Chapter 2 - Olivia’s WarningMarcus carried Theo upstairs himself.
He did not allow Franklin to touch him.
He did not allow Franklin to explain.
“Darlene, call Dr. Keller.”
Franklin followed them.
“This is absurd.”
Marcus turned.
“Stay downstairs.”
“I am your father.”
“And that is my son.”
The words stopped Franklin.
Marcus had never spoken to him that way.
Not at home.
Not at the company.
Not anywhere.
Twenty minutes later, Theo sat beneath blankets in the guest suite while Dr. Keller, the family physician, examined him.
His temperature was low but recovering. He was frightened, exhausted, and shaken, but alert.
Marcus stood beside the bed.
“Am I in trouble?” Theo asked.
The question nearly broke him.
“No.”
“For going into Grandpa’s study?”
“No.”
“He said I was stealing.”
Marcus sat beside him.
“What were you looking for?”
“My tablet.”
Franklin had confiscated it two days earlier after Theo used it past bedtime.
Marcus remembered.
“Did you find it?”
Theo nodded.
“On Grandpa’s desk.”
“And?”
Theo hesitated.
“There were papers.”
“What kind?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you touch them?”
“I took one picture.”
Marcus’s attention sharpened.
“Why?”
Theo looked embarrassed.
“Because Grandpa was copying your name.”
Marcus said nothing.
“He was practicing it,” Theo continued. “On papers.”
“What do you mean practicing?”
“Writing your name over and over.”
A cold sensation moved through Marcus.
“What happened to the picture?”
“Grandpa deleted it.”
“When?”
“When he caught me.”
Marcus stood.
“Your tablet backs up automatically.”
Theo blinked.
“I think.”
Marcus kissed his forehead.
“Rest.”
Outside the bedroom, Darlene waited.
Her phone remained in her pocket.
Marcus closed the door.
“Show me.”
Darlene shook her head.
“Not here.”
“My father already saw it.”
“That’s why not here.”
Marcus stared.
“I need to understand what is happening.”
“You need to understand several things.”
“Then tell me.”
Darlene’s voice softened.
“Olivia wasn’t collecting evidence against you.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“She was collecting it for you.”
He looked away.
Six days earlier Olivia had left the mansion after the worst argument of their marriage.
Franklin had shown Marcus internal audit reports suggesting Olivia had accessed confidential company files and sent them to an outside address.
Then came bank records showing a transfer of $180,000 from a family account into an investment company Marcus had never heard of.
Olivia denied everything.
Marcus had demanded an explanation.
She had stared at him for a long time before saying, “If you can still look at your father after what I tell you, then nothing I say will save us.”
Marcus had called that manipulation.
She packed a suitcase.
By morning she was gone.
“Where is Olivia?” he asked.
Darlene hesitated.
“I don’t know exactly.”
“You’ve been talking to her.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know something.”
“She asked me not to tell anyone where she was staying.”
“I’m her husband.”
“And Franklin is your father.”
Marcus flinched.
Darlene continued.
“She didn’t know which mattered more to you.”
The words landed cleanly.
Marcus deserved them.
“What is on the phone?”
Darlene glanced toward the staircase.
“A recording.”
“Of what?”
“Your father.”
“Doing what?”
“Something Olivia believed would prove she wasn’t lying.”
Marcus held out his hand.
Darlene did not move.
“Darlene.”
“I will show you. But first, your father leaves this house.”
Marcus stared at her.
“You’re giving me conditions?”
“I just watched him lock your son in a freezer and hit me when I opened it.”
Marcus lowered his hand.
She was right.
He returned downstairs.
Franklin waited in the library as though nothing had happened.
A glass of bourbon sat beside him.
“You’re being manipulated,” Franklin said.
Marcus walked to the table and removed the glass.
“Get out.”
Franklin laughed.
“Excuse me?”
“Leave.”
“This is my house.”
“No. This is the family residence owned by the Merrick Family Trust.”
Franklin’s smile disappeared.
“And you are not the only trustee.”
Marcus had almost forgotten that fact because Franklin had controlled the estate for decades.
“I’m not leaving my own home because a servant is hysterical.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“You assaulted her.”
Franklin stared at him.
“You locked Theo in a freezer.”
“He needed to learn boundaries.”
“You could have killed him.”
“Oh, stop being dramatic.”
Marcus had spent thirty-nine years adjusting himself around Franklin’s certainty.
That sentence ended something.
“Leave before I call the police myself.”
Franklin studied his son.
Then he smiled.
“You think Olivia will come running back when you defend her little spy?”
Marcus said nothing.
“You have no idea what your wife has done.”
“Neither do you, apparently.”
Franklin’s eyes hardened.
“I know exactly what she did.”
He took his coat.
At the door, he turned.
“Ask Darlene to show you the entire recording.”
Marcus frowned.
“Not the piece Olivia wants you to see.”
Then Franklin left.
Ten minutes later Marcus and Darlene sat in the upstairs office with the door locked.
Darlene placed her phone between them.
“Olivia asked me to make a copy of this.”
“When?”
“Five days before she left.”
Darlene opened a video.
The image was shaky.
It had been recorded from the hallway outside Olivia’s study.
Olivia appeared first.
Her face was pale.
Franklin stood opposite her.
Marcus heard his father’s voice.
“You should have stopped when I warned you.”
Olivia answered.
“I found the signatures.”
Marcus leaned closer.
Franklin said, “You found paperwork you don’t understand.”
“I was a CPA before I married your son. I understand a forged authorization.”
Marcus stopped breathing.
On the recording, Franklin moved closer to Olivia.
“If Marcus sees the transfer log, he’ll believe exactly what I tell him to believe.”
“You framed me.”
“I protected this family.”
“You stole from it.”
Darlene paused the video.
Marcus stared at the frozen image.
“How much?”
Darlene looked at him.
“Olivia told me she found at least fourteen million dollars.”
Marcus felt the room tilt.
“That’s impossible.”
Darlene’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
Unknown Number.
Three words.
Darlene went pale.
Marcus read them over her shoulder.
FRANKLIN KNOWS EVERYTHING.
May you like
Then another message arrived.
DELETE THE VIDEO NOW.
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