Chapter 6 - The Clause
Jacob’s trust contained a misconduct clause.
Ethan’s father had written it after Maria rejected a final settlement.
If any Mercer publicly humiliated, threatened or coerced Jacob, his spouse or his child to obtain a waiver, the twenty-five-percent interest would double.
Victoria’s face emptied.
Margaret reached for the document.
Ethan moved it away.
Leah stared at the clause.
“Double?”
“Fifty percent,” Ethan said.
The foyer changed.
The pregnant maid whom Victoria had forced to kneel now represented the unborn beneficiary of half the family company.
Margaret recovered first.
“The clause requires proof.”
Guests looked at their phones.
The entire humiliation had been recorded.
Victoria raising Leah’s severed hair.
The scissors.
The demand that she remember her place.
Leah kneeling with her hands around her baby.
Victoria shouting that she was lying.
Proof had surrounded them in tuxedos and gowns.
The independent family attorney joined by video.
He verified the marriage certificate.
The trust.
The waiver.
The recordings.
Then he asked Leah one question:
“Did Victoria offer money in exchange for your child’s renunciation?”
“Yes.”
“Did she publicly punish you after you refused?”
Leah looked toward the hair still in Victoria’s hand.
“Yes.”
A tone sounded from the attorney’s computer.
Misconduct condition verified.
Margaret gripped the railing.
Victoria stopped breathing.
The child’s trust now held fifty percent of Mercer Holdings.
Then the attorney added:
“There is one unresolved share.”
Ethan frowned.
“How much?”
“One percent.”
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Control of the entire company depended on it.
And the owner was listed only as Household Employee Number 17.
