Chapter 14 - The Wife Who Came to Court Against Him
Sarah appeared beside Rebecca at the next family-court hearing.
David saw her across the hallway.
For several seconds neither moved.
Then Sarah walked toward him.
“I heard your statement.”
“I assumed.”
“You didn’t have to admit everything publicly.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m finally learning what happens when I leave pieces out.”
Sarah looked down.
The courtroom doors opened.
The hearing was brief.
Clara’s attorney had submitted photographs of her injuries.
David’s counsel did not dispute them.
Sarah’s original petition requested temporary primary custody, but now she amended it.
Shared physical custody.
No restriction on David’s unsupervised parenting.
The judge looked at Sarah.
“Mrs. Mercer, what changed?”
Sarah glanced at David.
“His conduct.”
“The assault occurred before your petition.”
“I mean his conduct afterward.”
She explained that David had cooperated with police, accepted legal responsibility, and had not attempted to pressure Mia regarding her recording.
The judge approved a temporary shared arrangement.
Outside court, David said, “Thank you.”
Sarah looked surprised.
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
“I did it because the children should be with their father.”
“I know.”
She studied him.
“You really are changing.”
“Don’t sound so disappointed.”
A faint smile appeared.
Then disappeared.
“We need to talk about Julian.”
They went to a nearby café.
Sarah placed the nanny-camera recording on the table.
“The FBI has it.”
“Good.”
“It’s strong evidence of intent.”
“Enough?”
“Not alone.”
David leaned back.
“What are we missing?”
“The original authentication logs.”
“Nolan saved them.”
“A partial copy. Not the master server image.”
“Where is it?”
“Henry had one made.”
David frowned.
“How do you know?”
“Your father told me he kept an independent archive of Mercer Group’s audit system.”
“Where?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
David laughed.
“More secrets.”
“He believed compartmentalization kept people safe.”
“Mia would have hated him.”
Sarah almost smiled.
Then she reached across the table.
“Your father’s watch.”
David stared.
“What?”
“Henry told me once, ‘If Julian destroys the books, the watch still knows what time it is.’ I thought he was being metaphorical.”
“He always wore that ridiculous Patek.”
“Where is it?”
David thought.
“Mom kept his personal effects after the funeral.”
“He wasn’t buried with it?”
“No. She said it was too valuable.”
Sarah’s eyes sharpened.
“Find it.”
David drove directly to Evelyn’s house.
She refused to let him in.
He stood on the front steps.
“I want Dad’s watch.”
Her face changed.
“Why?”
“That answer tells me I should.”
“It belongs to the estate.”
“The estate distributed personal effects years ago.”
“To me.”
“Then show it to me.”
“No.”
David smiled sadly.
“Still protecting Julian.”
“I am protecting this family from annihilation.”
“You destroyed evidence.”
Evelyn stiffened.
“Who told you?”
“Does it matter?”
She looked suddenly old.
“David, if Mercer Group collapses, thousands of people suffer.”
“Mercer Group doesn’t have to collapse because Julian faces consequences.”
“You don’t understand finance.”
“I’m the chief operating officer.”
“Suspended chief operating officer.”
He took the insult without reacting.
That unsettled her more than anger would have.
“Where is the watch?”
Evelyn stared at him.
Then quietly said, “Julian took it.”
“When?”
“The week after Henry died.”
David’s pulse increased.
“Why?”
“He said Father promised it to him.”
“Did you believe him?”
“No.”
“Then why let him take it?”
Evelyn whispered, “Because by then I was afraid of what Henry might have hidden.”
David stared.
“Where is Julian keeping it?”
“I don’t know.”
His phone buzzed.
Rebecca.
The Mercer Group board had scheduled a special meeting for forty-eight hours later.
Agenda:
Approve a $30 million secured credit facility.
Authorize asset dispositions.
Confirm executive succession and permanent removal of David Mercer as COO.
David read it twice.
Sarah looked over his shoulder.
“They’re closing the hole.”
“Yes.”
Julian planned to borrow fresh money against legitimate Mercer properties.
Enough to cover Orchard’s hidden liabilities.
Then sell assets.
Once the accounting trail was absorbed into ordinary debt, proving where the old money went would become harder.
Sarah whispered, “He’s cleaning the crime scene with the company itself.”
David called Samuel Pike, trustee of Henry’s voting trust.
Pike answered from Vermont.
“I need you to suspend Julian’s proxy.”
“I need credible documentary evidence.”
“We have recordings.”
“Send them.”
“We have bank transfers.”
“Send them.”
“We have forged approvals.”
“Can you prove they’re forged?”
“Not completely.”
Pike sighed.
“Then find the master logs.”
David looked at Sarah.
“We’re trying.”
“You have forty-eight hours,” Pike said. “After that board meeting, control may effectively change.”
The call ended.
David’s phone immediately rang again.
Julian.
David answered.
“What?”
“You’re becoming inconvenient.”
“Good.”
“You think this ends with me in handcuffs and you in my office?”
“I don’t want your office.”
“Liar.”
David said nothing.
Julian laughed.
“You still don’t understand Dad.”
“Apparently you took his watch.”
Silence.
David smiled.
There.
“Where is it?”
Julian’s voice became cold.
“Stay away from things that don’t belong to you.”
“He was my father too.”
“Then you should have earned what he left you.”
The call ended.
Sarah looked at David.
“He has it.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
David stared toward Manhattan.
Then remembered Julian’s habit.
His obsession with displaying trophies.
Henry’s first architectural model.
Their grandfather’s fountain pen.
Every symbol of legitimacy arranged behind glass in Julian’s private executive office.
May you like
David stood.
“I know exactly where my father’s watch is.”
