Chapter 3 - The Family Version
At nine the next morning, Daniel entered Mercer Development's boardroom carrying no briefcase.
He had left Lily with Mara and a licensed emergency childcare worker recommended by Dr. Cho.
For the first time in years, he had also changed every password connected to his office, phone and personal accounts.
Margaret was already seated at the far end of the table.
Vanessa sat beside her.
The bruise on Vanessa's forearm was small but strategically uncovered.
Gerald Pike occupied the chair nearest Margaret.
Daniel took his usual seat.
Chairman Peter Hale cleared his throat.
"This is an extraordinary session."
"It certainly is," Daniel said.
Margaret folded her hands.
"My son suffered an emotional episode yesterday."
Daniel looked at her.
No greeting.
No question about Lily.
Nothing.
"An emotional episode?"
"You attacked your sister."
"No."
"You caused me to fall."
"You tripped over a chair."
Vanessa leaned forward.
"You came at me with a frying pan."
"I took a frying pan away from you while you were terrorizing a two-year-old."
Pike raised a hand.
"We shouldn't litigate disputed facts here."
Daniel stared at him.
"You sent my housekeeper a false declaration and offered her money."
Silence.
Margaret's expression barely changed.
Pike did.
Only slightly.
But Daniel saw it.
"I don't know what you're referring to."
"You will."
Peter Hale looked uncomfortable.
Margaret slid a folder toward him.
"The issue before this board is Daniel's fitness to continue acting as chief executive during an obvious family crisis."
Daniel laughed once.
"Now we're worried about family crises?"
Peter opened the folder.
Daniel watched his expression change.
"What is it?"
Peter hesitated.
Margaret answered.
"A petition seeking temporary guardianship of Lily."
Daniel stood so abruptly his chair rolled backward.
"You filed what?"
Margaret remained seated.
"We are concerned about her safety."
Daniel stared at his mother.
"You're concerned about Lily's safety."
"You're volatile. Yesterday proved it."
Vanessa touched her bruised arm.
Daniel understood.
The dinner had not merely been rewritten.
It was being weaponized.
"Who filed?"
"I did," Margaret said.
"On what basis?"
"Your instability. Your work travel. Your inability to provide consistent maternal care."
Daniel's face hardened.
"Lily does not need a replacement mother selected by you."
Margaret's lips tightened.
"She needs structure."
"Is that what we're calling locking toddlers in basement rooms?"
Peter looked sharply toward Margaret.
"What?"
Pike intervened.
"Daniel is making unsupported allegations."
"Not unsupported."
Daniel pulled out his phone.
He played six seconds of Mara's first recording.
Vanessa removing Lily's food.
Margaret's face changed.
Pike stood.
"Stop that."
Daniel looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because covert recordings create legal issues."
"Interesting priority."
He stopped the video himself.
"I've turned copies over to the appropriate authorities."
That was partly true.
Officer Ruiz had arranged to collect them that afternoon.
Margaret's composure cracked.
"You gave private family recordings to police?"
"You locked my daughter in a room."
"I never touched her."
"You watched."
Margaret stood.
"That child has manipulated you since the day she was born."
Daniel stared at her.
Two-year-old Lily.
Manipulated him.
Something almost surreal washed over him.
"What exactly are you afraid she'll do?"
Margaret hesitated.
It lasted less than a second.
Daniel noticed anyway.
"What does Lily have that frightens you?"
"Nothing."
"Then why spend one hundred thousand dollars silencing Mara?"
Pike interjected again.
"That payment was severance."
"With a sworn statement attached?"
Daniel turned toward the other directors.
"Yesterday, my daughter told me the abuse happened whenever I was away. I have discovered evidence suggesting she was telling the truth."
He looked around the room.
"I am taking immediate leave."
Margaret smiled faintly, believing she had won.
Daniel continued.
"Not because this board removed me."
Her smile vanished.
"Because my daughter needs me."
He pushed his chair in.
"And because while I'm away, an independent audit will examine every expenditure from the Mercer Family Trust to outside legal counsel over the last three years."
Pike's face went still.
Daniel had found the nerve.
He could see it.
Margaret said, "You don't have authority."
"I own forty-one percent of Mercer Development personally."
"The family voting agreement—"
"Expires in eleven days."
Nobody spoke.
Daniel's father had structured the agreement before his death. Margaret held temporary proxy authority over certain family shares, but Daniel's fortieth birthday would end it.
Eleven days.
Suddenly the timing made sense.
Daniel looked at Margaret.
"What's happening in eleven days that you're desperate to stop?"
"You are being paranoid."
"Maybe."
He left.
In the elevator, his phone buzzed.
Mara.
He answered immediately.
"What's wrong?"
Her breathing was fast.
"Someone came to the apartment."
Daniel's blood turned cold.
"Lily?"
"She's safe. We're inside."
"Who came?"
"A man."
"Do you know him?"
"No."
"What did he want?"
"He said he was delivering papers."
Daniel pressed the elevator button repeatedly.
"Don't open the door."
"I didn't."
"There are security cameras in the hallway. I'll get the footage."
Mara was silent.
Then she said, "Mr. Daniel?"
"What?"
"He left something outside."
"What?"
"A photograph."
Daniel stopped moving.
"Of what?"
May you like
"Of Lily's mother."
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