Chapter 7 - THE PROFIT DANIEL NEVER MENTIONED
Daniel said Emily would have benefited too.
“How?”
“She was going to be repaid.”
“With interest?”
“Yes.”
“Rate?”
He stopped.
There still was no note.
No documented loan.
No repayment schedule.
Only an internal spreadsheet inside Mercer Development:
SOURCE CAPITAL — FAMILY TRUST SUPPORT: $250,000.
No Emily.
No lender.
No beneficiary.
Just family trust support.
The projected Worcester sale would distribute profits:
Richard — $1.2 million.
Daniel — $890,000.
Dr. Emerson — $410,000.
Other investors — remainder.
Emily?
Zero.
I sent the spreadsheet to Rachel.
She handled it.
I was done trying to explain finance to people who understood it perfectly when profits belonged to them.
Then Emily moved into a furnished apartment arranged through her attorney.
Not mine.
Not family-owned.
Her name on the lease.
Her key.
Her choice.
The first night, she called me.
“I ordered Thai food.”
I smiled.
“Dangerous.”
“My mother says spicy food affects my judgment.”
“How many dumplings?”
“Twelve.”
“Reckless.”
She laughed.
It sounded unfamiliar.
Like laughter she had forgotten how to use.
Then she became quiet.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“What if I really am difficult?”
“You probably are.”
She laughed again.
“Thanks.”
“Being difficult is not legal incapacity.”
That distinction mattered.
Then her second medical evaluation arrived.
Physically, Emily was malnourished but recoverable.
She had no condition requiring the extreme diet imposed at home.
No medical reason she could not live independently.
The guardianship petition became harder to justify.
So the family changed tactics.
Victoria called relatives.
Emily was unstable.
Claire manipulated her.
Claire wanted access to the trust.
That last one spread fastest.
Because money makes people believe ugly stories quickly.
I did nothing publicly.
Then Richard filed the guardianship petition anyway.
Emergency hearing requested.
Reason:
Emily had been “removed from the family home by outside influences” and was “rapidly dissipating trust assets.”
Her dissipation?
Renting an apartment.
Buying furniture.
Hiring independent attorneys.
And spending $186 at Target.
Rachel almost laughed when she read it.
Then the petition included an affidavit from Dr. Emerson.
Emily suffers from impaired judgment and persecutory thinking centered around financial exploitation by family members.
Persecutory thinking.
Except the trust itself had frozen payments because the financial concerns were credible.
Then Rachel found something the Mercers had not expected.
Dr. Emerson’s affidavit contained a date.
He claimed he evaluated Emily in person on Monday at 11 a.m.
Emily had not seen him.
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At Monday 11 a.m., she had been sitting in Rachel’s office with three witnesses.
If the affidavit was knowingly false, the entire petition had just become much more dangerous for the people filing it.
