THE HEIR'S REVENGE

Chapter 12: Pierce Company Secrets

The morning sun cut through the penthouse windows like golden knives. I hadn't slept. Maxwell's call about the nursing facility kept playing in my mind, but I couldn't act on it yet. Not until he had proof. Instead, I sat at my grandfather's desk, surrounded by Pierce Industries documents that Gerald had delivered at dawn. The old lawyer had looked tired, his usually perfect suit wrinkled, but his eyes were sharp with purpose.

"These are internal audit reports," Gerald had said, placing three thick folders on the desk. "Marcus Pierce thought they were destroyed in a fire two years ago. He was wrong. Your grandfather had copies made before the originals disappeared."

Now, three hours later, I understood why someone had tried to destroy them. The numbers told a story of theft so clever, so patient, that it took my breath away. Victoria Pierce hadn't just stolen money—she'd bled the company slowly, like a vampire feeding just enough to survive without killing the host.

My phone rang. Maxwell.

"My team worked through the night," he said without greeting. "We've mapped out the entire embezzlement scheme. Victoria Pierce has been siphoning money from Pierce Industries for five years. Total amount: three point two million dollars."

I set down the audit report I'd been reading. The number matched exactly what I'd calculated. "How did she hide it?"

"Shell companies," Maxwell explained. I could hear papers rustling on his end. "She created seven fake companies, all providing 'consulting services' to Pierce Industries. The invoices look legitimate—marketing analysis, strategic planning, market research. But these companies don't exist except on paper. The money went straight to accounts controlled by Victoria."

"Marcus never noticed?" I asked, though I already suspected the answer.

"Marcus Pierce is old-fashioned. He trusts his wife completely and leaves the financial details to his CFO—who happens to be Victoria's cousin." Maxwell's voice turned grim. "She built a network of loyalty through family connections and blackmail. We found evidence of at least three employees she's controlling through threats."

I stood and walked to the window, looking down at the city waking up below. Cars moved like ants, people hurried to work, everyone living their normal lives while corruption festered in the towers above them. "Can we prove all this in court?"

"Every penny is documented," Maxwell assured me. "My forensic accountants are the best in the business. But there's more. Remember those monthly fifty-thousand-dollar payments to the nursing facility? They started exactly one week after Lily's parents' accident."

My reflection stared back at me from the window, and I saw my mother's eyes in my own face. "You think she's keeping one of them alive as leverage?"

"Or as insurance," Maxwell said. "I'm sending someone to the facility today. Quietly. We need to know who's in that bed before we make any moves."

After Maxwell hung up, I called Brandon. He answered on the first ring, sounding out of breath.

"Master, we have a situation," he said quickly. "I'm at the university. Emma's here, trying to get past security to find you. She's... it's bad."

"Don't let her through," I said firmly. "I'm on my way."

The drive to the university took fifteen minutes. Brandon met me at the security office, where multiple screens showed different angles of the campus. On one screen, I could see Emma sitting on a bench near the main gate, her shoulders shaking. Even in black and white security footage, she looked broken.

"She's been here for two hours," Brandon explained, keeping his voice low. "Security called me when she started making a scene. She told them she was your fiancée, demanded to see you. When they refused, she just... collapsed. Started crying right there in front of everyone."

I studied the screen. Emma wore a designer dress that probably cost more than most people's monthly salary, but her hair was messy, her makeup smeared. This wasn't the perfectly composed girl who'd humiliated me for years. This was someone desperate, maybe even dangerous.

"What did she say to you?" I asked Brandon.

He pulled out his phone and showed me a recording he'd made. His voice came through the speaker: "Emma, you need to leave. Ethan doesn't want to see you."

Emma's response was barely recognizable, her voice raw and pleading: "Please, Brandon. I know I hurt him. I know I was terrible. But I need to explain. My father... he's going to kill me if I don't fix this. You don't understand what they'll do to me."

"Then tell security. File a report," Brandon's recorded voice said.

"You think the police will help me?" Emma laughed, but it sounded more like a sob. "My father owns half the police force. Please, just five minutes. Let me see Ethan for five minutes."

The recording ended. Brandon pocketed his phone, watching me carefully. "She seems genuinely scared, Master. Maybe her father really is—"

"Her father is Marcus Pierce," I interrupted. "He's losing his company to his wife's embezzlement. He's angry, probably desperate, but he's not going to hurt his own daughter." I turned back to the screens. "This is manipulation. Emma learned from her mother—when force doesn't work, try tears."

"So what do we do?" Brandon asked.

I watched Emma on the screen for another moment. Part of me, a small part, wanted to go to her. Not because I still loved her—that died the night she drugged me. But because I remembered the girl she used to be, before her mother's poison infected her completely. When we were children, before the money mattered, Emma would share her lunch with me when I forgot mine. She would sit with me when other kids called me names. That Emma had been real once.

But that Emma was gone, replaced by Victoria's creation.

"Give her this message," I said to Brandon. "Tell her that if she wants to talk, she can do it through lawyers. Tell her that her time of having power over me is finished. And tell her..." I paused, choosing my words carefully. "Tell her that her mother's crimes will come to light soon, and she should decide whose side she's on."

Brandon nodded and left. I watched on the security monitor as he approached Emma. I couldn't hear what he said, but I saw her reaction. She stood up quickly, shaking her head. Brandon kept talking, his expression calm but firm. Emma grabbed his arm, and he gently but firmly removed her hand. She said something that made Brandon step back, then she turned and ran toward the parking lot.