Chapter 6 - The Scandal That Put Evelyn’s Name on Every Screen
Naomi arrived at my apartment forty minutes later.
Declan arrived six minutes after her.
I had not invited him.
Naomi had.
“You need to stop calling him every time something happens,” I told her in the hallway.
“He owns the company whose CFO may have hidden evidence on that drive.”
“He also owns the company whose employment agreement may become evidence of something else.”
“I’m aware.”
Declan stood ten feet away and heard every word.
He did not argue.
That was somehow worse.
Lauren sat at my kitchen counter gripping a glass of water with both hands. Ethan remained on the couch, clearly wondering how a dinner delivery had turned into a corporate criminal investigation.
Naomi placed the hard drive inside an evidence bag.
“We don’t open this here.”
Lauren nodded.
“Did your father say anything else?”
“He said people were blaming him for things he didn’t do.”
Declan’s expression did not change.
Lauren looked at him.
“Mr. Mercer, my father is not a violent man.”
“I didn’t say he was.”
“He’s scared of you.”
“Most people are.”
“Declan,” I said.
He looked at me.
“Not helpful.”
His jaw tightened. “You’re right.”
Lauren watched the exchange with confusion.
Then she said, “He mentioned someone named Harrow.”
Declan went still.
Naomi noticed.
“Who is Harrow?”
Declan’s eyes stayed on Lauren.
“Victor Harrow is vice chairman of Mercer Holdings.”
I knew Victor.
Everyone at the company did.
He was seventy, old-money Chicago, and one of the original investors who had backed Declan when he took control of Mercer Holdings at thirty-two. He rarely came to the office, but when he did, board members stood straighter.
“Why would Martin mention him?” I asked.
Lauren shook her head.
“He said, ‘Harrow knows why the numbers moved.’ That’s all.”
Declan took out his phone.
Naomi pointed at him.
“Do not call Harrow.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were absolutely going to.”
Declan looked annoyed.
For the first time that night, I almost smiled.
Naomi continued. “Nobody contacts anyone until this drive is cloned and reviewed. If there’s criminal evidence, we preserve chain of custody.”
Declan slid his phone back into his pocket.
“Yes, counselor.”
Naomi gave him a satisfied nod.
At 11:16 p.m., federal agents took possession of a forensic copy of the hard drive.
By midnight, Lauren was moved to a hotel under private security.
Ethan finally left after making me promise to call if I needed anything.
Declan remained by my door.
“You should go too,” I said.
“I know.”
He did not move.
I waited.
He looked around my apartment.
The tiny kitchen.
The secondhand couch.
The narrow bed partially hidden behind a folding screen.
His face changed.
“This is where you lived?”
“For four years.”
“I never came here.”
“No.”
“I sent cars here hundreds of times.”
“Yes.”
“But I never...”
He stopped.
I knew what he meant.
He had known my address.
He had never known my life.
“I should have,” he said.
“Maybe.”
He looked at me.
“Not to inspect it. To understand.”
I folded my arms.
“Understanding me was never required for the arrangement.”
Pain crossed his face.
He deserved some of it.
I was too tired to enjoy that fact.
“Good night, Declan.”
“Good night, Evelyn.”
He left.
At 6:04 the next morning, my phone began vibrating continuously.
Messages.
Calls.
News alerts.
I opened one.
My stomach dropped.
CHICAGO BILLIONAIRE’S “DEBT SECRETARY”: INSIDE DECLAN MERCER’S FOUR-YEAR ARRANGEMENT WITH EMPLOYEE’S FAMILY.
My photograph filled the screen.
Not a corporate headshot.
A picture of me leaving St. Catherine two nights earlier.
The article described my father’s theft.
My debt.
My salary.
The eighty-percent deductions.
Even the interest.
Someone had leaked the contract.
I could barely breathe.
A second headline appeared.
MERCER HOLDINGS CFO MISSING AS QUESTIONS GROW AROUND BILLIONAIRE’S PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT DEAL.
Then another.
WAS EVELYN CARTER AN EMPLOYEE—OR COLLATERAL?
My hands started shaking.
Four years of private shame had become public entertainment before sunrise.
My father’s crime was now attached to my name in every search result.
My phone rang.
Declan.
I declined it.
He called again.
I declined that too.
Then Naomi called.
I answered.
“Tell me he didn’t do this.”
“He didn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the leaked version includes a legal metadata stamp from Mercer board archives. Declan’s personal copy doesn’t have it.”
I sat on the edge of my bed.
“Who does?”
“Board members and senior legal.”
“Harrow.”
“Possibly.”
My phone buzzed with a text from Declan.
I am outside. I will not come up unless you ask.
I stared at it.
Of course he was outside.
A month ago, he would have been at my door before asking.
I typed:
Come up.
Two minutes later, he knocked.
When I opened the door, he looked as though he had not slept.
“I’m sorry.”
“Did you leak it?”
“No.”
“Did anyone acting for you?”
“No.”
“Can you prove that?”
“I’ll give Naomi access to every communication from my office.”
I stepped aside.
He entered.
My television showed a morning business program. My face was on screen beside his.
A commentator was saying, “Even if technically legal, the power imbalance raises serious ethical questions.”
Declan looked at the television.
“They’re right,” he said.
I stared at him.
He picked up the remote and muted it.
“Legal is preparing a statement.”
“What kind?”
“One that says you voluntarily entered a repayment agreement, were highly compensated, and received benefits above industry standards.”
I felt my stomach twist.
“That sounds like they’re defending you by making me look complicit.”
“They are.”
“Are you going to approve it?”
“No.”
“What are you going to say?”
He looked at me.
“The truth.”
Before I could ask what that meant, his phone rang.
He answered on speaker.
“Mercer.”
A man’s voice snapped through the room.
“Declan, where the hell are you?”
Victor Harrow.
I recognized the voice immediately.
“Busy.”
“The board meets in forty minutes. Legal says you rejected the statement.”
“I did.”
“You will approve it.”
“No.”
“You are not throwing this company under a bus to protect a secretary.”
The word hit me like a slap.
Declan’s expression became terrifyingly calm.
“Her name is Evelyn Carter.”
“I don’t care what her name is. We can contain this if we establish that she benefited from the arrangement.”
“She didn’t.”
“She was paid more than two hundred thousand dollars a year.”
“Most of which I took back.”
Silence.
Victor’s voice lowered.
“You are not going to confess to exploitation because you suddenly developed a conscience.”
Declan looked directly at me.
“That is exactly what I’m going to do.”
He ended the call.
I stared at him.
“You can’t say that publicly.”
“Why?”
“Because your board will use it against you.”
“They should.”
“Your shareholders—”
“Will survive.”
“Declan.”
He stepped closer, then stopped himself before entering my space.
“For four years, every risk landed on you. Your father’s crime. My anger. The debt. The interest. The work. Now the consequence is mine.”
I did not know what to say.
At 8:30 a.m., Declan Mercer walked into Mercer Holdings alone.
At 9:05, he stood in front of cameras in the lobby.
I watched from Naomi’s office.
He did not use prepared notes.
“My employee, Evelyn Carter, did not create the repayment structure currently being reported,” he said. “I did.”
Reporters shouted questions.
He continued.
“Her father committed theft. That fact is not in dispute. But Ms. Carter was not responsible for his crime. I used her fear for her father and my position of power to create an employment arrangement that I came to understand was wrong. I had opportunities to change it. I did not.”
Naomi slowly lowered her coffee.
On screen, Declan’s face remained controlled.
But I knew him well enough to see the tension in his jaw.
“I have directed counsel to return all interest paid by Ms. Carter, with additional compensation to be determined independently. She has not asked for that money, and accepting it will not be a condition of any settlement. She owes me nothing.”
My eyes filled with tears.
A reporter shouted, “Are you resigning?”
Declan paused.
“The board will determine whether my leadership continues to serve this company.”
Another shouted, “Were you romantically involved with Ms. Carter?”
His expression changed.
“No.”
“Did you want to be?”
Naomi glanced at me.
I stopped breathing.
Declan looked straight into the cameras.
“My private feelings are irrelevant. What matters is that Ms. Carter had a right to freedom from any obligation to me.”
Then he walked away.
At 9:22, Mercer Holdings stock began falling.
At 9:31, the board called an emergency session.
At 10:04, Victor Harrow proposed removing Declan as CEO.
And at 10:17, federal investigators called Naomi.
They had opened the hard drive.
Martin Vale had kept records.
May you like
But the name authorizing the largest transfers was not Declan Mercer.
It was Victor Harrow.
