Chapter 5 - The Snake's VenomBy the next afternoon, Mercer Group stock had plummeted by 84 percent—the fastest single-day crash in Manhattan real estate history.
Major financial institutions cancelled their contracts. The District Attorney’s office announced a formal criminal investigation into Gavin Mercer for corporate fraud, intellectual property theft, and grand larceny. Miriam Cole’s family issued a public statement severing all ties with Gavin and terminating their engagement.
Inside the quiet sanctuary of Damian’s library, Elena was reviewing legal filings with a team of top-tier attorneys Damian had hired for her.
"We have enough evidence to secure full ownership of all patents," the lead attorney explained. "Furthermore, we can file a civil suit that will freeze every personal asset Gavin holds—his vehicles, his penthouse, his liquid accounts."
Elena nodded, but a strange uneasiness lingered in her chest. She knew Gavin. He was a narcissist who couldn't accept defeat. A cornered animal was always the most dangerous.
Suddenly, Damian’s office phone rang. He answered it, listened for a few seconds, his expression darkening into granite.
"Where?" Damian asked curtly. He paused. "Send my security team immediately."
He hung up the phone and looked at Elena. "Gavin didn't go to his lawyers this morning. He went to the municipal archives in Brooklyn."
Elena frowned. "The archives? Why?"
"Four years ago, before your mother died, she owned a small design studio named Whitlock & Sons," Damian said, stepping out from behind his desk. "Gavin just pulled the original land deeds and corporate registration files for that studio. He’s trying to transfer ownership of your mother’s legacy assets to a shell company in the Cayman Islands before the court freezes his accounts."
Elena stood up, rage flaring in her chest. "He’s trying to steal my mother’s legacy? That studio was all she left me!"
"He knows he’s going to jail, Elena," Damian said grimly. "He’s trying to destroy everything you love out of spite before he goes down."
"Where is he now?"
"He was spotted entering the old Whitlock warehouse on Pier 42," Damian replied, pulling a heavy black coat from the rack. "It’s abandoned. He’s meeting with a shady liquidator to sign over the deeds."
"I'm going with you," Elena said firmly.
"It’s unsafe," Damian warned. "Gavin is desperate."
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"That warehouse belonged to my mother," Elena insisted, her eyes blazing with fierce determination. "I am not letting him desecrate her memory. I’m going."
Damian stared at her for a long second, respecting the unyielding fire in her spirit. "Fine. But you stay behind me."
