Chapter 3 - The Envelope Their Father Left to Only One SonMaddox stared at Silas.
“What did Dad leave you?”
Silas looked toward Brielle.
“How do you know about that?”
She gave him a cold smile.
That alone told Maddox the secret existed.
“What did Dad leave you?”
“Maddox…”
“Don't.”
His voice cracked.
“I just watched my wife frame you for assault. I am done being the last person in the room to know things.”
Silas exhaled.
“It's not money.”
“Then what?”
“A letter.”
Maddox laughed once.
“A letter.”
“Yes.”
“Dad died five years ago.”
“I know.”
“And you never told me?”
“He asked me not to.”
Brielle crossed her arms.
“Convenient.”
Silas ignored her.
Maddox felt betrayed in a different way now.
Their father, Everett Mercer, had died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Maddox and Silas had been at the hospital together during the final week.
They had divided responsibilities.
Silas handled operations.
Maddox handled legal and family affairs.
They had believed there were no meaningful secrets left.
Apparently Maddox had been wrong.
“What was in the letter?”
Silas hesitated.
“Dad was worried about the company.”
“He was always worried about the company.”
“Not financially.”
“Then?”
“He believed someone inside Mercer Development had been inflating vendor contracts.”
Maddox frowned.
“Who?”
“He didn't know.”
“Why tell you?”
“Because I ran construction.”
Maddox paced.
“And you kept this for five years?”
“I investigated for six months.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Dad was dying. Some of his concerns didn't match records. I thought maybe medications, stress…”
Brielle laughed.
Silas turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No. Say it.”
She smiled.
“You Mercers are very good at deciding inconvenient people are confused.”
Maddox stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“Ask Silas.”
Silas's face tightened.
Maddox looked between them.
“I'm asking everyone.”
Silas finally answered.
“There was one vendor Dad named.”
“Who?”
“Corbett Construction.”
Maddox knew it.
A regional subcontractor Mercer Development had used for years.
“What about them?”
“Dad believed they were billing for work they weren't doing.”
“Were they?”
“I found inconsistencies, but nothing I could prove was intentional.”
“What happened?”
“They stopped working with us after Dad died.”
Maddox tried to understand why Brielle cared.
“And Hartwell?”
Silas shook his head.
“Different structure. Same pattern.”
Payments for services nobody could clearly describe.
No staff.
No real operating history.
“That's why you started digging.”
“Yes.”
Maddox turned to Brielle.
“How did you know about Dad's letter?”
She said nothing.
“Brielle.”
Her confidence had returned slightly.
Perhaps because Silas's secret gave her room to breathe.
“Your father mentioned it to someone else.”
“Who?”
“Your mother.”
Maddox's face changed.
Their mother, Eleanor, was alive.
She lived in Charleston and rarely discussed company matters since Everett's death.
“Mom knew?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“When?”
“Last Christmas.”
Silas shook his head.
“No.”
Brielle looked at him.
“You weren't there.”
Maddox remembered.
Silas had spent Christmas with his girlfriend's family in Boston.
Brielle continued.
“Eleanor had been drinking.”
Maddox's expression hardened.
“Don't talk about my mother like that.”
“Why? You know she drinks.”
Maddox hated the truth because of how Brielle used it.
His mother's alcoholism had worsened after Everett died.
She had completed treatment twice.
She was doing better now.
Brielle knew it was a raw subject.
“Mom told you Dad left Silas a letter?”
“She said Everett never trusted the company books.”
Silas frowned.
“What else?”
“That he trusted you to find what he couldn't.”
Maddox looked at his brother.
“And you stopped.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't find proof.”
“Or because you didn't want to?”
Silas stared.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Brielle answered for him.
“It means Silas was already receiving money through Corbett.”
Silence.
Maddox turned.
Silas looked genuinely stunned.
“That is a lie.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
Brielle pulled out her phone.
Maddox almost laughed.
“You're going to show me evidence now?”
“I was going to tell you eventually.”
“You were going to tell me after falsely accusing my brother of assault?”
Her face tightened.
She opened a bank image.
A transfer.
$125,000.
Payee:
SILAS MERCER.
Originating account:
Corbett Construction LLC.
Dated four years earlier.
Maddox stared.
Silas's face drained.
“What is that?”
Brielle looked almost relieved.
“Ask him.”
Silas took the phone.
“That isn't my account.”
“Your name is on it.”
“Anyone can type a name.”
“Account ending 6612.”
Silas went still.
Maddox noticed.
“You know the account.”
Silas swallowed.
“It was mine.”
Brielle smiled.
Maddox's chest tightened.
“But I never received that payment.”
Brielle laughed.
“Of course.”
Silas looked at his brother.
“Maddox, I closed that account almost five years ago.”
“When?”
“After Dad died.”
“Why?”
“Because someone accessed it.”
Maddox stared.
“What?”
“I never told you.”
“Apparently that's becoming a theme.”
Silas flinched.
“There were two transfers I didn't recognize. Small ones. I reported them. The bank reversed them. I closed the account.”
“How small?”
“Under five thousand.”
“And now there's a record for one hundred twenty-five thousand?”
“Yes.”
Brielle stepped forward.
“He is lying.”
Silas looked directly at her.
“Then you made one mistake.”
“What?”
“I still have the closure documents.”
Her smile weakened.
“And bank records will show whether that money ever entered.”
Maddox stared at Brielle.
She had presented evidence too quickly.
Almost as if she expected this conversation.
Almost as if the fake assault had been only one possible weapon.
“Where did you get that screenshot?”
Brielle hesitated.
Maddox asked again.
“Where?”
“Anonymous email.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Show me.”
“I deleted it.”
“Of course you did.”
Her face hardened.
Maddox looked at Silas.
“Send me your old records.”
“I will.”
Then he turned back to his wife.
“We're opening Hartwell's books.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't have the right.”
“Mercer Development paid it.”
“That doesn't mean you own it.”
“It means I get to know what my company purchased.”
Brielle said nothing.
Maddox walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To call our CFO.”
Her reaction was tiny.
A quick inhale.
But after the camera incident, Maddox was watching every tiny thing.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“Why?”
Brielle looked at Silas.
Then back at Maddox.
“Because your CFO is the person who created Hartwell.”
Maddox went still.
Their CFO was Nathan Cole.
May you like
His closest friend after Silas.
And the godfather of Maddox's daughter.
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