Chapter 5 - Schedule E
At two in the morning, Marcus entered the hidden office behind the bar.
Isabella watched from the mansion’s security network as he pressed a sequence of lights along the mirrored wall. The panel opened, revealing a narrow room lined with shelves.
Marcus remained inside for nine minutes.
When he emerged, he carried a black ledger and a sealed envelope.
He placed both inside a briefcase, returned the wall panel to its original position, and walked toward the garage.
Isabella alerted Bennett.
Marcus is leaving with evidence. Track him, but do not stop him unless Grace is moved.
Bennett answered.
We have an unmarked vehicle outside the property.
Isabella waited until Marcus’s car passed through the gate. Then she entered the hidden office.
The shelves contained contracts, company seals, and boxes of financial records. Most had been carefully arranged to resemble legitimate archives.
She photographed everything.
Behind the desk, she discovered an empty space where the black ledger had been stored. Beside it was a paper marked with pressure indentations from a handwritten note.
Isabella shaded the page lightly with the side of a pencil.
Words emerged.
Rusk payment confirmed.
Board votes secured.
Transfer after Richard declared incompetent.
Schedule E remains missing.
Isabella returned to her room and opened the original trust.
The document contained four visible schedules.
Schedule A listed real estate.
Schedule B covered company shares.
Schedule C named charitable foundations.
Schedule D described personal property.
There was no Schedule E.
She examined the binding. One section near the back was slightly thicker.
Using a letter opener, she separated two pages that had been sealed together.
A narrow envelope fell onto the desk.
Schedule E was written across the front.
Beneath the title appeared a warning.
To be opened only by Isabella Mercer after proof of Richard Mercer’s exploitation has been obtained.
She had proof of medical manipulation, imprisonment, forgery, and conspiracy.
She opened it.
Inside was a list of assets held separately from the Mercer Family Trust. The accounts were not measured in millions but in billions.
Richard’s public company was only part of the family’s true holdings.
The private assets belonged to a second structure called the Elena Mercer Continuity Trust.
Isabella read the beneficiary section.
Her own name appeared first.
The second beneficiary was identified only by initials.
E.V.
A note beneath the initials stated:
Identity protected until the original trustee returns.
Isabella looked again.
The original trustee was Elena Mercer.
According to the document, her mother’s authority had never been formally terminated.
There were only two explanations.
Either Elena had created an impossible legal structure before her death, or someone had maintained evidence that she was still alive.
Isabella searched the schedule for signatures.
Elena had signed it three months after the date of her supposed death.
Isabella sat back.
The signature might have been forged, but the attached notarial seal came from a respected office in Montreal. The notary had retired years earlier.
Her phone vibrated.
Bennett was calling.
“Marcus drove to a private airfield,” the detective said. “Dr. Rusk is already there.”
“Are they leaving?”
“A jet is being prepared, but Marcus hasn’t boarded. He’s waiting for someone.”
“Did he bring Grace?”
“No.”
Isabella looked at the timestamp on Schedule E.
“Can you identify the jet owner?”
“Already working on it.”
A noise sounded outside Isabella’s room.
She closed the trust and turned off the light.
The door opened.
Vivian entered.
She wore a dark robe and held a glass of water.
“You should lock your door,” Vivian said.
“I did.”
“Old houses have old keys.”
Vivian’s gaze moved toward the desk.
Isabella had hidden Schedule E beneath the laptop, but the silver suitcase remained open.
“What did Marcus want?” Isabella asked.
“He worries about your father.”
“No. He worries about documents.”
Vivian sat at the edge of the bed.
“I know you dislike me.”
“You controlled access to my father for six months.”
“He needed protection.”
“From me?”
“From everyone. Richard built an empire by making people believe he was stronger than he was. After the accident, those people became predators.”
“And Marcus protected him?”
“Marcus protected the company.”
“By increasing my father’s medication?”
Vivian’s hand stopped halfway to her glass.
“Be careful.”
“Is that a warning?”
“It is advice from someone who understands how quickly powerful families turn against inconvenient daughters.”
Isabella studied her.
For years, she had viewed Vivian as ambitious and calculating. Tonight, for the first time, she saw something else.
Fear.
“Marcus is stealing from you,” Isabella said.
Vivian laughed, but the sound lacked confidence.
“He manages my accounts.”
“Exactly.”
“You are trying to divide us.”
“I don’t need to. He has already prepared evidence making you responsible for every illegal transfer.”
Vivian stood.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then ask him why three shell companies under his control received assets you believed belonged to you.”
Vivian’s face went still.
Isabella named the companies Grace had mentioned.
North Vale Holdings.
Crestfall Capital.
Ember Maritime.
Vivian knew them.
“That is impossible,” she whispered.
“Marcus is at a private airfield with Dr. Rusk. He took the ledger from the office behind the bar.”
“How do you know about that office?”
“My father built this house.”
Vivian turned toward the door.
Isabella caught her wrist.
“Where are you going?”
“To call Marcus.”
“He won’t answer.”
“Let go of me.”
“Before you call him, tell me who sent the photograph of my father.”
Vivian stared at her.
“What photograph?”
“The one taken while he was lying on the floor.”
“I didn’t send you anything.”
“Then who knew I was in Zurich?”
Vivian’s expression changed.
“How did you know I was in Zurich?” Isabella asked.
Vivian pulled her arm free.
Neither woman spoke.
Vivian had revealed too much.
She had known where Isabella was before Isabella arrived.
“Who told you?” Isabella demanded.
Vivian backed toward the doorway.
“You should leave this house before sunrise.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus is not the person you should fear.”
Vivian disappeared into the corridor.
Isabella immediately called Bennett.
“Did you identify the jet?”
“Yes,” Bennett said. “It belongs to a foundation registered eighteen years ago.”
“What foundation?”
“The Elena Vale Foundation.”
Isabella looked at the initials on Schedule E.
E.V.
“Who is waiting for Marcus at the airfield?”
“We don’t know. A black vehicle just arrived.”
“Can you see who got out?”
Bennett was silent for several seconds.
Then she said, “Isabella, you need to leave the mansion.”
“Who is it?”
“The passenger is Grace Holloway.”
Isabella’s blood turned cold.
Grace was supposed to be locked in the basement.
She ran to the service passage and reached the steel room.
The door stood open.
May you like
Inside, a fresh message had been written across the wall.
Thank you for finding Schedule E.
