Chapter 10 - THE PRICE OF TWENTY-SEVEN PERCENT
Daniel wanted my shares.
Not money.
Not evidence.
Control.
Rebecca contacted the police immediately.
I called my father’s phone.
Daniel answered.
“Don’t.”
His voice was calm.
That frightened me more than shouting.
“Let me speak to him.”
“You’ll hear him when you sign.”
“You know those shares are frozen.”
“I know Rebecca Sloan can remove the restriction.”
Rebecca shook her head.
I understood.
Keep him talking.
“Why my father?”
“Because Richard Mercer has spent thirty years making other people pay for his decisions.”
“That includes you?”
Daniel laughed.
“Especially me.”
Then my father’s voice came through the phone.
“Claire.”
He sounded exhausted.
“Dad.”
“Do not sign anything.”
Daniel struck something.
I heard my father grunt.
My hands tightened.
“Stop.”
My father spoke again.
“Listen to me.”
His breathing was uneven.
“I chose the company over the truth.”
“Don’t make the same mistake because of me.”
The call disconnected.
I looked at Rebecca.
“Find him.”
Police traced the signal.
Industrial district.
Then it vanished.
Elias stood beside the window.
“He wants us to move the shares.”
“Yes.”
“Then we make him believe we will.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“That’s dangerous.”
“So is waiting.”
I understood what Elias meant.
Daniel needed legal confirmation before any transfer became valuable.
That meant documents.
Documents meant communication.
Communication meant a trace.
We prepared a false transfer package.
Rebecca sent a message through the number Daniel had used.
CLAIRE WILL SIGN.
His response came six minutes later.
MIDNIGHT.
He sent an address.
An unfinished Mercer tower.
Of course.
A building my father had begun constructing before everything collapsed.
Police prepared the operation.
I was not supposed to go.
I went anyway.
Not inside.
I stayed in a surveillance vehicle three blocks away.
Elias went with Rebecca.
At 11:58, Daniel entered the building.
At 12:04, Rebecca received a video call.
My father appeared on screen.
Alive.
Daniel demanded proof of my signature.
Rebecca showed him the documents.
He demanded the originals.
Then police moved.
For eleven minutes, nobody told me anything.
Those eleven minutes felt longer than labor.
Then Rebecca called.
“We have Richard.”
I closed my eyes.
“And Daniel?”
Silence.
“He escaped through the lower construction level.”
My relief vanished.
Police found blood near a service stairwell.
Not enough to know whose.
They searched until sunrise.
Daniel was gone.
My father was taken to the hospital.
I arrived with Noah after doctors cleared him.
He had bruises and a cut above his eyebrow.
But he was alive.
He looked at Noah.
Then at me.
“I’m sorry.”
I sat beside him.
“For what?”
He laughed weakly.
“How much time do you have?”
I almost smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
“Claire, there’s something I need to do.”
“What?”
“Resign.”
I stared at him.
“From Mercer?”
“From everything.”
He looked toward Noah.
“I spent my life building a company.”
“Then I nearly destroyed my family protecting it.”
He looked back at me.
“If there’s anything left worth saving, it shouldn’t belong to me.”
He reached for my hand.
“Take control.”
I pulled my hand away.
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“I don’t want your throne.”
“Then what do you want?”
May you like
I looked at Noah.
“A company that doesn’t need one.”
