Chapter 4 - THE STORY VICTORIA TOLD FIRST
By morning, the public version belonged to Victoria.
Anonymous sources told a business blog that Sarah Mercer had stormed into Halcyon headquarters during a “marital disturbance.”
Another article described Victoria as having suffered an “aggressive confrontation.”
A third claimed Sarah had been experiencing emotional instability for months.
Nothing mentioned the clippers.
Nothing mentioned Crown.
Nothing mentioned the forged signature.
Julian had learned one of the oldest lessons in corporate warfare.
Tell the story first.
Sarah read every headline.
Megan wanted her to stop.
“No.”
“Why?”
“I need to know what they're building.”
They were building a woman nobody had to believe.
Jealous wife.
Unstable spouse.
Humiliated by affair.
Seeking revenge against successful husband.
Convenient.
At noon, Victoria sought a protective order.
She claimed Sarah threatened her.
Sarah's mouth fell open.
Megan smiled without humor.
“Good.”
“How is this good?”
“She just put her version under oath.”
That afternoon they appeared before a judge.
Victoria wore cream.
No visible injuries.
Her attorney described Sarah as volatile.
Then Megan asked one question.
“Ms. Lane, did you operate electric clippers against Mrs. Mercer's head yesterday?”
Victoria hesitated.
“It was consensual.”
Sarah nearly stood.
Megan touched her arm.
Stay seated.
“You're testifying Sarah asked you to shave her head?”
“We had been talking about changing her appearance.”
“In Julian Mercer's office?”
“Yes.”
“During an argument?”
“It became an argument later.”
Megan nodded.
“Did Sarah scream stop?”
Victoria looked toward Julian's attorney.
“She was emotional.”
“That was not my question.”
Silence.
“Did she scream stop?”
“I don't remember.”
Megan produced Sarah's phone.
Sarah had accidentally left a voice-recording application running after recording a reminder in the elevator.
It captured the first four minutes inside the office.
Not everything.
Enough.
Sarah's voice filled the courtroom.
“STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
Victoria's face changed.
The judge denied her requested order.
More importantly, Victoria had sworn the shaving was consensual before hearing the recording.
A credibility problem.
Outside court, reporters waited.
Sarah did not speak.
Julian did.
“This is a private marital matter being exploited for corporate leverage.”
Sarah watched from the car.
Megan shook her head.
“He still doesn't understand.”
“Understand what?”
“That Crown isn't staying private.”
Halcyon's special committee had hired outside counsel.
Internal audit preserved deleted files.
And someone inside the company had sent Megan another anonymous package.
This one contained a draft agreement.
Project Crown was not simply an acquisition.
It was a plan to purchase a small cybersecurity company called Veyron Data.
Price:
Three hundred ten million dollars.
Far above independent valuations.
Crown Strategic Partners would receive a transaction fee.
Victoria's company.
Twenty-seven million dollars if the deal closed.
Sarah asked:
“Why overpay?”
Megan turned to the final page.
Because the seller was connected to Halcyon's chairman.
Richard Vale.
One of the most respected men in Chicago technology.
Mentor to Julian.
The man who placed Julian in the CEO seat eight years earlier.
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And Victoria Lane's biological father.
A fact neither of them had ever publicly disclosed.
