Chapter 13 - THE HEARING ELIAS SHOULD HAVE LOST
The fitness hearing became public.
Robert wanted humiliation.
He got testimony.
Elias did not hide.
He admitted bankruptcy.
Admitted drinking.
Admitted the bar arrest.
Admitted he slept in his truck for six months.
Robert’s lawyer smiled.
“And you believe you are fit to control a multibillion-dollar company?”
Elias answered:
“No.”
The courtroom went silent.
The lawyer blinked.
“No?”
“I believe I am fit to prevent Robert Mercer from stealing one.”
Victoria almost smiled.
The judge did not.
Not yet.
Elias continued.
“I don’t know how to run Mercer Holdings. That is why I would not run it.”
“What would you do?”
“Appoint professionals. Protect the employee trust. Complete the audit. Then decide whether I remain beneficial owner.”
The lawyer pressed:
“Why should the court trust a former alcoholic with this judgment?”
Elias answered:
“You shouldn’t trust me because I stopped drinking. You should trust process because I know what happens when one person thinks willpower makes them safe.”
That answer mattered.
Then Serena testified.
Robert’s lawyer asked:
“You challenged your brother’s inheritance.”
“Yes.”
“You called him unfit.”
“Yes.”
“And now you support him?”
“I support his right to inherit under the will.”
“Why?”
Serena looked at Elias.
“Because my father did not choose him because he was polished.”
Silence.
“He chose him because he thought I had become incapable of hearing no.”
The lawyer paused.
Serena continued:
“I hate that he was right.”
Victoria felt something break open in the room.
Not redemption.
Recognition.
Then Robert’s lawyer asked:
“Do you want control of Mercer Holdings?”
Serena said:
“Yes.”
Honest.
“Do you believe you should have it?”
Long pause.
“No.”
That was the second time she chose truth over image.
The judge upheld Elias’s interim fitness.
Not because he was ideal.
Because the trust anticipated professional management and because past addiction alone did not establish current incapacity.
Robert lost.
Then the forensic accountants produced the missing chain.
Red Harbor payments went through Lydia.
Then to two service firms.
Then to Robert’s son’s investment vehicles.
Robert still claimed ignorance.
But one email destroyed him.
FROM: Robert Mercer
TO: Lydia Vale
KEEP SERENA FOCUSED ON VICTORIA. SHE IS MOST USEFUL WHEN ANGRY.
Serena read it.
Her face became blank.
Not broken.
Finished.
Richard whispered:
“That’s conspiracy evidence.”
Federal investigators entered within days.
Robert stopped answering calls.
His son’s fund froze distributions.
The $38 million began to trace back.
Then Victoria received one final hospital report.
The injury from her fall.
A nurse had documented seeing Serena near the service staircase ten minutes before it happened.
Victoria stared at the note.
May you like
Serena had always denied being there.
And now all the fragile trust they had built turned sharp again.
