Chapter 2 - Two Cries Behind the Glass
The twins were delivered at 6:18 that evening.
A boy arrived first.
A girl followed two minutes later.
Daniel saw them only briefly before both were taken to the neonatal intensive care unit.
The boy weighed four pounds, nine ounces.
The girl weighed four pounds, five ounces.
Daniel and Elena had already chosen their names.
Owen Daniel Mercer.
Sophie Elena Mercer.
For several hours, Daniel moved between Elena’s recovery room and the NICU.
He barely noticed the police officer waiting outside.
Elena finally opened her eyes after midnight.
Daniel was beside her.
“The babies?”
“They’re alive.”
Her face tightened.
“Are they okay?”
“They need help breathing.”
Daniel took her hand.
“But the doctors are hopeful.”
Elena cried silently.
Not from fear for herself.
For Owen and Sophie.
Daniel leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers.
Then Elena whispered the question he had been avoiding.
“Did they arrest Vanessa?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Not yet.”
Elena stared at him.
“Why?”
“She gave them a different story.”
Elena’s expression hardened.
Daniel opened the security footage.
“I found the recording.”
He showed her only the first few minutes.
He stopped before the worst part.
Elena understood immediately.
“She thought she destroyed it.”
“Yes.”
Daniel lowered the phone.
“And there’s something else.”
He told Elena about the call.
Alan Pierce.
The federal audit.
The authorization code.
Elena looked toward the dark hospital window.
“Daniel, your company audit isn’t until next month.”
“That’s what I thought.”
He stood.
His mind was moving faster now.
Mercer Freight handled regional distribution contracts across seven states.
Medical supplies.
Industrial equipment.
Food logistics.
Government transportation subcontracting.
The company had annual revenue above $280 million.
Daniel was chief executive.
Alan Pierce controlled finance.
Vanessa worked as vice president of vendor relations.
For years, Daniel had considered their jobs separate enough to create internal checks.
Now the structure looked very different.
“What if the audit was moved up?” Elena asked.
Daniel pulled out his laptop.
His inbox contained more than four hundred unread messages from the overseas trip.
He searched for the word audit.
One email appeared.
Sent three days earlier.
URGENT: FEDERAL COMPLIANCE REVIEW RESCHEDULED.
Daniel opened it.
The review had been moved forward.
The auditors would arrive Friday morning.
Forty-eight hours away.
Elena watched his face.
“What is it?”
Daniel turned the screen.
Her eyes moved across the email.
Then they stopped.
“The sender copied Alan.”
“And Vanessa.”
Daniel scrolled farther.
The audit related to federal freight contracts totaling $62 million.
Daniel had never been particularly worried about it.
Their records were audited regularly.
Now he understood why Vanessa had been terrified.
His phone rang again.
Officer Reed.
This time Daniel answered immediately.
“We reviewed the video you sent.”
“And?”
“Your sister is being taken into custody.”
Daniel looked at Elena.
Officer Reed continued.
“There’s something else you need to know.”
“What?”
“When we searched Ms. Mercer’s purse, we recovered handwritten banking information.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“What kind?”
“Routing numbers.”
The officer paused.
“And a note with your name written beside approximately $6.8 million.”
Daniel slowly sat down.
Elena heard enough to understand.
Her hand tightened around the blanket.
“Daniel?”
He did not answer.
The company he had spent fifteen years building might already be collapsing.
May you like
And someone had carefully placed his name in the center of it.
*
