Chapter 8 - My Father Became the Next Target
For the first time, my father blamed himself.
“I talked too much at that conference.”
“No.”
“Rachel—”
“No.”
I refused to let another honest person carry guilt for what dishonest people had chosen to do.
Mercer had collected public information.
Jason had infiltrated my life.
That responsibility belonged to them.
Still, we moved quickly.
My parents changed account controls.
My sister froze her credit.
The family company notified its banks.
Every major transaction now required in-person verification from two family members.
Within hours, someone attempted to wire $680,000 from a Bennett operating account.
The bank blocked it.
The request carried my father's digital signature.
Fake.
Mercer knew we were onto him.
He was trying to take whatever he could.
Then Jason finally stopped texting and came to Naomi’s office.
Uninvited.
I watched from a conference-room camera while reception told him to leave.
He looked terrible.
Same expensive suit from the rehearsal dinner.
No tie.
Unshaven.
“Tell Rachel I need five minutes.”
Naomi went outside.
“You communicate through counsel now.”
“This isn't about the divorce.”
“You don't have a divorce attorney yet.”
Jason looked toward the camera in the ceiling.
“I know she's watching.”
I was.
“Mercer is going to hurt her family.”
Naomi didn't react.
“You seem remarkably informed.”
“I can help.”
“Why would she trust you?”
“Because Mercer is going to kill me if I don't.”
That got my attention.
Naomi brought him into the conference room only after security searched him and recorded the conversation.
I entered through another door.
Jason looked at me like he'd aged years in three days.
“Rachel.”
“Talk.”
“I didn't know Mercer planned to go after your father's company.”
I said nothing.
“I swear.”
“You also swore you'd never betray me.”
His face tightened.
Fair.
He explained that Mercer usually targeted one asset pool.
A house.
Savings.
A single inheritance.
With me, greed changed the plan.
Once Mercer learned my father’s company had strong cash reserves, he wanted more.
“I told him no.”
I almost laughed.
“What a hero.”
“I mean it.”
“You forged my signature on a $425,000 lien.”
“I helped.”
“Thank you for the distinction.”
His eyes filled with something that may have been shame.
“I was supposed to get eighty thousand when the land deal closed.”
“How much did you get already?”
“Thirty-five.”
That was the price placed on our marriage.
$35,000 so far.
“Did you ever love me?”
Jason looked at the table.
Naomi shifted slightly.
I almost withdrew the question.
Then he said:
“Yes.”
I hated that answer.
A clean villain would have been easier.
“When?”
“All of it.”
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
“No, Jason. Love and what you did cannot live in the same place.”
He finally looked at me.
“I kept thinking I would stop.”
“But every time you had the chance, you went further.”
“Yes.”
“What about Amber?”
His face changed.
“I cared about her.”
“Enough to destroy her too.”
“She knew what she was doing.”
“Not all of it.”
“No.”
He admitted Mercer told him to keep Amber emotionally dependent.
Promise a future.
Make her believe I was temporary.
When she became guilty, Jason pulled away.
When she threatened to tell me, he slept with her again.
Control disguised as affection.
The same skill he'd used on me.
Jason reached into his jacket.
Security moved.
He slowly placed a flash drive on the table.
“Everything I have on Mercer.”
Naomi didn't touch it.
“Why now?”
“Because he called me last night.”
“What did he say?”
Jason swallowed.
“He knows you found the red notebook.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
Then I remembered.
The warehouse.
Investigators.
Records.
Someone had leaked it.
Mercer still had people inside the lending system.
Maybe elsewhere.
Jason continued:
“He told me to fix this.”
“What does that mean?”
“He wants me to convince you the fraud was mine.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“Take the fall?”
“Yes.”
“In exchange for?”
“He leaves my mother alone.”
I felt nothing for Linda yet.
Then Jason said:
“And Amber.”
I stared.
“Why Amber?”
His voice dropped.
“Because Amber has the original recordings.”
“What recordings?”
“The planning meetings.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
Jason had secretly recorded Mercer for months as insurance.
Amber discovered the files.
She copied them.
Then hid them somewhere Jason didn't know.
“Does Mercer know she has them?”
May you like
Jason nodded.
“That’s why Amber disappeared this morning.”
