Chapter 6 - The Company Behind the Company
The subsidiary was called Meridian Infrastructure Holdings.
Daniel had never heard of it.
That fact terrified Rachel more than anything else.
As outside counsel, she knew every legitimate Carter entity.
Or she thought she did.
Omar paused the recording.
Rachel opened her laptop and searched corporate databases.
Meridian had been created eleven months earlier.
Its registered address belonged to a corporate service company in Delaware.
Its officers were hidden behind layers of filings.
But one document contained a familiar signature.
Colin Mercer.
Rachel stared at the screen.
"He created a shadow company."
Daniel's voice was flat.
"Using what money?"
"We need the books."
Vanessa suddenly moved toward the cellar stairs.
Elena blocked her path.
Vanessa glared.
"Move."
Elena did not.
Daniel said, "Let her go."
Everyone looked at him.
Vanessa stopped.
Daniel continued.
"If she wants to leave, she can."
Rachel frowned.
"Daniel."
"I'm not imprisoning anyone."
He looked at Vanessa.
"But if you leave, understand that every account connected to Carter Development is being frozen right now."
Vanessa gave him a strange smile.
"You still think this is about money."
"What is it about?"
"You."
Daniel felt a pulse of anger.
Vanessa climbed the stairs.
At the top she turned.
"You spent your whole life trying to prove you were better than your father. Then you became exactly like him."
She disappeared.
Margaret whispered, "Let her go."
Daniel looked at his mother.
"Why?"
"Because people make mistakes when they think they still have somewhere to run."
Rachel immediately called the company's bank.
Within twenty minutes, several unusual transfers were flagged.
Millions had moved over the previous seven months from project reserve accounts into consulting contracts.
The consulting firms transferred money into Meridian.
Colin had been draining Carter Development while Daniel focused on the Saudi project.
But Vanessa's role remained unclear.
Until Omar opened another recording.
Vanessa and Colin entered William's office carrying champagne.
The date was Daniel's birthday.
He had spent that night alone in Riyadh.
On the video, Colin raised a glass.
"To seven months without the prince."
Vanessa laughed.
"Don't call him that."
"You married him."
"I married access."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel said nothing.
The video continued.
Colin opened a folder.
"Once Margaret's shares move under guardianship, we force the asset vote."
"And the mansion?"
"Meridian buys the debt."
"What debt?"
"The debt we create."
Vanessa smiled.
"So Daniel loses the company and the house at the same time."
Colin drank.
"He keeps whatever is left after the lenders."
Vanessa leaned against William's desk.
"He'll survive."
Daniel stared at the woman on screen.
Three years of marriage collapsed in a few sentences.
Rachel stopped the video.
"You don't need to watch more right now."
"Yes, I do."
"Daniel."
"Play it."
Omar continued.
Colin asked, "What about Margaret?"
Vanessa's face hardened.
"She signs or she becomes incompetent."
"And the maid?"
"I'll handle Elena."
Elena covered her mouth.
Daniel turned toward her.
"What did she do?"
Elena shook her head.
"Nothing she succeeded at."
Margaret looked at Elena.
"Tell him."
Elena hesitated.
Then she explained that Vanessa had tried to pay her.
Fifty thousand dollars to leave the house.
When Elena refused, Vanessa threatened to report her for stealing jewelry.
Two days later, a diamond bracelet appeared inside Elena's room.
Elena found it before Vanessa could call security.
She photographed it where it had been planted and carried it directly to Margaret.
They hid the bracelet in a place Vanessa would never search.
Inside William Carter's funeral box.
Daniel stared.
"My father's funeral box?"
Margaret almost smiled.
"The one containing the cards people sent after he died."
Vanessa avoided anything connected to William.
Elena retrieved the bracelet.
Rachel photographed it.
The chain of evidence was becoming overwhelming.
Yet Margaret remained troubled.
"There is still something missing."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"Why Vanessa knew about the old office system."
"She didn't know about the hidden archive."
"No. But she knew your father had hidden things."
Margaret looked toward the ceiling.
"She knew enough to search."
Daniel thought about Vanessa's earlier words.
You don't know what you're doing.
He's been dead eight years and we're still living under his rules.
"Maybe Colin told her."
Margaret shook her head.
"Colin didn't work for the company when William designed the estate trust."
Rachel looked up.
"Who did?"
Daniel answered slowly.
"His father."
Everyone became still.
Colin Mercer's father, James Mercer, had been William Carter's financial controller for almost twenty years.
He had resigned six months before William died.
Daniel remembered something else.
The resignation had not been friendly.
William had accused James of hiding losses.
No charges were ever filed.
James moved away.
Colin joined Carter Development two years later.
Daniel had hired him without understanding the full history.
"My father warned me about Colin's family."
Margaret looked at him.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"You were grieving. You thought William had become suspicious of everyone."
Daniel remembered now.
A conversation after the funeral.
Margaret saying Colin's application made her uncomfortable.
Daniel dismissing it as old resentment.
He had been wrong.
Rachel began searching archived legal files.
She found a scanned memo written by William eight years earlier.
Subject: Mercer discrepancy.
The note described unexplained transfers.
At the bottom, William had written:
James may not be acting alone. Preserve all office recordings.
Daniel looked toward the metal cabinet.
"The recordings go back eight years?"
Omar checked.
"Some do."
Rachel inhaled sharply.
"Then we may have evidence of what Colin's father did."
But Daniel was staring at another folder.
A date caught his attention.
The night before his father died.
There was a recording.
Margaret whispered, "Daniel."
He clicked it.
William Carter appeared on the screen.
Alive.
He entered the office at 11:08 p.m.
Five minutes later, James Mercer walked in.
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And the first thing James said was:
"If Daniel ever sees the real accounts, Colin will pay for what I did."
