Chapter 10 - What Leverage?Blake had never thought of his mother as powerful.
That was part of the problem.
Harrison was obviously powerful.
His name appeared on buildings.
His decisions affected thousands of employees.
When Harrison entered a room, people adjusted their posture.
Evelyn’s power was quieter.
She controlled nothing through intimidation.
Yet she served as co-trustee on three major family vehicles.
Not because Harrison gave her a ceremonial title.
Because she was cautious.
Blake hated that caution.
When he was twenty-eight, he wanted $900,000 to invest in a restaurant group with a college friend.
Evelyn asked for financial statements.
Blake called her paranoid.
The restaurant group failed fourteen months later.
When Blake wanted to buy a vacation property in Aspen with two business partners, Evelyn asked how they would handle forced sale provisions.
One partner became insolvent two years later.
The purchase never happened.
Each time, Blake privately resented the restriction.
Each time, the restriction protected him.
But protected people often experience the boundary more vividly than the disaster they never suffer.
Sloane understood that.
“Your mother gets to say no,” she told him.
“She asks questions.”
“Same thing.”
“Not always.”
“Blake.”
She touched his face.
“You’re thirty-five.”
He knew.
That number became humiliation.
Thirty-five.
Still requesting distributions.
Still listening to parents.
Still being introduced as Harrison Mercer’s son.
Sloane had given him a different story.
You are not dependent.
You are controlled.
The amendment felt like liberation.
Until Harrison explained what Blake wanted to do.
Not freedom.
Concentrated risk.
Blake sat alone in his downtown apartment while Sloane showered.
Their honeymoon had been postponed.
Officially because of family tension.
Unofficially because neither could stand spending ten days alone together.
His phone rang.
Matthew Cole.
Blake answered.
“Matthew.”
“I’m calling in my capacity as counsel for the Mercer trusts.”
Blake sat straighter.
“Okay.”
“We have received a proposed amendment bearing your name.”
“I know.”
“I need to confirm whether you instructed Whitmore, Carlisle & Dagen to draft it.”
Blake hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Did you understand its effect?”
“Yes.”
“Did you intend to replace Evelyn as co-approver with Sloane for certain categories?”
“Yes.”
Matthew remained neutral.
“Were you planning a distribution to Carlisle Development?”
Blake closed his eyes.
“Potentially.”
“How much?”
“Three million maximum.”
“Was that disclosed to Evelyn before requesting her signature?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Blake’s voice hardened.
“Because I knew she’d say no.”
Silence.
Matthew said:
“Thank you.”
Blake frowned.
“That’s it?”
“For now.”
The call ended.
Sloane came out wrapped in a towel.
“Who was that?”
“Matthew.”
Her expression changed.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth.”
“What truth?”
“That the amendment was mine.”
“Anything else?”
“That we were considering an investment in your father’s company.”
Sloane stared.
“You told him that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he asked.”
Her face hardened.
“You didn’t have to answer.”
Blake looked at her.
“That sentence is getting old.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means everything with you has become strategy.”
Sloane crossed her arms.
“You think your family isn’t strategic?”
“They’re transparent about it.”
She laughed.
“Your father builds legal walls around money and calls it love.”
“And your father hides twelve million dollars of debt and calls it temporary.”
Sloane went still.
“Who told you?”
“Dad.”
“You talked to him?”
“He found out.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
She turned away.
Blake continued.
“Why didn’t you tell me how bad it was?”
“Because I knew exactly what you’d do.”
“What?”
“Run to Harrison.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t trust me.”
“I didn’t trust your father.”
“That isn’t the same.”
“It is in this family.”
Blake stood.
“Stop saying ‘this family’ like you didn’t marry into it.”
Sloane looked at him.
“Maybe that was my mistake.”
Silence.
The words hung.
Blake stared.
Sloane immediately regretted them.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“You did.”
He walked toward the bedroom.
Sloane followed.
“I love you.”
Blake stopped.
He believed her.
That was the problem.
“I know.”
She looked relieved.
Then he said:
“But I’m starting to understand that loving me never stopped you from using me.”
Sloane’s eyes filled.
“That’s cruel.”
“So was hitting my mother.”
She flinched.
For the first time, he said it without qualification.
No but she pushed you.
No it got out of hand.
Just truth.
Sloane stared.
“Are you taking her side now?”
Blake closed his eyes.
There it was.
Sides.
Always sides.
He turned.
“Why does someone have to lose for you to feel chosen?”
Sloane’s face hardened.
“Because your mother never stopped competing.”
“She wasn’t competing.”
“You don’t see it.”
“No.”
Blake’s voice dropped.
“I think I didn’t see you.”
Sloane stepped back.
He regretted it instantly.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from Harrison.
Board meeting Monday. 8:00. Attendance required.
Blake frowned.
He was a senior vice president at Mercer Industrial.
Board meetings were normal.
But Harrison’s wording wasn’t.
Sloane saw it.
“What?”
“Dad.”
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know.”
Blake stared at the message.
He had spent years believing the worst thing his father could do was control his money.
May you like
By Monday morning, he would discover Harrison could take something Blake valued more.
His future.
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