Chapter 3 - THE MAN BEHIND THE MERGER
At 2:17 a.m., a doctor finally walked toward Ethan.
“Mr. Hargrove?”
Ethan stood so quickly the chair nearly tipped over.
“My wife?”
“Stable.”
The word nearly broke him.
“And the baby?”
“Still with us.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
For the first time in hours, he breathed.
The doctor continued.
“Your wife is severely dehydrated and under considerable physical stress.”
“Will she be okay?”
“We’re optimistic.”
“But?”
“She needs observation.”
Ethan nodded.
“Whatever she needs.”
The doctor hesitated.
“There is something else.”
Ethan’s stomach tightened again.
“Her blood work suggests she may have been given a sedative repeatedly over several days.”
Ethan stared at him.
“A sedative?”
“Small doses.”
“Enough to make someone weak?”
“Yes.”
“Confused?”
“Potentially.”
“Easy to control?”
The doctor didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Ethan turned away.
His mother hadn’t simply imprisoned Grace.
Someone had been drugging her.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Martin.
I FOUND SOMETHING.
Ethan walked toward the far end of the corridor and called him.
“What?”
“I checked the security archive.”
“And?”
“Someone deleted the footage from the west wing.”
“Can you recover it?”
“I’m trying.”
“Who has administrator access?”
Martin paused.
“You.”
“My mother.”
“And?”
“Charles Mercer.”
Ethan went still.
Charles Mercer.
Chief Financial Officer of Hargrove Industries.
His father’s closest friend.
The man who had taught Ethan how to read a balance sheet when he was fourteen.
And the architect of tomorrow’s merger.
“Why does Mercer have access to my home security system?”
“He helped install the corporate protection network after your father died.”
Ethan looked through the hospital window.
Rain streaked the glass.
“Martin.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t tell anyone what you found.”
“Understood.”
“And stay away from my mother.”
Ethan ended the call.
He searched his email.
Merger documents.
Financial disclosures.
Board approvals.
One name appeared again and again.
Charles Mercer.
Then Ethan remembered something.
Three months earlier, Grace had asked him an unusual question.
Do you completely trust Charles?
Ethan had laughed.
He regretted that laugh now.
Grace woke shortly before dawn.
Ethan sat beside her bed.
“Hey.”
Her eyes found him.
“You stayed.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
She looked toward her stomach.
“The baby?”
“Still fighting.”
A weak smile touched her lips.
Ethan kissed her hand.
Then he asked the question he had been afraid to ask.
“Grace, why did you ask me about Charles Mercer three months ago?”
Her expression changed instantly.
“You remember that?”
“I remember dismissing you.”
“I’m sorry.”
Grace looked toward the door.
“Close it.”
Ethan did.
When he returned, Grace spoke quietly.
“I found transfers.”
“What transfers?”
“Money moving through Hargrove subsidiaries.”
“How much?”
“At least sixty million dollars.”
Ethan stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“I thought so too.”
“Where did it go?”
“Shell companies.”
“Controlled by?”
“I couldn’t prove it.”
“But you suspected Charles.”
Grace nodded.
“I confronted your mother.”
Ethan felt sick.
“When?”
“The week before I disappeared.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me to stop digging.”
Grace’s eyes filled with pain.
“She said some truths were more dangerous than lies.”
Ethan sat back.
Everything suddenly connected.
Grace discovered the money.
Grace confronted Evelyn.
Grace disappeared.
The merger was rushed forward.
And tomorrow Ethan was supposed to sign.
“What exactly does the merger give Charles?”
Grace looked at him.
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Everything.”
Ethan’s phone buzzed.
Martin.
This time there was an attachment.
A recovered security image.
Ethan opened it.
The photograph was grainy.
Timestamped three nights earlier.
Evelyn stood in the upstairs hallway.
Beside her was a man.
May you like
Charles Mercer.
And in his hand was Grace’s wedding ring.
