Chapter 5 - THE FLIGHT TO WESTCHESTER
The next morning, sunlight filled the nursery.
Callum was gone.
His side of the bed had not been slept in.
Meredith called.
No answer.
Again.
Voicemail.
At 8:17, Naomi Pierce sent a photograph.
Callum walking across a private airfield beside Belle.
A black Mercer jet behind them.
Second message:
His phone is off.
Nobody at the office knows where he is going.
Meredith stared.
Only hours earlier, he had cried with his hand over their daughter and promised there would be no more secrets.
Now he was boarding a plane with his mistress.
Exhaustion arrived before anger.
The kind that settles into bone.
“Not today.”
Meredith whispered.
She lowered herself to the edge of the bed.
Elodie moved.
“Not today.”
At 8:43, Everett called.
“Have you heard from Callum?”
“No.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“I know he got on a plane with Belle.”
Silence.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’m confirming something.”
“Everett.”
“The aircraft belongs to a Mercer subsidiary.”
“That doesn’t tell me where it is going.”
“No.”
“But the flight plan does.”
Meredith sat straighter.
“Where?”
“Westchester.”
Not Miami.
Not California.
Westchester.
Forty minutes away.
“Why take a jet?”
“Privacy.”
Her stomach tightened.
“Who is he meeting?”
“I don’t know.”
Then keyboard sounds.
Everett’s voice changed.
“I may.”
“Who?”
“Do not leave the house.”
Meredith almost laughed.
Men had been telling her to stay home for four years.
She ended the call.
Opened her laptop.
If Callum was meeting somebody connected to the refinancing, there would be a public trace somewhere.
Corporate calendars.
Property records.
Flight destinations.
At nine-twenty, one name appeared.
Graham Mercer.
Callum’s cousin.
Forty-six.
Patient.
Polished.
The man family members called steady.
Graham had spent most of his career running smaller family investments while Callum collected the public victories.
Meredith had never thought of him as dangerous.
That was probably the point.
At the Westchester airfield, Callum stepped from the jet.
Belle behind him.
He had barely slept.
Before dawn, Harrison Ashford sent one message through Belle.
Come alone if you want the amendment stopped.
Callum believed Belle was taking him to her father.
Harrison waited inside a private hangar.
He was not alone.
Graham leaned against a black Mercedes drinking coffee.
Callum stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
Graham smiled.
“Good morning, cousin.”
Callum looked at Belle.
She avoided his eyes.
Something inside him dropped.
“Harrison?”
The older man adjusted his coat.
“You should listen before you start shouting.”
Callum turned to Graham.
“You knew about Ashford?”
“I introduced the first conversation.”
Callum stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the bridge loan.”
“I knew you needed one before you were willing to admit it.”
Callum moved toward him.
Harrison stepped between them.
“Do not make this physical.”
“You fed him our numbers.”
“Not all.”
Graham sounded almost amused.
“Enough.”
Callum’s hands curled.
“You put Belle near me.”
Belle finally spoke.
“Nobody forced you to sleep with me.”
The sentence hit because it was true.
Graham nodded.
“That part was entirely your decision.”
Callum looked around.
The architecture became visible.
His Manhattan losses.
Emergency loan.
Belle’s sudden usefulness.
Harrison’s generous terms.
The amendments.
Every mistake had been Callum’s.
But someone had placed those mistakes where they knew he would reach for them.
“Why?”
Callum asked.
Graham’s smile disappeared.
“For twenty years, every room has been about you.”
“Callum built this.”
“Callum saved that.”
“Callum sees around corners.”
“I raised concerns and you talked over me.”
“I warned about Manhattan and you called me cautious.”
“I was tired of watching everyone protect your arrogance because it made good headlines.”
“You could have challenged me openly.”
“I did.”
Graham stepped closer.
“You never listened.”
“So you sabotaged the company.”
“No.”
“I needed the board to see what happened when you were no longer protected from yourself.”
Callum looked at Harrison.
“And you?”
Harrison shrugged.
“I needed the economics.”
“Mercer assets are valuable.”
Then Belle.
“What did you need?”
She looked away.
Graham answered.
“Her father’s approval.”
“Shut up.”
May you like
Belle snapped.
The alliance cracked.
