Chapter 2 - The Freezing of Assets
The following morning arrived with a heavy gray fog that rolled off the river, matching the cold gravity of the decisions I had made over the night. By 7:30 AM, I was seated in Marcus Vance’s office on the top floor of the downtown bank building. The mahogany table was covered in thick legal folders, corporate ledgers, and bank statements that had been compiled over the last twelve hours.
Marcus walked in carrying two mugs of black coffee, setting one in front of me before sliding into his leather chair. "The freezes went into effect at midnight, Tom. The corporate cards Ethan and Ashley were using for their 'business expenses' were declined at a luxury steakhouse in the Pearl District at 12:15 AM. I know because I received the automated alert from the fraud compliance desk."
I took a slow sip of the coffee, feeling the heat cut through the exhaustion in my bones. "What’s the damage, Marcus? Give it to me straight."
Marcus opened a blue folder stamped with the Mercer Holdings seal. "For the last fourteen months, since you stepped back from auditing the accounts daily, Ethan has been systematically shifting operational liquid funds into a secondary account listed under EA Development LLC—a company he registered quietly in Delaware without your authorization. He’s diverted roughly eighty-four thousand dollars from active construction client deposits."
"That’s embezzling," I said, the word tasting like ash in my mouth. "He stole from our own clients."
"Worse," Marcus replied, sliding a spreadsheet across the table. "Ashley has been listed as an 'interior design consultant' for the firm, drawing a salary of six thousand dollars a month from the corporate payroll. I pulled the corporate server logs. She hasn't logged into the system once. She hasn't submitted a single design plan. It was a phantom salary, Tom. They were using your hard-earned reputation to fund a lifestyle they couldn't afford."
My phone began to ring on the desk. It was Ethan. I didn't answer it. Within seconds, a text message flashed on the screen:
Dad, this is crazy. You can't just cut off our money. The crews are at the Henderson job site right now and the lumber delivery was turned away because the corporate credit line is locked. You're ruining the business.
"He thinks the business is his," I murmured, staring at the screen.
"He forgot who built the foundation," Marcus said, leaning forward. "He forgot that the clients sign contracts with Tom Mercer, not Ethan. The Henderson job is a six-figure contract, Tom. If the lumber isn't delivered today, the timeline penalty clause kicks in. It costs five thousand dollars a day for every day the project is delayed."
"I’ll handle the Henderson site myself," I said, standing up and reaching for my coat. "I’ve been driving those flatbeds since before Ethan was born. What about the house?"
"The emergency restraining order and temporary trespass notice have been signed by a county judge," Marcus said, handing me a sealed envelope. "A deputy is on his way to Ethan’s rental property right now to serve them. He is legally barred from coming within five hundred feet of your home, your gate, or your mother. If he touches that keypad again, he goes straight to county jail."
"And his truck?"
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"The Ford F-250 he’s driving is owned directly by Mercer Holdings," Marcus smiled coldly. "The recovery service has already been dispatched. They’ll be picking it up from his driveway by noon today. If he wants to get to his job sites, he’s going to have to walk."
As I walked out of the office and down to my truck, the cold anger that had sustained me through the night began to transform into an unyielding professional focus. Ethan wanted to act like an executive. It was time to show him what a real executive does when a contractor defaults.
