Chapter 2 - The Wrath of Alexander Mercer
The silence that filled the grand foyer of the Hale estate was thick enough to suffocate.
Alexander Mercer did not raise his voice. He did not need to. As the chairman of Mercer Global—a titan of international finance and industry whose shadow loomed over global markets—his quietest whisper carried the weight of an avalanche.
His eyes, cold and piercing, locked onto Daniel Hale and his mother, Vivian. Then they shifted back down to the dark crimson stain seeping through the pale fabric of my dress, where my freshly stitched skin throbbed with white-hot agony.
“Doctor Vance,” Alexander commanded without turning around.
The silver-haired private physician immediately stepped forward, bypassing Daniel and Vivian as if they were nothing more than dust on a polished floor. He knelt beside the sofa, opening a medical case with practiced efficiency.
“Emma, my sweet girl,” my father murmured, his usual iron composure fracturing for a split second as he looked at his granddaughter, little Lily, sleeping peacefully against my chest despite the chaos. “I am so sorry I didn’t arrive sooner. We traced your emergency beacon the moment it pinged.”
“I’m okay, Dad,” I whispered, gritting my teeth as Doctor Vance gently checked my pulse and inspected the bandage over my surgical site. “Just... tired. And my feet are burning from the gray water she dumped on me.”
Vivian Hale finally found her voice, though it trembled violently. “Wait—did you just call him Dad? What kind of sick game is this? Who are you people?! Get out of our house before I call the—!”
“Call who, Mrs. Hale?” a sharp, calm voice interrupted.
Marcus Vance, the family's chief legal counsel, stepped out from behind the security officers. He held a leather folio embossed with gold leaf. He looked at Vivian with absolute disdain.
“You might want to check the title deeds of this property before you threaten anyone,” Marcus said smoothly. “Because as of four minutes ago, the mortgages, the corporate collateral, and the underlying land ownership of this entire estate have been transferred directly into the Mercer Family Trust.”
Daniel staggered back as if he had been physically struck. His face drained of every drop of color, leaving him looking ghastly under the crystal chandelier.
“That’s... that’s impossible,” Daniel stammered, his eyes darting frantically between Marcus and Alexander. “Hale Enterprises owns this house! We have a multi-million-dollar credit line with Mercer Global! You’re... you’re our primary institutional investor!”
Alexander Mercer slowly turned around. The expression on his face sent a chill straight down my spine. It was the face of a general preparing to annihilate an enemy who had dared to touch what belonged to him.
“You had an institutional investor, Daniel,” Alexander said softly, his voice cutting through the room like a razor. “For three years, I allowed my daughter to live here quietly because she wanted to build a life based on genuine love rather than her name. I watched you neglect her. I watched your mother treat her like a servant. And three days ago, while my daughter’s heart stopped twice on an operating table bringing your child into the world, you refused to answer your phone because you were too busy preparing for a dinner party.”
Daniel’s knees buckled slightly. He gripped the edge of the mahogany console table to keep from falling. “Emma... Emma, tell them. Tell them it’s a misunderstanding. We were just... we were joking around, right? It was just household teasing—”
“Housework?” Doctor Vance snapped, standing up with a grim expression on his face. “Mr. Hale, your wife suffered a major postpartum hemorrhage and major abdominal surgery. Pouring dirty water over healing wounds and forcing her to stand on freshly torn stitches is not teasing. It is criminal abuse.”
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Alexander took one slow, deliberate step toward Daniel.
“You wanted investors tonight, Daniel?” my father asked, his lips curving into a terrifying, humorless smile. “Well, your investors are at the front gate right now. And I’ve already instructed my security detail to turn every single one of them away with a personal memo detailing the exact moral and financial bankruptcy of Hale Enterprises.”
