Chapter 7 - The Company That Was Never Safe
Mercer Ridge Adventures had been Grant’s future since he was seventeen.
Thomas had started the company with three climbing routes, an equipment shed and borrowed trucks.
By the time Grant joined after college, it operated guided expeditions, mountain lodges and outdoor education programs across Colorado and Utah.
Grant believed he owned thirty percent.
Thomas owned forty.
Margaret owned twenty.
The remaining ten belonged to an employee trust.
That was what Grant believed.
Rebecca Sloan discovered otherwise.
She arrived at the hospital with three boxes.
“Grant, we need to talk somewhere private.”
They used a conference room.
Thomas joined them.
Rebecca opened the first box.
“These are corporate records from the last twelve years.”
Grant frowned.
“What am I looking at?”
“Stock transfer agreements.”
“I haven’t transferred stock.”
“You have according to these.”
Rebecca slid forward a document.
Grant read it.
TRANSFER OF MEMBERSHIP INTEREST.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
Seven percent of his ownership transferred to an entity called Silver Pine Holdings.
“I never signed this.”
“I know.”
“What is Silver Pine?”
Rebecca looked at Thomas.
“An LLC formed eleven years ago.”
“Owner?”
“Margaret Mercer.”
Grant stared.
His mother had taken seven percent of his company.
Rebecca produced another document.
Then another.
By the time she finished, Grant had supposedly transferred seventeen percent of his ownership over a decade.
His actual legal position, if the documents survived challenge, was only thirteen percent.
“This is impossible.”
Thomas looked sick.
“I should have seen it.”
Grant turned on him.
“You approved these?”
“The board records say I did.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Rebecca tapped a page.
“Your father’s signatures also appear questionable.”
Grant stood.
“She’s been forging both of us.”
“Likely.”
“For eleven years?”
“Possibly longer.”
Grant walked toward the window.
“Why?”
Rebecca answered quietly.
“Control.”
Silver Pine Holdings now appeared to own thirty-seven percent of Mercer Ridge Adventures.
With Margaret’s personal twenty percent, she could claim fifty-seven percent voting control.
Thomas stared at the documents.
“She was preparing to remove me.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Or Grant.”
Grant turned.
“Could she?”
“With these records, she could call a shareholder meeting and attempt it.”
“Attempt?”
“I believe we can invalidate the transfers.”
“But until then?”
“Litigation.”
Grant laughed bitterly.
“My mother tried to kill my daughter while stealing my company.”
Thomas looked at him.
“She didn’t become this person yesterday.”
That truth was harder.
Margaret had not suddenly transformed on the cliff.
The cliff had exposed her.
Detective Alvarez arrived with another update.
State police had located Caleb Warren.
He had been stopped outside Grand Junction driving south.
Margaret was not with him.
“What did he say?” Thomas asked.
“Very little.”
“Does he have the camera?”
“No.”
“Documents?”
“Some.”
Alvarez opened her notebook.
“Mr. Warren had copies of the sale agreement, corporate ownership records and several encrypted drives.”
Grant leaned forward.
“Did he admit helping her?”
“No.”
“But?”
“He asked for an attorney.”
Thomas nodded.
“Smart.”
Alvarez looked at Grant.
“We have also obtained a warrant for Margaret’s arrest on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder.”
Hailey’s parents exchanged a look.
“Do you know where she is?” Elise asked.
“Not yet.”
“Then she’s still out there.”
“Yes.”
Hailey heard that later.
Fear returned immediately.
“What if she comes here?”
“She won’t,” Grant said.
“You don’t know.”
He hated that his daughter was right.
Security placed an officer outside her door around the clock.
Margaret’s photograph went statewide.
Her bank cards were frozen.
Airlines received notification.
Thomas’s attorneys obtained temporary restrictions on major Mercer Ridge asset transfers.
Margaret’s options narrowed.
But she had planned ahead.
That evening, a package arrived at the lodge addressed to Thomas.
No return address.
Inside was a key.
A handwritten note read:
ASK YOUR WIFE ABOUT BOX 314.
Thomas recognized Margaret’s handwriting.
Rebecca examined the key.
“Safe deposit?”
“Probably.”
“Could be a trap.”
Thomas stared at the note.
Margaret had left it intentionally.
Why?
Perhaps leverage.
Perhaps fear.
Perhaps another layer.
Detective Alvarez traced the key number through several banks.
At 7:40 p.m., they found the institution.
A private bank in Denver.
Box 314 was registered not to Margaret.
Not to Thomas.
Not to Caleb.
It belonged to Silver Pine Holdings.
A judge authorized access the next morning.
Inside were financial ledgers, stock certificates, property documents and photographs.
But one item stunned Thomas.
An envelope.
On the front, in Margaret’s handwriting:
FOR GRANT — IF THOMAS EVER FINDS OUT.
Grant opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of a check.
$850,000.
Issued eleven years earlier from Mercer Ridge Adventures.
Signed by Thomas Mercer.
Payable to Silver Pine Holdings.
Thomas stared.
“I never wrote this.”
Grant turned the page.
A second document appeared.
It was a bank investigation report.
Marked CLOSED — INTERNAL RESOLUTION.
Grant read the name of the employee accused of stealing the money.
His former business partner.
A man Grant had fired and never spoken to again.
Grant looked at his father.
“We destroyed his life.”
Thomas took the paper.
“No.”
Grant’s voice broke.
“Mom did.”
May you like
And suddenly the family understood that Margaret had not merely stolen money.
She had spent years building lies strong enough to make other people carry the blame.
