Chapter 10 - The Marriage Was the Door
Nathan did not speak for several seconds.
Bianca filled the silence.
“Julian knew you attended the Harbor Children’s Foundation gala every year.”
“So he sent you.”
“Yes.”
“To do what?”
“Meet you.”
“Why?”
“To get close.”
Nathan stared through Denise’s window at the dark Vermont lake.
“And you married me.”
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“Convenient.”
“I didn’t expect—”
“Don’t say you loved me.”
Bianca went quiet.
Nathan continued.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Before or after you photographed my trust?”
“Nathan—”
“Before or after you forged my signature?”
“I did not forge all those signatures.”
“All?”
He heard her catch the mistake.
“Which ones did you forge?”
Bianca began breathing faster.
“I can’t talk on the phone.”
“Then meet federal investigators.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian will destroy Sofia.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
“He has information about her sister.”
“I know.”
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“I don’t know exactly. Nathan, please believe me about one thing: Julian is desperate.”
“You were desperate enough to use Ava.”
Bianca started crying.
“I was trying to make Sofia leave.”
“You tried to have her arrested.”
“I thought the officers would remove her, ask questions, then release her.”
“You manufactured an allegation involving my six-year-old daughter.”
“I know!”
Her shout broke into sobbing.
For one second Nathan heard not the polished woman who had manipulated his house, but someone terrified.
He hated that he still cared.
“Where is Elliot?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You said he came back.”
“He did. Julian found him in Florida.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad had kept copies of old Mercer files.”
Nathan gripped the phone.
“Where are they?”
“Julian has some.”
“The archive box?”
“I took it.”
At last.
“Where is it?”
“Julian took it from me.”
“Why did you help him?”
Bianca’s answer came after a long silence.
“Because he told me Elliot could prove your father ruined ours.”
Nathan frowned.
“How?”
“He said James Mercer framed Dad for the stolen money, destroyed his company, and threatened him until he left us.”
Denise shook her head vigorously.
Nathan said, “That’s not what the evidence says.”
“I know that now.”
“You know?”
“I found something in the archive box.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Nathan looked at Denise.
“What ledger?”
“Payments to fake subcontractors. Dad’s handwriting was in it.”
Bianca’s voice cracked.
“Julian spent our entire lives telling me the Mercers destroyed our family.”
“And when you learned your father might actually have been stealing?”
“Julian took the ledger.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Everything fit differently now.
Julian was not only trying to save his company.
He was trying to preserve the story that justified his entire life.
“What does Elliot want?”
“Money.”
“Of course.”
“He blackmailed Julian first.”
“How much?”
“Ten million.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“So Julian decided to steal from me to pay your father.”
“No.”
“What then?”
Bianca hesitated.
“Julian decided the old documents could be worth more than Dad’s silence.”
Nathan understood.
Julian had turned blackmail into strategy.
The old partnership claim could destabilize Mercer assets. The confidential land deal could enrich Vale properties. Fraudulent paperwork could create temporary control.
And Bianca had access to Nathan.
“How much did you know?”
“Not everything.”
“How much?”
“I photographed documents. I copied signatures. I got into the archive.”
Nathan shut his eyes.
“Did you create Meridian?”
“No. Grant did.”
“Did he know the signatures were fake?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Marcus help?”
“Only with information.”
Nathan believed that part.
“Who copied the yacht surveillance?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
Nathan heard fear.
Real fear.
Then Bianca whispered, “There’s someone else.”
“Who?”
“Inside your company.”
“Name.”
“I don’t know.”
“Bianca.”
“Julian calls him North.”
Nathan turned to Denise.
She had heard the name through speakerphone.
Her face changed.
“What?” Nathan asked.
Denise whispered, “Your father used that name.”
Nathan stared.
“North?”
She nodded.
“On another tape.”
She searched the cassette box frantically.
Tape four.
Nathan inserted it.
His father’s voice emerged through static.
“April 2, 2004. Elliot says his source is still inside Mercer. Calls him North.”
Nathan’s heart pounded.
Twenty-two years earlier, someone inside Mercer Maritime had fed Elliot Vale confidential information.
And according to Bianca, the same name was being used now.
Nathan said into the phone, “Bianca, listen carefully. Do not contact Julian.”
Too late.
A man’s voice appeared faintly behind her.
“Hang up.”
Bianca gasped.
Nathan stood.
“Who’s there?”
The line went dead.
He called again.
No answer.
Then a text arrived from Bianca’s number.
YOU WANT YOUR WIFE BACK, BRING THE LEDGER COPY.
Nathan looked at Denise.
“I don’t have a ledger copy.”
Denise reached beneath the old cassette case.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
May you like
“You do now.”
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