Chapter 8 - Before Sophia
The Mercer letters were twenty years old.
Richard found them inside a sealed archive box at the back of the safe.
They came from Harold Mercer, Sophia's father.
Before his death, Harold had been chief financial officer of a manufacturing company Richard acquired in 2004.
The acquisition uncovered a fraud scheme.
Harold had been fired.
He later pleaded guilty to falsifying invoices and died two years after leaving prison.
Ethan stared at the documents.
"Sophia never told me Dad knew her father."
"Neither did she tell me she was Harold's daughter until after you were engaged," Richard said.
"Why didn't you stop the wedding?"
"Because children are not their parents. I believed she deserved to be judged by her own choices."
Dana read one letter aloud.
Whitmore destroyed us. One day my children will know exactly what he took from this family.
Ethan sat down hard.
"You think she married me for revenge?"
Richard shook his head. "I think she may have loved you. People can love someone and still use them."
The private investigator searched older records.
Sophia had changed her surname to her mother's maiden name after college, then changed it back after marrying Ethan.
More troubling was Julian.
He had spent twelve years trying to revive their father's failed businesses.
Every one had collapsed.
Then, six months after Sophia married Ethan, Julian's debts began disappearing.
Ethan walked to the window.
"I introduced her to every banker we know."
Richard said nothing.
"I vouched for Julian twice."
Still nothing.
Ethan turned.
"Say it."
Richard's voice was quiet. "She didn't need access to me at first. She needed access to you."
Dana's phone buzzed.
She checked a message from her forensic team.
"We recovered part of the deleted sixteen minutes from the hallway camera."
Everyone gathered around her laptop.
The recovered clip had no video.
Only audio.
Sophia's voice came first.
"If Ethan hits him, the board will believe the rest."
Then a man's voice answered.
"And if Ethan doesn't?"
May you like
Sophia laughed.
"He will. I trained him to."
