Chapter 7 - The Enemy at the Table
Sebastian refused to bring Noah anywhere near Vivian.
Instead, the police arranged a video interview from a secure room in the hospital. Vivian sat behind a metal table at the detention center, still wearing the damaged gown from the wedding.
Her makeup had been removed.
Without the diamonds, silk, and carefully arranged hair, she looked smaller.
But she did not look defeated.
Sebastian, Michael, Elena, Julian, Claire, and two detectives watched from the hospital conference room. Noah remained upstairs with a protection officer and a nurse.
“You wanted an audience,” Sebastian said. “You have one.”
Vivian looked at Michael through the screen.
“You appear healthier than the last time I saw you.”
Elena’s hand tightened around Michael’s wheelchair.
“Say what you know.”
Vivian smiled.
“Still protective. That was always your weakness.”
Michael looked at her calmly.
“No. Loving my family was the only thing that kept me alive.”
Her smile disappeared.
The detective leaned toward the microphone.
“You stated that another person was involved in the financial theft.”
Vivian nodded.
“Sebastian’s precious board chairman, Charles Mercer.”
Sebastian frowned.
Charles had served beside him for thirty years. He was godfather to Julian and one of Michael’s earliest mentors.
“That is impossible,” Julian said.
Vivian laughed.
“That was exactly what Charles wanted everyone to believe.”
She explained that Mercer created the original shell companies. Vivian discovered the theft and demanded a share in exchange for silence.
Over time, she became more ambitious.
Michael uncovered both of them.
“Charles ordered the accident,” Vivian said. “Keller worked for him as much as he worked for me.”
“Why should we believe you?” Sebastian asked.
“Because Charles knows Michael is alive. He also knows Noah now controls fifty-two percent of the company.”
Michael’s expression changed.
“Where is Charles now?”
Vivian leaned closer to the camera.
“At the hospital.”
The conference room door opened.
Charles Mercer entered carrying a leather briefcase.
He was seventy years old, tall, and silver-haired. His expression was filled with concern.
“I came as soon as I heard,” he said.
Then he noticed the screen.
Vivian smiled at him.
“Hello, Charles.”
For half a second, fear flashed across Mercer’s face.
It was enough.
The detectives stood.
Mercer placed the briefcase on the table.
“I assume Vivian is attempting to exchange lies for a lighter sentence.”
Sebastian looked at his oldest friend.
“Did you know Michael was alive?”
“Of course not.”
“Did you create the European shell companies?”
“No.”
Vivian laughed.
“He still uses the same tone. Calm. Offended. Almost believable.”
Mercer looked toward the detective.
“You cannot seriously consider the accusations of a woman who shot her own son.”
“We consider evidence,” the detective replied.
Vivian lifted a handcuffed wrist.
“Then check the false bottom of his briefcase.”
Mercer reached for it.
The detective moved faster.
He opened the case and removed several folders. Beneath them was a hidden compartment containing a loaded handgun and two passports under different names.
Everyone stepped back.
Mercer’s expression became cold.
He grabbed Claire and pulled her against him before the officers could react.
The handgun was suddenly pressed below her jaw.
Julian tried to stand despite his injury.
“Let her go!”
Mercer dragged Claire toward the door.
“You always were emotional, Julian.”
Michael wheeled himself forward.
“You cannot escape this hospital.”
“I do not need to escape the hospital.”
Mercer pressed a button on his phone.
The lights went out.
Emergency alarms began to sound.
Red backup lights filled the conference room.
Through the hospital intercom came a nurse’s terrified voice.
“Security alert. Pediatric floor lockdown.”
Elena’s blood turned cold.
“Noah.”
Mercer smiled.
“My men already have the boy.”
Elena ran toward the door.
A detective caught her.
Mercer kept the gun against Claire.
“Order your officers to stand down, or both she and the child die.”
Sebastian looked at the man he had trusted for three decades.
“You sat at my table.”
“I built your table.”
“You betrayed Michael.”
“Michael was going to destroy the company over a few missing millions.”
“Eighty million.”
“Money returns. Opportunities do not.”
Julian stepped forward, one hand pressed against his bandaged shoulder.
“Take me instead of Claire.”
Mercer looked amused.
“You are no longer valuable.”
“I am still an Ashford.”
“You are the son of a woman who has become a public disgrace. By morning, every partner she brought into the company will abandon you.”
Claire slowly moved her hand toward the metal water pitcher on the table.
Mercer noticed.
“Do not.”
The screen behind him still showed Vivian in the detention center.
She watched the scene without blinking.
Then she spoke.
“Charles.”
He glanced at the screen.
Vivian leaned toward the camera.
“You were right about one thing.”
“What?”
“I was always more ambitious than you.”
She gave a prearranged signal to the detective beside her.
The conference screen suddenly flashed white.
Mercer instinctively turned his face away.
Claire slammed the metal pitcher into his wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Julian tackled him.
Detectives rushed forward.
Mercer was forced to the floor and handcuffed.
Claire dropped beside Julian.
His bandage had reopened.
“Why do you keep getting shot or injured near me?” she demanded through tears.
Julian gave a faint smile.
“I’m beginning to think our relationship is unhealthy.”
Elena grabbed Mercer by the front of his jacket.
“Where is my son?”
Mercer looked at her with contempt.
“He is already gone.”
Michael rolled forward until he was inches away.
“Tell me where Noah is.”
Mercer smiled.
“You should know. He was taken to the place where your family sends people it wants the world to forget.”
Michael stopped.
The clinic had been evacuated.
The old estate was surrounded by police.
Then Sebastian understood.
“The Ashford orphanage.”
Elena stared at him.
“What orphanage?”
Sebastian’s face filled with shame.
“A children’s home the company funded decades ago. It was closed after allegations of abuse.”
“Why would Mercer take Noah there?”
Michael answered.
“Because there are tunnels beneath it leading to the river.”
Police teams left immediately.
The abandoned orphanage stood at the edge of the industrial district. By the time they arrived, flames were visible through the upper windows.
Elena jumped from the vehicle before it stopped.
“Noah!”
A small figure appeared behind a third-floor window.
He struck the glass with both hands.
“Mom!”
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Smoke swallowed him.
And somewhere inside the burning building, a man locked the door to Noah’s room.
