“I wish we’d met.”
“So do I.”
The grief in her voice had no courtroom solution. We stood together without trying to invent one.
- The Company My Father Left
Returning to the Mercer Group was harder than walking out of detention. My father’s office remained untouched except for a fresh vase of flowers. His reading glasses lay beside a notebook. I sat in his chair and felt like an impostor.
Helena joined me with a plan for the company’s recovery. The special committee had traced the attempted offshore transfers, reversed unauthorized vendor changes where possible, and restored several employees who had been dismissed for raising concerns. The board proposed a new oversight structure that would limit any one executive’s power.
“Even mine?” I asked.
“Especially yours,” Helena said, then looked worried she’d offended me.
I laughed for the first time in days. “Good.”
We created a confidential reporting channel managed outside the executive office. We required independent review of high-risk transactions and protected employees who raised concerns in good faith. I insisted the company publish a summary of its governance reforms without revealing private investigative details.
