Chapter 6 - The Name in the File
Emma sat inside a conference room overlooking downtown.
Marcus stood beside a screen.
Three executives sat across from them.
Emma placed the Mercer documents on the table.
"We're not taking the company."
One executive frowned.
"Then what are we doing?"
"Tracing ownership."
Marcus changed the screen.
A web of corporations appeared.
Mercer Holdings.
Mercer Property Group.
Northbridge Capital.
And a fourth company.
The room went quiet.
Emma pointed.
"Who owns Northbridge?"
Marcus answered.
"That's the problem."
"The records are sealed?"
"Partially."
"Then someone wanted the ownership hidden."
Emma studied the structure.
"Who incorporated it?"
"A registered agent."
"Name?"
Marcus displayed it.
Emma's eyes narrowed.
She knew the name.
Not personally.
Professionally.
It belonged to a financial strategist who had once worked for her father.
Her father.
A man who had died years earlier.
Emma whispered:
"That's impossible."
Marcus looked at her.
"What?"
"That company was dissolved."
"Apparently not."
Emma stood.
She walked to the screen.
"Run the historical filings."
Marcus did.
Documents appeared.
Dates.
Names.
Transfers.
Then one date stopped Emma.
The day before her wedding.
A transfer had been executed.
From an account connected to her father.
To Northbridge.
Then from Northbridge...
To the Mercer family.
Emma stared.
Marcus said quietly:
"Your father had dealings with the Mercers."
Emma shook her head.
"Never."
"Are you sure?"
"My father hated them."
Marcus looked at the documents.
"Then why did he transfer money to them?"
Emma had no answer.
Her phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
Stop investigating the old account.
Emma stared at it.
Another message arrived.
You don't know what your father left behind.
Emma looked at Marcus.
"Someone knows."
"About the investigation?"
"No."
May you like
She turned the phone toward him.
"About my father."
