Evelyn's POV
Grant's recorded voice played from my phone beside the roasted chicken. I stopped the clip and slid the phone toward Leo.
"Listen to it again, Leo," I instructed. "That is your father. He is not a traumatized victim. He is actively plotting to strip me of my company and throw me on the street."
I had played the clip twice before dinner, hoping the words would matter more to Leo than any accusation I could make. I hated that I needed evidence to compete with a son's faith in his father.
Leo did not look shocked. He gripped his silver fork so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Is that supposed to prove something?" my sixteen-year-old son demanded.
"He called me a hag," I pointed out, keeping my tone level. "He is planning a hostile takeover. This is not a man who just wants his family back."
Leo threw his fork down. It clattered loudly against his porcelain plate. "You pushed him into a corner! You humiliated him in front of the entire world this morning!"
"I protected my assets. Our assets."
"Your assets," Leo spat, his voice cracking. "You don't care about us. You just care about your stupid stock prices and your board meetings. He survived a shipwreck, Mom. He ate bugs and drank rainwater for five years, and you treat him like a criminal."
"He brought his pregnant mistress into our home," I reminded him.
"Because you left him with nothing!" Leo shouted, jumping up from his chair. "You never even visited his empty grave. You just went back to work!"
"I worked ninety hours a week to pay off the ten million dollars in debt he left behind," I fired back, finally standing up to match his height. "I kept a roof over your head. I kept his legacy alive."
"He doesn't want a legacy!" Leo yelled.
He reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out the vintage brass compass Grant had given him a decade ago.
He raised his arm and slammed the heavy metal onto the center of the dining table.
The glass face exploded.
Tiny shards sprayed across the linen placemats. The brass casing dented inward, the delicate needle inside snapping in half.
A sharp ache flared in the center of my chest. I forced my hands to remain flat against my sides. I did not reach for the broken pieces.
"I would rather live in a cardboard box with him," Leo said, his chest heaving, "than spend another minute in this freezing, loveless house with you."
He spun around and marched toward the grand foyer.
I swallowed the tight lump forming in my throat. I shifted my gaze to the large man standing by the dining room archway.
"Davis," I said, my voice dropping to a cold, authoritative register.
The head of my security detail straightened his posture. "Yes, Mrs. Mercer."
"Lock the perimeter gates," I ordered. "Disable the garage keypads. My son is not permitted to leave the grounds without my explicit authorization."
Leo froze halfway down the hall. He whipped his head around. "You can't keep me here!"
"Watch me," I replied. "Go to your room, Leo."
He glared at me with open hostility, then stormed up the sweeping staircase. His bedroom door slammed shut a moment later, the sound echoing through the empty corridors.
I looked back down at the ruined compass on the table. I turned and walked out of the room.
At three in the morning, the only light in the house came from my study monitor.
I sat at my desk, scrolling through five-year-old shipping manifests. The glowing spreadsheet rows blurred together, but I refused to blink. I needed to find the insurance loophole Noah mentioned.
My cell phone vibrated against the wood.
I answered it on the second ring. "Tell me you found something."
"Did you pull the procurement records for the Meridian Star's final voyage?" Noah asked, his voice alert despite the hour.
"I have them open," I said. "Bilge assemblies, marine radios, emergency beacons, industrial batteries. Nothing unusual at first glance."
"Filter by vendor and purchase date. Look at anything ordered in the last two weeks before departure."
The list collapsed to six transactions under one supplier.
"Apex Marine Solutions," I read. "We stopped using them after the sinking."
"I ran the tax ID. Apex was a shell company Grant controlled through a nominee director," Noah said. "It bought a replacement bilge-valve housing, a portable cutting saw, and a radio isolation switch. All three were delivered to the Meridian Star before it sailed."
I stared at the purchase orders. Individually, the items were ordinary maintenance equipment. Together, they formed a pattern I could not unsee.
"He supplied the tools used to sabotage his own ship," I said.
"That is what we have to prove," Noah replied. "The records establish access and planning. The salvage evidence can establish what he actually did."
"The offshore account you mentioned yesterday," I said, pulling my keyboard closer.
"Exactly. I just texted you the routing numbers. See if they match any vendor payments to Apex Marine in the weeks leading up to the sinking."
I ended the call and opened the text message. I typed the twelve-digit routing number into my encrypted internal financial portal.
A red warning banner flashed across the top of my screen.
RESTRICTED ACCESS. DECRYPTION REQUIRED.
I entered my master administrative password and hit the enter key.
A blue progress bar appeared in the center of the monitor.
DECRYPTING HIDDEN OFFSHORE TRANSACTIONS... 15%
The quiet hum of the computer tower filled the dark room.
45%
If Grant funneled Mercer Maritime Holdings' capital into an offshore account right before the sinking, I had a financial trail strong enough to support Noah's fraud case. He would never take Leo from me. He would never touch my company again.
75%
I leaned closer to the screen. The blue line crept forward.
90%
99%
The heavy brass lock on my study door clicked as a key slid into the cylinder and turned.
