Chapter 16 - An Unmarked Letter
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Eighteen months after the trial, my life had settled into a quiet, luxurious routine.
Mercer Logistics was now operating across seven states, boasting a fleet of over four hundred green-energy transport trucks and employing nearly twelve hundred people. I had officially been named one of the Top 50 Female Executives in the country by a leading national business magazine.
I lived comfortably in my cliffside home, spent my weekends painting in my sunlit studio, and occasionally delivered guest lectures on corporate governance at the local university.
It was a rainy Tuesday evening when the fragile peace was gently disturbed.
I had just returned home from the airport after a three-day business conference in Chicago. As I walked into my spacious kitchen, I noticed a small, thick cream-colored envelope sitting on the marble island counter.
My housekeeper, Maria, had left a small sticky note beside it: Delivered by private courier at 4:00 PM. Requires your personal attention.
I set my leather briefcase down, poured myself a glass of pinot noir, and picked up the envelope.
There was no postage stamp, no return address, and no formal mailing label.
Written across the front in dark, precise calligraphy ink was simply my name: Claire Mercer.
May you like
I stared at the ink. It wasn't Evan's sloppy handwriting, nor was it Diane's dramatic, loopy script or Richard's heavy block letters.
I picked up a silver letter opener, sliced open the top flap, and pulled out a single sheet of heavy, watermarked parchment paper.
