Chapter 4 - The Dead Man's Company
Vivian read the note five times.
VIVIAN KNOWS WHY.
“I don't,” she said.
Ross studied her.
“I believe you.”
Nathan paced the conference room.
“Then somebody wants us to think she left because of Vivian.”
“Or wants Vivian to think that,” Ross said.
Charles rubbed his forehead.
“Find Megan.”
Ross nodded.
“We will.”
Vivian looked again at the message from Preston.
ASK HIM WHAT HAPPENED TO GEORGE HALE.
“Dad. Finish the story.”
Charles looked older than he had the night before.
“George Hale and I were business partners before we were enemies.”
Vivian had never heard that.
Charles continued.
“We started investing together in the early nineties. George was brilliant. Ambitious. Reckless.”
“What changed?”
“He began moving client money.”
Ross listened carefully.
“Illegally?”
“Yes.”
Vivian's stomach tightened.
Charles explained that George had used shell companies to hide losses, then borrowed against assets he did not fully control.
Northbridge Consulting was one of those companies.
When Charles discovered it, he withdrew from their partnership.
George never forgave him.
Years later, Hale Industries nearly collapsed.
By then, Preston had joined his father.
“He was young,” Charles said. “Twenty-six. Smart. Desperate to save the company.”
“So you helped them.”
“I helped Preston.”
“Why?”
Charles looked at Vivian.
“Because you loved him.”
The answer hurt more than she expected.
“I had just started dating him.”
“You were serious.”
“You risked hundreds of millions because I was dating someone?”
“No. I structured the financing because I believed Preston wasn't George.”
Charles looked down.
“I was wrong.”
Vivian leaned back.
“And George?”
“He died before the restructuring was completed.”
“How?”
“A boating accident.”
“That’s the public story.”
“Yes.”
“What really happened?”
Charles hesitated.
“George called me the night he died.”
Ross said, “What did he want?”
“He claimed someone inside Hale Industries had discovered Northbridge.”
“Who?”
“He wouldn't say.”
“What happened next?”
“He said he was going to meet that person at the marina.”
“And then?”
“His boat exploded.”
Silence.
Vivian looked toward the photographs.
“Was Preston there?”
“No.”
“You're certain?”
“I thought I was.”
That answer changed the air.
“What does that mean?”
Charles looked at the USB drive.
“Until yesterday, I believed Preston was in Boston that night.”
Ross leaned forward.
“And now?”
Charles pointed to one photograph.
The timestamp showed Preston entering a private hangar outside New York.
The date.
Twelve years earlier.
The night George died.
Vivian stared.
“That can't be right.”
Nathan checked the metadata.
“It looks authentic.”
Vivian shook her head.
“Preston told me he was in Boston with his father’s attorneys.”
Ross said nothing.
Vivian felt something inside her break.
Not love.
That had already been damaged.
History.
Memory.
Reality.
Every story Preston had told her was becoming unstable.
Her phone vibrated.
A message from Sloane.
I NEED TO SEE YOU.
Vivian stared.
Nathan read it.
“No.”
Ross disagreed.
“We should.”
Nathan turned.
“You want Vivian meeting her?”
“Under controlled conditions.”
Vivian typed one question.
WHY?
Sloane answered immediately.
BECAUSE PRESTON LIED TO BOTH OF US.
Two hours later, Sloane Avery entered a private conference room at Mercer Capital wearing sunglasses, a black coat, and no makeup.
She looked nothing like the woman in the ballroom.
Vivian sat across from her.
Ross watched from an adjacent room.
Nathan remained nearby.
Sloane removed her sunglasses.
Her eyes were swollen.
“I didn't know.”
Vivian's face remained still.
“About which part?”
Sloane flinched.
“The money.”
“You knew he was married.”
“Yes.”
“You knew who I was.”
“Yes.”
“You publicly humiliated me.”
Sloane looked down.
“Yes.”
Vivian leaned forward.
“Then don't ask me for sympathy.”
“I’m not.”
“Good.”
Sloane opened her purse.
Nathan immediately stepped closer.
She removed a phone.
“Preston gave me this.”
Vivian stared.
“A second phone?”
“He said it was safer.”
“For your affair?”
“For business.”
Vivian laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
Sloane slid it across the table.
“I started recording him.”
Vivian's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because three weeks ago he scared me.”
Sloane described a dinner at Preston's apartment.
He had been drinking.
Angry about Vivian refusing to sign documents transferring her trust voting rights.
“He said your family had controlled him long enough.”
Vivian listened.
“He said once you signed, everything would finally be where it belonged.”
“What did that mean?”
“I asked.”
“And?”
“He said the Hales had been robbed years ago.”
Charles, listening through the glass, went still.
Sloane continued.
“He said your father stole Hale Industries from his father.”
Vivian shook her head.
“The financing saved it.”
“That isn't how Preston sees it.”
Sloane unlocked the phone.
“There’s more.”
She played an audio recording.
Preston’s voice filled the room.
George should never have trusted Mercer.
Then Sloane’s voice.
What does that have to do with Vivian?
Everything.
Her vote is the last piece.
Then another sentence.
Once she signs, I can fix what my father started.
Vivian's skin prickled.
Sloane paused the recording.
“I thought he meant taking back company control.”
“What do you think now?”
“I don't know.”
She opened a message thread.
Dozens of texts between Preston and someone saved as D.
D.
The initials on the transfer records.
D.M.
Sloane scrolled.
One message caught Vivian's attention.
2147 CLEANED.
Another.
MERCER DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT THE SECOND LEDGER.
Vivian leaned closer.
“What second ledger?”
Sloane shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Another message.
MEGAN’S BROTHER TALKED.
Then:
HANDLE IT.
Vivian stopped breathing.
Sloane looked terrified.
“I saw that message this morning.”
“When was it sent?”
“Three weeks ago.”
The same week Megan's brother vanished.
Nathan entered the room.
“Ross needs the phone.”
Sloane handed it over.
Vivian stared at her.
“Why did you make that speech last night?”
Sloane swallowed.
“Because Preston told me to.”
Vivian frowned.
“He wanted you to expose the affair?”
“He told me he was announcing our relationship after the auction. Then ten minutes before, he changed his mind.”
“So you took the microphone.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Sloane looked ashamed.
“Because I thought he was choosing you again.”
Vivian sat back.
All that public cruelty.
All that triumph.
Built on insecurity.
Sloane whispered, “He kept saying last night mattered.”
Vivian looked up.
“What exactly did he say?”
“That after the gala, you wouldn't matter anymore.”
Nathan and Vivian exchanged a look.
“Why last night?”
“I don't know.”
Ross entered suddenly.
His face was tense.
“We traced D.”
“D.M.?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Ross placed a photograph on the table.
Vivian recognized the unknown man from Zurich.
“Daniel Mercer,” Ross said.
Vivian stared.
“No.”
Nathan grabbed the photo.
“That’s impossible.”
Sloane looked confused.
“Who is he?”
Vivian's mouth went dry.
She looked toward Charles.
Her father had turned white.
Ross answered.
“Charles Mercer's younger brother.”
Vivian whispered, “Uncle Daniel died twenty-four years ago.”
Charles stared at the photograph.
Then said the words nobody expected.
“No.”
May you like
He looked at Vivian.
“He didn't.”
