Chapter 5 - THE TRUTH JULIAN NEVER TOLD ME
I waited until Emma was asleep.
Then I asked Julian the question I had been holding inside for hours.
“What did you do to the Mercer family?”
He didn't answer.
That hurt more than if he had immediately denied everything.
We were sitting in our Boston home.
The house was quiet.
Emma's bedroom light was on upstairs.
Rain tapped softly against the windows.
Julian stood near the fireplace with his hands in his pockets.
Finally, he said,
“Nothing.”
I stared at him.
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is.”
“No. It's the answer someone gives when they're trying to decide how much truth to reveal.”
He looked at me.
“You're right.”
I waited.
Julian sat down.
“When I was twenty-nine, I invested in a company called Mercer Holdings.”
I frowned.
“Marcus's father?”
“Yes.”
“I didn't know that.”
“Most people don't.”
He continued.
“Marcus's father was struggling financially. He needed capital. I invested.”
“How much?”
“Eight million.”
I stared at him.
“That much?”
“I had just sold my first company.”
I knew Julian had been successful before we met.
I had never asked him for numbers.
That had been one of the reasons our marriage worked.
Money wasn't the center of our relationship.
Apparently, it had been sitting quietly in the background all along.
“What happened?”
“Your ex-husband's father lost most of it.”
“Marcus knew?”
“He knew some.”
Julian paused.
“Then something happened.”
“What?”
“Money disappeared.”
“From the company?”
“Yes.”
“Who took it?”
Julian looked at me.
“Daniel Vance.”
My stomach tightened.
“Chloe's brother?”
“Yes.”
I sat back.
“How?”
“He created shell companies.”
The same shell companies.
The same addresses.
The same structure we had discovered.
I suddenly understood.
“This started twenty years ago.”
Julian nodded.
“Not exactly.”
He looked toward the rain.
“Daniel stole from the company. Marcus's father covered part of it. Then he died before everything could be uncovered.”
“And Marcus inherited the mess.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know whether you would believe me.”
I stared at him.
“You could have told me.”
“I should have.”
That answer mattered.
He wasn't defending himself.
He wasn't manipulating me.
He was admitting that he had been afraid.
“What happened after that?”
“I spent years trying to recover my investment.”
“And Marcus?”
“He thought I was trying to destroy his family.”
I shook my head.
“So this acquisition isn't about revenge.”
“No.”
“It's about recovering what was stolen.”
“Partly.”
“What's the rest?”
Julian looked at me.
“You.”
I frowned.
“Me?”
“When I met you, I knew who you were.”
I felt cold.
“What do you mean?”
“I knew you were Marcus's ex-wife.”
“Obviously.”
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“I knew something else.”
“What?”
“That you had reviewed financial records during the divorce.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“From who?”
“David Lang.”
My stomach dropped.
“You knew my divorce attorney?”
“I knew of him.”
“Julian.”
“I didn't approach you because of the divorce.”
“Then why?”
“Because I saw what you did after the divorce.”
I said nothing.
“You didn't run,” he continued.
“You didn't hide.
“You built your own practice.
“You took cases other attorneys refused because they were too complicated.
“And you never once tried to use your connection to Marcus for leverage.”
His eyes softened.
“That told me more about you than any background check could.”
I looked down.
“So when you married me…”
“I loved you.”
The answer came immediately.
“But yes, I also knew there was a financial history connecting you to Marcus.”
I stood.
“I need air.”
Julian nodded.
He didn't stop me.
I walked onto the covered porch.
The rain had become heavier.
For several minutes, I stood there alone.
Then Julian came outside.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid you'd think everything between us was calculated.”
“I did think that.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“I know.”
I looked at him.
“Did you marry me to get access to Marcus?”
“No.”
“Did you marry me because of the acquisition?”
“No.”
“Did you ever use information I gave you against him?”
He hesitated.
“No.”
That answer took longer.
But it was still honest.
I believed him.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I knew Julian.
Then he said,
“There is something else.”
I closed my eyes.
“Of course there is.”
“The letter that was sent to the board.”
“Yes?”
“It wasn't written by Marcus.”
I turned.
“It was written by Daniel.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I've seen his writing before.”
“Where?”
Julian looked at me.
“In the original fraud investigation.”
I froze.
“You still have those files?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Safe deposit.”
“Why?”
“Because I never trusted the Mercer family to keep them.”
I stared at him.
“Then we need them.”
He nodded.
The next morning, we retrieved the files.
Inside was an old audit report.
Twenty years old.
Daniel Vance had been identified as the person responsible for a series of fraudulent transfers.
But there was something else.
A second name.
David Lang.
I read the report twice.
Then a third time.
David had not merely represented Marcus during my divorce.
He had been connected to the original financial fraud.
I felt sick.
Then Natalie found something even worse.
A payment made twelve months before my divorce.
From a Mercer Strategic account.
To David Lang.
The amount was $500,000.
The description was simple.
CONSULTING.
But the account had been created by Marcus.
Or at least, it appeared to have been.
Marcus stared at the document.
“I didn't make that payment.”
I looked at him.
“Then who did?”
Nobody answered.
Because we all knew the truth.
Someone had been using Marcus's identity for years.
Someone had been preparing a financial war long before the divorce.
And suddenly Chloe's role looked different.
Maybe she wasn't the mastermind.
Maybe she had been recruited.
Maybe Marcus wasn't the real target either.
Maybe all of us had been pieces on someone else's board.
Then my phone rang.
It was the hospital.
I answered immediately.
“Mrs. Rhodes?”
“Yes?”
“We need you to come in.”
My heart stopped.
“Why?”
May you like
The nurse hesitated.
“It's about Emma.”
