Chapter 7 - The Man Her Father TrustedCharles Mercer had known Grace since she was six years old.
Not physically.
This was colder.
More deliberate.
Rebecca snatched the USB drive.
“What kind of petition?”
Ethan swallowed.
“A temporary competency challenge.”
Daniel looked ready to cross the room.
“You signed paperwork claiming my sister was mentally incompetent?”
Ethan raised both hands.
“I didn’t understand what it was when I signed it.”
Lucas laughed once.
“No one is that stupid.”
“I thought it was medical authorization related to the pregnancy.”
Grace stared at him.
“You signed something without reading it.”
“Yes.”
“How convenient.”
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Michael stepped forward.
“Who drafted it?”
“An attorney named Gregory Vale.”
Lucas frowned.
“I know Vale.”
“Of course you do,” Ethan said. “He represents Serrano-affiliated companies.”
Rebecca was already typing on her laptop.
“What grounds does the petition claim?”
Ethan hesitated.
“Emotional instability. Pregnancy complications. Paranoia.”
Grace’s face drained.
Daniel whispered a curse.
Ethan continued.
“There are statements saying you became increasingly irrational, accused me of affairs without evidence, mishandled charitable money, and threatened self-harm.”
Grace stared at him in disbelief.
“I never threatened anything like that.”
“I know.”
“And you signed?”
“I signed a blank verification page Lauren put in a stack of documents.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“You expect us to believe—”
Grace raised her voice.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
She looked at Ethan.
“Why tell us now?”
“Because Lauren called me this morning.”
“What did she say?”
“That the petition would be filed tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Before the Westbridge consortium meeting.”
Lucas’s expression hardened.
If Grace were declared temporarily incompetent, even through an emergency petition, voting authority over her trust interests could become contested.
It might delay her participation long enough for other parties to move.
Rebecca shook her head.
“A petition alone doesn’t remove legal control.”
“No,” Ethan said. “But there’s more.”
Of course there was.
Grace almost laughed.
“What?”
“A medical statement.”
Daniel frowned.
“What medical statement?”
Ethan looked at Grace.
“From Dr. Peterson.”
Grace froze.
Dr. Aaron Peterson was her obstetrician.
“He would never sign something like that.”
“I don’t think he did.”
Michael moved quickly.
“Forged?”
“Probably.”
Grace stood.
“Call him.”
Rebecca dialed immediately.
The receptionist transferred her.
Thirty seconds later, Dr. Peterson was on speakerphone.
Rebecca explained.
The doctor’s response was instant.
“I have never declared Mrs. Walker mentally incompetent.”
“Have you issued any letter concerning emotional instability?”
“No.”
“Any record indicating self-harm?”
“Absolutely not.”
Grace closed her eyes with relief.
Dr. Peterson continued.
“I saw Grace during a pregnancy complication approximately eight weeks ago. She was distressed because she could not reach her husband, but there was no psychiatric emergency.”
Ethan looked like he had been punched.
Grace did not look at him.
Rebecca thanked the doctor and ended the call.
Michael spoke next.
“We need copies of everything before it disappears.”
Ethan nodded.
“Some are on the drive.”
“And Lauren?”
“I don’t know where she went.”
Michael already had people searching.
Lucas walked toward the windows.
“This was never just about Ethan’s company.”
Grace looked at him.
“Serrano wanted my vote.”
“Yes.”
“But why Westbridge?”
Lucas turned.
“Because there’s something under it.”
Grace frowned.
“What?”
“Not literally.”
He pulled a chair closer.
“Westbridge looks like a real-estate project. Apartments. Hotels. Retail. Riverfront development.”
“And?”
“One section contains an old freight terminal.”
Grace vaguely remembered it.
“Abandoned?”
“Mostly.”
Lucas looked at Michael.
“We discovered last year that Serrano companies had been buying neighboring warehouses at inflated prices.”
“For what?”
“We didn’t know.”
Michael placed his phone on the table.
“Until an hour ago.”
He opened a map.
“The freight terminal gives direct controlled access to the river and an underground transport connection built during the 1960s.”
Ethan frowned.
“What are you saying?”
Michael looked at him.
“Serrano doesn’t care about luxury apartments.”
Lucas finished the thought.
“He wants the logistics corridor.”
Grace felt a chill.
“For illegal shipments?”
“We don’t know.”
“But probably.”
“Yes.”
The room fell silent.
Grace looked at Ethan.
“You were going to hand him access.”
“I didn’t know.”
“That seems to be your answer for everything.”
He lowered his eyes.
Grace stood and walked toward the window.
She had spent years avoiding the ruthless world her father and brothers understood so well.
Mergers.
Leverage.
Influence.
Power.
She preferred community work.
Homes for families.
Scholarships.
Hospitals.
She had considered herself removed from the Hale business empire.
Apparently the world had not forgotten her.
Lucas approached quietly.
“What are you thinking?”
Grace watched traffic moving along the avenue far below.
“That Serrano thinks I’m the weakest Hale.”
Lucas said nothing.
“That’s why he went through Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“He thinks pregnancy makes me vulnerable.”
“Probably.”
“And he thinks I’ll hide because I’m embarrassed.”
Lucas looked at her.
“Will you?”
Grace turned.
“No.”
For the first time that day, Lucas smiled.
It was not warm.
It was proud.
“What do you want to do?”
Grace looked toward Rebecca.
“We stop the petition before it’s filed.”
Rebecca nodded.
“And then?”
Grace turned toward Ethan.
“We make Serrano believe it worked.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
Grace’s mind was moving quickly now.
“If Serrano thinks I discovered everything, he’ll disappear.”
Michael nodded slowly.
“But if he thinks you’re overwhelmed…”
“He’ll move forward.”
Lucas understood.
“And expose whoever else is involved.”
Grace looked at Ethan.
“You’re going to help.”
His eyes widened.
“How?”
“You’re going to call Lauren.”
“She won’t trust me.”
“Make her.”
“What do I say?”
Grace’s face became unreadable.
“Tell her the slap worked.”
Ethan flinched.
“Grace—”
“Tell her I’m terrified. Tell her my brothers took me away because I’m unstable. Tell her I’m considering reconciliation.”
Daniel looked uneasy.
“You want to use yourself as bait.”
“No.”
Grace looked down at her stomach.
“I want them to keep believing the story they already told themselves.”
She picked up the forged competency documents.
“That I’m weak.”
Michael almost smiled.
“And while they believe it…”
Grace looked at her three brothers.
“We find out exactly what they’re planning.”
Lauren answered Ethan’s call on the fourth ring.
“What?”
He put the phone on speaker.
Everyone remained silent.
“I need to see you.”
“No.”
“Lauren, Grace might come back.”
There was a pause.
“What?”
“She’s panicking.”
Another pause.
Ethan continued.
“She doesn’t want scandal.”
Grace watched his face.
He was a surprisingly good liar when he needed to be.
“I told her we could fix this privately.”
Lauren’s voice softened.
“And?”
“She’s considering it.”
“Her brothers won’t allow that.”
“They can’t control her.”
Lauren laughed.
“You really still don’t understand that family.”
“Then help me.”
Silence.
“Where are you?” Lauren asked.
“At the house.”
“I’ll call you later.”
“Lauren—”
The line disconnected.
Michael immediately handed the audio to his technical team.
Ethan exhaled.
Grace said, “She believed you.”
“I think so.”
Michael’s phone buzzed.
He looked down.
One of his men had sent a message.
“We’ve got Lauren’s vehicle.”
“Where?”
Michael looked at the map.
“Lower Manhattan.”
Lucas leaned closer.
“What building?”
Michael’s face changed.
“Vale & Finch.”
Rebecca cursed softly.
Gregory Vale’s law firm.
Lauren was meeting the attorney behind the competency petition.
Grace reached for her coat.
Daniel frowned.
“Where are you going?”
“With Michael.”
“No.”
Grace stared at him.
“Daniel.”
“You’re pregnant and this situation may involve criminal actors.”
“I am aware.”
“Then act like it.”
Grace’s eyes flashed.
“I have spent five years letting people decide what information I could handle because they thought they were protecting me.”
Daniel froze.
“Ethan did it.”
She pointed toward her brothers.
“You did it.”
Then toward the forged papers.
“And Serrano built his entire plan around it.”
Her voice lowered.
“I am done being the person everyone protects by keeping her in the dark.”
Michael looked at Daniel.
“She’s right.”
Daniel sighed.
“I hate when she’s right.”
Grace reached for her bag.
Lucas smiled.
“You always did.”
Twenty minutes later, Grace sat inside a black SUV across the street from Vale & Finch.
Rain streaked the tinted windows.
At 5:42 p.m., Lauren exited the building.
She was no longer wearing the champagne dress.
She wore jeans, a black coat, and sunglasses.
A man followed her.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Expensive suit.
Michael lifted binoculars.
“Gregory Vale.”
Grace watched them walk toward a waiting car.
Then a third person emerged.
Grace’s breath caught.
She recognized him immediately.
Not Victor Serrano.
Someone worse.
Someone she had known since childhood.
A man who had eaten Thanksgiving dinner at her father’s house.
A man Grace had once called Uncle.
Thomas Hale’s former business partner.
Charles Mercer.
Daniel’s oldest mentor.
The man who had helped establish the Hale family trusts.
Grace whispered, “No.”
Michael lowered the binoculars.
“What?”
Grace stared through the rain.
“That’s Charles.”
Michael’s expression changed.
At the curb, Lauren handed Charles Mercer a folder.
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Grace could not see the entire image.
Only enough.
Her own face.
Her pregnant stomach.
Her house.
Charles looked at the picture and smiled.
Grace felt every piece of the puzzle rearrange.
Serrano was not the architect.
Neither was Lauren.
The betrayal had started much closer to home.
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And suddenly Grace knew exactly why someone understood the Hale trusts well enough to target her.
Because the man standing beside Lauren had helped write them.
