Chapter 3 - ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS
Security moved faster than Gavin.
Daniel caught his arm.
The head of security stepped between us.
“Mr. Mercer.”
Gavin jerked away.
“Get your hands off me.”
Miriam didn’t react.
She placed her folder on the table.
Gavin pointed at her.
“You have no right to be here.”
Miriam smiled thinly.
“I’m counsel for Hart Capital.”
Then she looked at me.
“The missing eleven million wasn’t lost.”
I felt the room shrink.
“It was transferred.”
“To whom?”
Miriam opened the file.
“Three shell companies.”
She slid one page toward me.
“Vale Event Strategies.”
Tessa’s face drained of color.
Gavin turned sharply.
“Tessa?”
She stared at the paper.
“That isn’t mine.”
Miriam turned another page.
“The registered director is Teresa Vale.”
Tessa swallowed.
“That could be anybody.”
Daniel almost laughed.
Miriam continued.
“The mailing address is your apartment.”
Tessa looked at Gavin.
“You said nobody could trace it.”
Silence.
She realized what she had said.
I stared at her.
Gavin closed his eyes.
“Oh, brilliant.”
Tessa’s voice rose.
“You told me it was legal.”
“Shut up.”
“You said it was temporary.”
“Shut up, Tessa.”
She slapped him.
The crack echoed through the suite.
His friends had mostly left, but three remained near the door.
All three stared.
Tessa pointed at Gavin.
“You told me those transfers were consulting fees.”
“They were.”
“For what consulting?”
Gavin looked at me.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
His jaw flexed.
“MercerArc needed liquidity.”
“So you stole from your own company.”
“I moved money.”
“To your mistress.”
“That’s not what happened.”
Miriam placed another paper down.
“A second shell company purchased a villa near Capri six weeks ago.”
My chest tightened.
Tessa looked shocked.
“You bought the villa?”
Gavin said nothing.
She laughed once.
Then again.
“You told me it was rented.”
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
I looked at the third company.
“What about this one?”
Miriam’s eyes hardened.
“That’s where it gets worse.”
Gavin suddenly looked frightened.
Not angry.
Frightened.
“Olivia.”
I ignored him.
“Miriam?”
“The third entity transferred four-point-two million dollars into an account controlled by Gavin’s brother.”
I looked at Gavin.
“You told me your brother was broke.”
“He is.”
“Then why does he have four million dollars?”
Gavin stepped toward me.
“We can explain this privately.”
“No.”
“Olivia, think.”
“I finally am.”
He lowered his voice.
“If you destroy MercerArc, you destroy your own investment.”
“No.”
Miriam answered for me.
“If Hart converts the preferred shares, Olivia’s trust controls MercerArc.”
Gavin froze.
“And you,” Miriam continued, “can be removed as CEO before markets open.”
Tessa sat down hard.
Gavin stared at me.
“You wouldn’t.”
I remembered the laughter.
Quiet.
Loyal.
Useful.
I met his eyes.
“Watch me.”
His phone started ringing.
He looked at the screen.
His brother.
He rejected the call.
It rang again.
Then again.
Miriam glanced at me.
“There’s something else.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
“Gavin’s brother tried to withdraw the full four-point-two million less than an hour ago.”
Gavin cursed.
Miriam continued.
“The bank froze the account.”
His phone rang again.
This time a voicemail notification appeared.
Gavin’s expression changed when he read the preview.
I held out my hand.
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
Security stepped closer.
Gavin slowly handed it over.
I played the voicemail.
His brother’s frantic voice filled the room.
“Gavin, they froze everything.”
A breath.
Then:
“And the federal guys are asking questions.”
Every face in the suite changed.
May you like
But the final sentence was worse.
“Whatever you do, don’t let Olivia find out what you used her signature for.”
