Chapter 8 - Diane Mercer
Diane contacted investigators before we found her.
That mattered.
She arrived with counsel and handed over a phone.
“I didn’t hurt Mia.”
Everyone seemed to begin there.
“What did Victor pay you for?” investigators asked.
“Records.”
“What records?”
“Northstar’s books.”
Victor wanted old bookkeeping files destroyed.
Diane refused.
Then why take the money?
“I told him I destroyed them.”
She hadn’t.
She kept copies.
Cowardice and foresight in the same act.
Diane explained that Adrian discovered Victor’s overbilling scheme three years earlier.
But instead of exposing him, Adrian did something worse.
He joined.
The scheme expanded.
Adrian used part of the diverted money to fund operations he didn’t want documented through Vale businesses.
Some were charitable.
Some were not.
I did not ask Diane for details unrelated to Mia.
My family’s darker history could wait.
“Why did Mia investigate?”
“Because Adrian left her debt.”
That shocked me.
I had believed Adrian left Mia financially secure.
Diane showed records.
His estate looked wealthy but contained hidden obligations linked to Northstar entities.
Mia realized Harper’s inheritance might eventually be exposed to claims.
She began tracing them.
Victor panicked.
“Did Victor lock her in my cellar?”
Diane looked at Claire.
Claire went rigid.
“I don’t know.”
“Then why look at her?”
“Because Claire called me that night.”
Claire stood.
Her attorney touched her arm.
She sat again.
Diane continued.
“Claire said Mia had found something and Victor needed time.”
“What did Claire ask you to do?”
“Bring my old sedan to the estate.”
The black sedan.
Diane drove it there.
But she wasn’t the driver Roman saw.
“I left it near the west gate with the keys inside.”
“For whom?”
“Victor.”
Claire whispered:
“Stop.”
Diane looked at her.
“No.”
There it was.
The alliance cracking.
Diane said Claire had been helping Victor monitor Mia for weeks.
Not because Claire understood the fraud.
Because Victor convinced her Mia was trying to destroy the family and ruin my relationship with Claire.
Claire wanted Mia gone.
“Gone where?”
“Out of the mansion.”
That distinction mattered.
Diane claimed the original plan was to frighten Mia into leaving Hudson Valley.
The basement confinement was supposed to last ten minutes.
“Supposed to?”
Diane looked ashamed.
“Claire locked her in there while Victor searched her room.”
Claire’s face collapsed.
Our next major payoff landed cleanly.
Claire had locked Mia in the cellar.
Victor was searching for the blue notebook.
Then Diane said something worse.
“Mia got out earlier than they expected.”
Thanks to Roman.
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“And Victor was furious.”
📖 Claire finally admitted imprisoning Mia to help Victor search for the ledger, but Mia’s escape forced Victor to improvise—and that was when the plan became dangerous. 👇
