Chapter 8 - The First TheftNolan’s father, Patrick Pierce, had left a modest estate.
A house.
Retirement funds.
Life insurance.
About $380,000 after debts.
Marcus was not Patrick’s biological son, but Patrick had raised him from age seven.
According to Nolan, Patrick intended to divide most assets between both boys.
But the estate documents did not.
Nolan received nearly everything.
Marcus received $25,000.
“Why?” Brooke asked.
Nolan rubbed his forehead.
“Because the will was changed.”
“By your father?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did you steal?”
Nolan looked away.
“Marcus thinks Dad wasn’t competent.”
Marissa interrupted.
“Was he?”
Nolan’s eyes remained on the table.
“He was sick.”
“With what?”
“Late-stage liver disease.”
“Did you influence the will?”
Nolan stood.
“I’m not discussing this.”
Brooke knew enough.
After the meeting, Marissa requested probate records.
Public filings confirmed Patrick revised his will six weeks before death.
Nolan became primary beneficiary.
Marcus contested it.
The dispute settled privately.
Records did not reveal terms.
Caroline remembered Nolan mentioning “family drama” early in the marriage.
Brooke had never asked.
She had always treated his reluctance as pain deserving privacy.
By evening, Marcus’s attorney contacted investigators.
Marcus would surrender voluntarily.
He wanted separate counsel and a chance to cooperate.
The next morning, Marcus appeared.
No dramatic arrest.
No chase.
Just a man entering a federal-style office building beside his lawyer, though the case remained primarily state-level at that point.
He provided bank access.
Emails.
Vendor documents.
And his version of Nolan.
Marcus admitted helping inflate invoices.
He admitted taking money.
He admitted routing funds toward Northstar.
But he claimed Nolan had designed the arrangement.
“Nolan said Mercer owed him,” Marcus told investigators.
Brooke learned this later through counsel.
“Owed him for what?”
“Making the company successful.”
Mercer Property Group had grown twenty-three percent since Elaine’s death.
Some of that growth was genuinely tied to Nolan’s operational decisions.
He had been good at his job.
That complicated everything.
People wanted villains to be incompetent.
Nolan was not.
He was ambitious, persuasive and often brilliant.
He simply believed competence entitled him to more than contracts allowed.
Marcus also revealed something about the old estate.
Nolan had pressured Patrick while he was heavily medicated to change beneficiaries.
Marcus could not prove coercion.
The family settlement had ended litigation.
But according to Marcus, Nolan later confessed during a drunken argument:
“I took what Dad would’ve wasted on you.”
Brooke felt a chill.
Your money is my money.
Not a drunken sentence invented in the living room.
A worldview.
Nolan believed he could decide who deserved what.
Patrick.
Marcus.
Elaine.
Brooke.
Tessa.
Everyone’s property became negotiable once Nolan believed he had a better use.
The divorce discovery process began.
Financial disclosures were mandatory.
Nolan initially listed only $92,000 in personal liabilities.
Northstar alone exceeded that several times over.
Marissa filed motions to compel accurate disclosure.
Nolan’s attorney withdrew two weeks later due to “irreconcilable differences concerning representation.”
Brooke suspected unpaid fees or dishonesty.
Possibly both.
Tessa continued supervised visits.
During the third visit, Nolan brought a small wooden box.
The supervisor inspected it first.
Inside were coins.
No ceramic.
No breakable material.
Tessa looked at it.
“What is it?”
“A savings box.”
Tessa touched the lid.
“You bought me another piggy bank?”
“No.”
Nolan’s voice cracked.
“I thought you didn’t want one.”
Tessa looked at the supervisor.
Then at her father.
“I don’t.”
Nolan nodded.
“You don’t have to keep it.”
Tessa slid it back across the table.
“Can you just put my money in the bank?”
Nolan froze.
“What?”
“Mom opened me an account.”
A child savings account with Brooke as custodian.
Tessa continued.
“You can send money there.”
Nolan lowered his head.
“Okay.”
That night, the supervisor’s report noted that Nolan had remained calm and respected Tessa’s refusal.
Brooke read the sentence twice.
It was small.
But real.
Then Lena called.
Marcus had provided access to encrypted records.
Among them was a spreadsheet tracking every inflated invoice.
One column listed where Nolan wanted the money sent.
Northstar.
Redwood.
Cash.
Treatment.
Personal cards.
But one entry was different.
$96,000.
Destination:
Tessa Trust Reimbursement.
Brooke stared.
“Tessa doesn’t have a trust Nolan controls.”
May you like
Lena answered:
“Then we need to find out why he wrote that.”
Related Stories
