The Mercer Deception Novel

Across the state at the Federal Correctional Facility in Victorville, Ryan Mercer sat in the prison cafeteria, pushing a gray scoop of mashed potatoes around his plastic tray with a plastic fork. Gone were the tailored Brioni suits, the designer watches, and the effortless social status that had defined his entire life.

Since his twenty-year sentence began, Ryan had been ostracized by his former high-society friends. His mother blamed him for being weak, his sister Vanessa refused to speak to him in the prison yard, and his wife—the woman he had betrayed and locked in a bathroom—had completely erased him from her life.

A shadow fell across his table. Ryan looked up, expecting one of the prison yard enforcers looking for trouble. Instead, standing before him with a smug, knowing grin, was Victor Vance, who had been transferred to the same facility following his own guilty plea.

"Mind if I sit, junior?" Victor asked rhetorically, sliding his tray onto the aluminum bench without waiting for an answer.

Ryan swallowed hard, keeping his eyes fixed on his tray. "What do you want, Victor?"

Victor chuckled darkly, cutting a piece of rubbery meat with his plastic knife. "I was just thinking about how your family’s arrogance brought down an entire empire. You had everything—money, power, a brilliant wife who actually tried to save you from yourselves—and you threw it all away to protect a wedding photo-op."

"Leave me alone, Victor," Ryan muttered, his voice cracking with humiliation.

"Oh, I'll leave you alone," Victor leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "In about fifteen years, when we both finally walk out of these gates, there won't be a single penny left of the Mercer fortune waiting for you. Your mother will likely die in here, your sister hates your guts, and Nora... well, Nora is running a multi-million-dollar foundation bearing her own name while living her best life in the sun."