Chapter 19
|
It took Luis exactly four hours to unravel the financial labyrinth Arthur Mercer had constructed. When he arrived at my office late that afternoon, he bypassed the receptionist entirely, carrying a thick, unmarked Manila folder. He dropped it onto my desk with a heavy thud, his expression grim and exhausted.
"You were right, Emma," Luis said, pulling up a chair and leaning forward. "The motive is entirely financial, and it is staggeringly massive."
I opened the folder, scanning the highlighted sections of the densely worded legal documents. "Walk me through it."
"Leo's parents didn't just leave him a small trust fund," Luis explained, pointing to a specific clause on the second page. "They left him a controlling fifty-one percent stake in Mercer Global Holdings. Arthur only owns forty-nine percent. The moment Leo turns eighteen, he legally becomes his uncle's boss. He gains the power to liquidate assets, fire the board, or sell the company entirely."
"Unless," I murmured, reading the legal stipulations, "Leo is medically declared incompetent to manage his estate."
"Precisely," Luis nodded, a deep disgust coloring his tone. "If Leo is deemed psychologically unfit by a licensed medical professional, the fiduciary control permanently transfers to the next of kin. Arthur Mercer."
"He's manufacturing a medical crisis," I realized, feeling a cold wave of absolute revulsion. "Sofia said Mercer brought in a private doctor who heavily medicated the boy before he disappeared into the basement. Mercer isn't just hiding Leo; he is intentionally destroying the boy's mind to legally steal his birthright."
"And here is the most disturbing part," Luis added, sliding a photograph across the desk. "I tracked down the medical professional Mercer put on retainer right before Leo was supposedly sent to Switzerland. Does the name Dr. Aris Thorne sound familiar?"
I stared at the photograph of a sleek, middle-aged man in a tailored suit. "No. Should it?"
"Thorne is a discrete, high-end psychiatrist," Luis revealed darkly. "He completed his residency at the same private hospital as Dr. Felix Ward. They co-authored three papers together on childhood trauma suppression."
May you like
My blood ran completely cold. Felix Ward was the doctor who had provided the false diagnoses for Ethan to justify his isolation.
"It's a network," I whispered, the horrifying reality settling over me. "Julian Cross and Felix Ward went to prison, but they weren't the only ones operating in that circle. They left behind a blueprint for how to disappear a child for profit, and Arthur Mercer bought the manual."
