Chapter 3 - The Woman in Green
By six the next morning, there were three black SUVs outside my townhouse.
Not federal agents.
Ethan's security.
I knew because I had hired the company nine years earlier.
I opened the front door wearing maternity pajamas and holding a mug of decaf.
Marcus Hale, Ethan's head of security, stood on the porch.
“Mrs. Mercer.”
“It's Bennett now.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“Mr. Mercer would like you to come to the house.”
“No.”
“He says it's urgent.”
“Everything becomes urgent when Ethan stops controlling it.”
Marcus almost smiled.
Almost.
Then his face became serious.
“You should probably hear him.”
“Is that professional advice or personal advice?”
“Personal.”
Twenty minutes later, Daniel arrived.
I hadn't called him.
Marcus had.
That told me enough.
We drove to the Mercer estate together.
Ethan was waiting in the library.
So was Vanessa.
That surprised me.
What surprised me more was that she looked terrible.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
Green sweater instead of couture.
She looked nothing like the triumphant mistress from yesterday.
Ethan stood behind his desk.
“What did your father leave you?”
Daniel answered before I could.
“My client isn't required to discuss separate property protected under the agreement you executed yesterday.”
Ethan glared at him.
“This is a family conversation.”
“You divorced the family yesterday.”
Vanessa flinched.
Interesting.
I sat.
“Why is she here?”
Ethan didn't answer.
Vanessa did.
“Because I asked to be.”
I looked at her.
“That's new.”
“Claire, I need you to understand something.”
“Please don't tell me you didn't mean to sleep with my husband.”
Her face flushed.
“I did sleep with him.”
Daniel looked at the ceiling.
“But not when you think.”
I became very still.
Ethan snapped, “Vanessa.”
“No.”
She turned toward him.
“You've lied enough.”
Something passed between them.
Fear.
Not romance.
Vanessa faced me again.
“Ethan and I started seeing each other four months ago.”
“That improves things enormously.”
“I know it doesn't.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because he told me you'd been separated privately for almost a year.”
I laughed once.
Vanessa looked ashamed.
“He said you stayed in the townhouse for appearances because of the pregnancy.”
“I was living in our bedroom until five months ago.”
Her face changed.
She looked at Ethan.
“You told me—”
“Vanessa, stop.”
“No.”
She stood.
And suddenly I understood something.
The woman in the hallway hadn't been celebrating victory.
She'd been performing the story Ethan had sold her.
She reached into her bag.
“I found this last night.”
A flash drive landed on the desk.
Ethan's face lost color.
Daniel leaned forward.
“What is it?”
Vanessa answered.
“Recordings.”
Ethan moved around the desk.
“Give me that.”
Marcus stepped between them.
The room froze.
Ethan stared at his own security chief.
“Move.”
Marcus didn't.
Vanessa swallowed.
“Ethan gave me access to the Aspen condo. Three weeks ago, I found a locked desk drawer. I thought it contained something about Claire.”
She looked at me.
“I was jealous.”
At least she admitted it.
“Instead, I found two phones and this drive.”
“What recordings?” I asked.
“Meetings.”
“With whom?”
“I don't know everyone.”
She hesitated.
“But one voice belongs to Richard Mercer.”
Ethan's father.
The patriarch.
The man who had founded Mercer Development.
The man who had toasted me at my wedding and called me the daughter he'd never had.
My mouth went dry.
Vanessa continued.
“They talk about you.”
Nobody moved.
“What do they say?”
Vanessa looked directly at Ethan.
He closed his eyes.
That was when I knew.
He knew.
She whispered, “They say if the investigation reaches the western projects, Claire takes the fall.”
The room tilted.
I gripped the armrest.
Daniel stood immediately.
“Claire?”
“I'm fine.”
I wasn't.
My son kicked hard enough to hurt.
Ethan took one step toward me.
I raised my hand.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“You knew,” I said.
His silence answered.
“How long?”
“Claire—”
“How long?”
“Seven months.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Even she hadn't known that.
I stood.
“You knew your father forged my name?”
“I knew there were documents.”
“And you divorced me.”
“I was trying to get you away from the company.”
I stared at him.
For one insane second, he looked sincere.
Then I remembered Section Nine.
Aspen.
The forged signature.
“You could have told me.”
“My father threatened—”
“You could have told me.”
“He controls half the board.”
“You could have told me!”
The shout tore through the library.
My first real shout in months.
Ethan's face broke.
Not enough.
I pressed my hand against my stomach.
“You let me believe you hated me.”
“I needed Dad to believe it too.”
Vanessa whispered, “Oh my God.”
I turned toward her.
“You knew nothing?”
She shook her head.
Then Ethan said the sentence that destroyed whatever defense he had left.
“Vanessa was supposed to make the divorce convincing.”
Silence.
Vanessa stared at him.
“What?”
He realized too late what he'd admitted.
I almost admired the disaster.
Almost.
“You used her too,” I said.
Vanessa's eyes filled.
Ethan rubbed both hands over his face.
“It wasn't supposed to become real.”
“But it did?”
He looked at me.
That hesitation was answer enough.
I nodded.
“Good.”
“Claire—”
“No. Good. Because otherwise you might convince yourself you're some tragic hero.”
I moved toward the door.
“You betrayed me to protect me. Then betrayed me again because you enjoyed the woman helping you do it.”
“That's not fair.”
I turned.
“You kissed her where I could see you.”
He had no response.
Daniel picked up the flash drive with a tissue.
“We're leaving.”
Ethan followed us into the hall.
“Claire, your father's equity instrument gives you twenty-two percent of Mercer Western Holdings.”
I stopped.
Twenty-two.
Even Daniel hadn't known the final converted amount.
Ethan continued.
“After the restructuring, you're the second-largest individual voting holder.”
I turned slowly.
“Behind?”
“My father.”
“Not you?”
“No.”
That explained his panic.
My signature hadn't simply protected an inheritance.
It had changed control of the company.
Daniel's expression sharpened.
“When is the annual board vote?”
Ethan answered reluctantly.
“Friday.”
Three days.
I looked back at him.
“And what happens Friday?”
Nobody answered.
Then Marcus did.
“Richard Mercer plans to remove Ethan as CEO.”
Ethan looked furious.
But I was watching Vanessa.
She had gone completely pale.
“What?” I asked.
She pointed toward the window.
A black sedan had stopped outside the gates.
Not one of Ethan's.
Two men stepped out.
Vanessa whispered, “Those are the men who followed me from Aspen.”
Marcus reached for his phone.
And for the first time since signing the divorce papers, I understood something worse than betrayal.
May you like
Someone had expected Ethan and me to destroy each other.
And now that we hadn't, they were coming to finish the job.
