Chapter 15 - Ghosts of the Past
As smooth as the new beginning seemed, life had a way of testing resolve. Three months after the opening of Reed & Mercer, Grant was sitting in his office above the garage bay when Marcus knocked on the glass door.
"Boss, you have a visitor downstairs," Marcus said, his tone unusually cautious. "She says her name is Clara Vance."
Grant’s eyebrows rose. Clara Vance was the estranged daughter of Richard Vance—a woman who had cut ties with her corrupt family years ago and worked as an investigative journalist in Chicago.
"Show her up," Grant said, standing up from his desk.
A woman in her late thirties with sharp green eyes and a tailored beige trench coat stepped into the office. She looked remarkably like her father, but her demeanor held none of the arrogant cruelty that defined the Vance name.
"Mr. Mercer," Clara said, her voice steady as she extended a hand. "Thank you for seeing me."
Grant shook her hand briefly before gesturing to a chair. "I’m surprised to see a Vance in my building, Clara. What do you want?"
"I came to apologize," Clara said plainly, sitting down. "For what my father and cousin did to Scott Reed, to his wife, and to you. I spent five years trying to expose my father's operations, but he used his political connections to destroy my stories and fire me from two major newspapers."
Grant watched her closely, searching for any sign of deception. "Your father is facing thirty years in federal prison, Clara. The Vance name is bankrupt."
"Good," Clara said without hesitation. "He deserves every single day behind bars. But I didn't just come to apologize, Mr. Mercer. I came to warn you."
Grant leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "Warn me about what?"
"My father's associate, Hector Ruiz," Clara revealed, pulling a manila folder from her bag. "Ruiz managed the cartel side of Vance’s illegal distribution network. When my father was arrested, Ruiz fled to Mexico with thirty million dollars in stolen assets. And according to my sources in the DEA, Ruiz believes you have the master encryption key to his private offshore accounts."
Grant frowned. "I handed all of Scott’s data over to the FBI."
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"You did," Clara said grimly. "But Ruiz doesn't know that. He thinks you kept a copy of the financial keys for yourself. He’s coming back to Ohio, Grant. And he’s not coming to negotiate."
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