done made the frame believable.
Eleanor had not merely tried to hide the truth.
May you like
She had used Julian’s worst instincts to turn him into the perfect suspect.
And he had almost done the work for her.
