Chapter 6 - Vivian’s Price
Daniel took his phone from Vivian.
“You went through my messages?”
“You left it unlocked.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Vivian’s laugh was sharp.
“That is your answer?”
Three directors still inside the conference room pretended not to listen.
Elena did not bother pretending.
Vivian looked at her.
“The message says, ‘Once Elena is frozen, closing can move forward.’”
Daniel’s jaw hardened.
“Vivian.”
“Then my father wrote, ‘No more delays. We take control before quarter-end.’”
Elena stepped closer.
“Control of what?”
Vivian shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel said, “Enough.”
Vivian turned on him.
“You told me Voss Capital was refinancing debt.”
“It is.”
“You didn’t say my father was buying anything.”
“He isn’t.”
“Then why did he use the word closing?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Your father talks like every transaction is a war. You know that.”
For a moment Vivian seemed ready to believe him.
Elena saw it.
Not stupidity.
Habit.
Daniel had spent months giving Vivian explanations just plausible enough to prevent the next question.
Elena recognized the pattern because their father had done the same thing when they were young.
Trust me.
It’s complicated.
You wouldn’t understand.
We’re protecting the family.
Vivian looked at Elena.
“Did Daniel tell you my foundation received money from Tidegate?”
“No.”
Her face tightened.
“I didn’t know Tidegate was connected to Mercer.”
Daniel said, “Because it isn’t.”
Elena asked, “What was the $2.4 million for?”
Vivian hesitated.
“A cultural preservation project.”
“Which project?”
“Three properties in Santa Barbara.”
“Did the project happen?”
Vivian looked at Daniel.
He looked away.
Her voice softened.
“Oh my God.”
Daniel took her elbow.
“Come with me.”
She jerked free.
“No.”
“Vivian.”
“My father told me the money came from a private donor group.”
Elena said, “It came from a company Mercer paid twenty-three million dollars.”
Vivian looked sick.
“Why?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
Daniel turned to Elena.
“You’re involving her because you need someone else to blame.”
“No,” Vivian said.
Everyone looked at her.
She removed the engagement ring from her finger.
Daniel’s face changed.
She stared at the diamond, then closed her hand around it.
“I want a copy of every transfer involving my foundation.”
Paul stepped into the corridor.
“You are not entitled to internal company records.”
Vivian’s eyes flashed.
“If my nonprofit received potentially misappropriated funds, my counsel will be entitled to plenty.”
Paul stopped talking.
That was when Elena realized Vivian was not merely decorative.
Whatever her flaws, she understood leverage.
Daniel said quietly, “Think very carefully before you do this.”
Vivian’s face trembled.
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s advice.”
“From my fiancé?”
“From someone who knows how quickly reputations disappear.”
The cruelty of it hung between them.
Vivian put the ring into her purse.
“Then maybe mine disappears before yours.”
She walked away.
Elena followed her to the elevator.
“Vivian.”
“What?”
“Your phone.”
Vivian stiffened.
“The network log.”
“I told you I wasn’t at Mariner House.”
“I believe you were telling the truth.”
Vivian looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel lies in patterns. I’m starting to recognize them.”
The elevator doors opened.
Vivian stepped inside.
Elena added, “But if someone used your phone there, I need to know how.”
Vivian stared at her.
Then she pressed the door-open button.
“Daniel gave me that phone.”
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
The authorization happened in February.
“Was it new?”
“He said it was.”
“Did you transfer your old data onto it?”
“No. His assistant set everything up.”
“What assistant?”
Vivian shook her head.
“Not his current one. A contractor named Leo.”
Rachel had joined them.
“Last name?”
“Danner.”
Elena wrote it down.
Vivian’s eyes shifted back toward Daniel.
“Am I going to prison?”
The question was so direct Elena almost missed its fear.
“For receiving money?”
“For signing grants.”
Rachel answered carefully.
“Not merely because funds arrived. Intent matters. Documentation matters. What you knew matters.”
Vivian looked down.
“I signed whatever my father’s office sent me.”
“Then get counsel.”
“I thought you were counsel.”
“I’m Elena’s counsel.”
Vivian gave a small, bitter smile.
“Of course.”
The doors closed.
That afternoon, the court declined to freeze Elena’s voting rights immediately.
Instead, the judge ordered both sides to maintain the status quo for five days while a hearing was scheduled.
No major asset sales.
No changes to board composition.
No exercise of the disputed fifty-one-percent block.
A temporary stalemate.
Daniel called it a victory.
Elena called it a cage.
At Mariner House that evening, Marcus found something stranger.
The device identified as Vivian’s phone had not connected through Wi-Fi in the normal way.
Its identifier had been manually entered into an internal network controller.
“It was spoofed?” Elena asked.
“Looks like it.”
“Why use Vivian’s identifier?”
“To make it look like her device was here.”
Rachel said, “Or to route suspicion toward her if anyone ever looked.”
Elena stared at the logs.
Daniel had planted Vivian’s identity seven months before Elena discovered the fraud.
Which meant he had prepared a scapegoat long in advance.
Marcus opened another file.
“The manual entry was performed from the villa office terminal.”
“Who was logged in?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Your account.”
Elena’s stomach dropped.
“That’s impossible.”
“There’s more.”
He showed her the access audit.
The password had been correct.
The secondary authentication had been correct.
Her credentials were not just used to sign the loan.
Someone had been operating inside her digital life.
Rachel said, “We need a full forensic image of every Mercer system.”
Elena looked at Marcus.
“Who had physical access to my office?”
He considered it.
“Daniel. Paul. Staff.”
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“Vivian?”
“Not that I remember.”
Elena thought about Maya.
Missing.
Broken phone.
Tidegate.
Then her own phone lit up.
Unknown number.
One message.
DON’T TRUST THE RED FILE.
A second message arrived.
YOUR FATHER DIDN’T LEAVE CONTROL TO YOU BECAUSE HE TRUSTED YOU.
HE LEFT IT TO YOU BECAUSE HE WAS AFRAID OF DANIEL.
Then a photograph appeared.
Richard Mercer, three weeks before his death, sitting at the desk in Mariner House.
On the desk was a red leather file.
May you like
Across the cover, in his handwriting, were four words:
IF DANIEL CHALLENGES ELENA.
