Chapter 3 - THE COMPANY BEHIND THE MONEY
By Monday morning, I had three attorneys telling me not to touch anything.
That was difficult.
I built Elena Events from one borrowed banquet table, a secondhand laptop, and enough anxiety to power Chicago for a month.
When something threatened my company, my instinct was to fix it personally.
Naomi stopped me.
“You are not investigating Daniel yourself.”
“I investigated companies for seven years.”
“You investigated companies you were not emotionally attached to.”
“I’m no longer emotionally attached.”
Rachel, sitting beside me, coughed.
Naomi ignored me.
“Professionals.”
Fine.
The professionals found plenty.
Mercer Heritage Supply was only the first family entity.
Lorraine also controlled:
Mercer Family Consulting.
LM Property Services.
Heritage Administrative Group.
Across three years, Daniel’s company had paid those entities nearly $1.9 million.
Some services were real.
Many were difficult to verify.
Then Lucas found a property.
Lake Geneva.
Four-bedroom house.
Purchased eleven months earlier.
Owner:
LM Property Services.
Down payment:
$430,000.
Source of funds?
Mercer Construction.
I stared at the photograph.
“I’ve been there.”
Naomi looked at me.
“When?”
“Last summer.”
Daniel told me his mother rented it for a family reunion.
Lorraine had spent three days describing how expensive lake rentals were.
She owned the place.
Using money from Daniel’s struggling business.
The same business whose payroll I had helped cover twice.
I felt physically ill.
The first time Daniel called me crying about payroll, I transferred $85,000 as a short-term bridge.
The second time, $60,000.
He repaid some.
Not all.
I thought I was helping twenty-six employees keep their paychecks.
Maybe I had helped buy Lorraine a lake house.
Lucas traced the timing.
My first payroll advance arrived at Mercer Construction.
Within nine days, $70,000 transferred to Mercer Heritage Supply.
Three weeks later, Lorraine’s property company made the lake-house deposit.
Not proof my exact dollars bought it.
Money mixes.
But the pattern was ugly.
I called Daniel.
Naomi objected.
I put him on speaker with her beside me.
He answered immediately.
“Elena.”
“Did your company fund your mother’s Lake Geneva house?”
Silence.
Then:
“It’s a corporate retreat property.”
I laughed.
I couldn’t help it.
“You told me she rented it.”
“She manages it.”
“Does Mercer Construction use it?”
“We had two meetings there.”
“Over eleven months?”
He became irritated.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you involved in company finances.”
There.
Not an answer.
“Did you know Lorraine owned Mercer Heritage Supply?”
“Yes.”
“Did your lender?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“My accountant handles disclosures.”
“Did you know my name was on the guarantee?”
He breathed slowly.
“Elena, we were getting married.”
“That was not my question.”
“I assumed you’d support the refinancing.”
“By forging my signature?”
“I did not forge it.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s true.”
“Did you create a fake email in my name?”
“No.”
“Did Lorraine?”
“I don’t know.”
He sounded almost believable.
Almost.
Then I asked:
“Why did you take my laptop during the wedding?”
His breathing changed.
“I wanted one document.”
“What document?”
“Your company operating agreement.”
“You already had a copy.”
“An old one.”
“Why did you need the new one?”
Silence.
I already knew something was coming.
Finally:
“The bank asked whether you could pledge company distributions.”
I closed my eyes.
“You planned to use Elena Events.”
“As backup.”
“Without asking.”
“I was going to ask after the wedding.”
That phrase.
After the wedding.
When I was legally, socially, emotionally tied tighter.
“When were you going to tell me about the guarantee?”
“Elena—”
“When?”
“After closing.”
Rachel actually covered her mouth.
I ended the call.
Naomi stared at me.
“You did well until the end.”
“I wanted to throw the phone through a window.”
“Reasonable.”
Then Lucas found another company.
North Bridge Development Partners.
Daniel owned 10 percent.
The majority owner was hidden.
It had purchased land outside Naperville eighteen months earlier.
Purchase price:
$2.3 million.
Mercer Construction paid more than $600,000 in “predevelopment expenses” on the land.
I had never heard of the project.
Lucas traced the hidden majority owner.
Not Lorraine.
A private investor named Victor Shaw.
I recognized the name immediately.
Victor had been at the wedding.
He had been seated at the center table.
One of the thirty men Lorraine expected me to serve.
Then Rachel said:
“Wait.”
She opened her phone.
“I took pictures before the ceremony.”
She found one.
Victor and Lorraine talking near the ballroom entrance.
Daniel beside them.
Victor was handing Daniel a folder.
We zoomed in.
On the cover:
CARTER SPOUSAL CONSENT PACKAGE.
May you like
My name.
Before the wedding ceremony even began, they had already prepared documents requiring my signature.
