Chapter 7 "It's A Luxury!"

Mercer Luxury-

Marcia sat at her desk reviewing the budget and quarterly reports that Jerry had sent her.

"Come on, come on…I know there's got to be something here that I'm missing." As she scrolled further down on document she noticed something. She flung open the filing cabinet behind her and quickly rattled through each file from the year 2014.

"Well, well…" she grinned as she sat back down at her desk, "This doesn't match at all."

Marcia grabbed her designer bag and jacket. As she headed out the door, one the sales manager's bumped into her.

"I apologize, Miss…"

"Alvarez, Marcia Alvarez," she introduced herself as the older man shook her hand.

"Name's Evan. It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Alvarez. I'm one of the sales manager's here. Mr. Mercer and I go way back. I guess he forgot his manners since we haven't been acquainted."

Marcia did a quick analysis on Evan. He had a strange air about him, but she couldn't figure it out now. She was eagerly trying to get to the parking garage so that she could make an important phone call.

"It's nice to meet you Evan. I'm sorry I must be going now. I'm late for family dinner."

Evan too felt tense about Marcia's presence, "I hope to bump into you more often Ms. Alvarez. Jerry seems to have high hopes for you to bring this company at the forefront of the automotive world."

Marcia gave him an uneasy smile, "I'm sure we will, Evan."

Evan nodded and moved past Marcia down the hall towards Jerry's office. Marcia took a quick look back at Jerry's office door, which had now been closed. She shrugged off the tension and headed to the garage.

Mercer House Later that Night-

"You didn't call me back. Don't you agree? I think it's for da best," Krystal softly told Jack.

Jack winced at her as he held his head in his hands as if it were trying to retreat from his shoulders, "I don't know."

Krystal huffed and puffed for a second then she was able to reply, "If you can't handle it, 'den how can we continue to be togetha'? Jack we've been togetha' for four months now and we've known each otha for years. "

Jack balled up his fist and stuck his thumb in his mouth to bite down on the nail. He had been craving cigarettes for weeks since Krystal made him quit. He understood that Krystal hated cigarettes because she had two close relatives die from lung cancer and then her mom from breast cancer, so she equated cigarettes with the disease. He truly loved her and knew it was something he had to give up if he wanted to keep her, so he did, but at the expense of his sanity.

"Babe, I can't think," Jack pleaded, "I can't make that kind of decision right now."

Krystal scoffed, "I don't see what the big deal is, honestly. You'll still be close to ya brothas', it's only down the street!"

Jack just shook his head back and forth slowly not knowing what would get Krystal off his back. He thought moving in with her this early in their relationship would cause problems, especially since he was starting to feel suffocated by her.

"Well let me know, I'ma go home and see if Marcy's home. Love ya," she said after leaving a soft kiss on his forehead.

He nodded as she made her way down the steps. He picked the guitar off the floor and played a few cords, "This isn't what I signed up for."

Krystal's house-

"Now you have to find out who their supplier is."

Marcia flipped through a few employee profiles that had been sent to her by the department, "I have a few ideas as to who could be the middle man."

"We need to be sure, how do you plan on finding this information out?"

"I have a few ways to go about this," she spoke into the phone.

"Newsome and Markov want to send in Madison."

"From what angle? Listen, if you send Madison, you're going to delay what I have going."

"We have reason to believe Angel and Bobby Mercer are involved. Angel will be hard to get to, but Bobby can prove useful."

"I can work him, trust me. Tomorrow night I'll have all the information we need."

"No offense Alvarez, but I think Madison will better handle someone like him. You have until tomorrow night and if not, Newsome and Markov will send Madison to clean up."

Marcia threw her cell phone on the bed, annoyed by Morrison's comment about Madison being a better fit for the job, before continuing crunching numbers.

She heard Krystal open the screen door and put the key in.

"Marcy, you hungry? I bought Chinese," Krystal yelled from downstairs.

Marcia quickly inspected her room to make sure she didn't leave anything laying around that Krystal would find suspicious. She quickly removed the profiles to a locked drawer and she unstrapped the small pistol she kept hidden on her ankle to the closet.

"I'm fine, thanks sweetie."

Krystal ran up the stairs and knocked on Marcia's door before swinging it open, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Marcia looked at her sister intently, "What's up baby sis?"

Krystal tugged nervously on the sleeves of her sweater, "It's Jack."

"Is everything ok? You're not pregnant are you?!" Marcia yelled jokingly.

"No! You know dat's not possible! Be serious for a minute please. I'm really torn up about us. "

Marcia apologized to Krystal and reached for her hand, "What is bothering you so much?"

"I made Jack quit smokin', but he's having a hard time. I asked him to come live here thinkin' it would be easier for him not to be around his brothers who constantly smoke, but he can't give me an answer."

Marcia felt obligated to tell her sister the truth, "He has to want to quit for himself and the whole moving in with you thing might be overwhelming because he's use to living with his brothers. Maybe he's still dealing with losing his mother, it hasn't been that long. Let him come to you about it. Don't pressure him or things could end up turning ugly.

Krystal was surprised by Marcia's unfiltered truth, " I guess you got a point? I mean it sucks, but I'll try not to trip about it. Thanks Marcy."

Marcia nodded and hugged her sister, "Anytime baby sis. I'm glad I could be here to help you with stuff like this."

Krystal smiled, "You're not seein' anyone yet? My gorgeous sister has got to be turnin' heads around here!"

Marcia blushed, "No, no, no. No romantic interests for me. I've learned my lesson."

Krystal's eyebrow peaked, "Oh? Spill!"

Marcia didn't realize that this conversation was getting to personal. While she wanted to confide in someone about what had happened with her and Alex, she couldn't without jeopardizing her cover.

"It's nothing, it was ages ago when I was too young to know any better. I have to get some sleep, I've been going over budgets and it's drained me."

Krystal felt like she was being shut out, but she tried to understand that maybe her sister wasn't able to share that aspect of her life yet.

"Have a good night Marcy, and if you need anythin', the food is in the microwave."

Mercer Luxury-

"Good Morning Mr. Mercer," Marcia smiled as she walked into Jerry's office.

Jerry escorted Marcia into his office and asked her to take a seat, "Well, have you found anything Mr. Johnson missed on the financials?"

Marcia cleared her throat, "I just had a few questions about the loans taken out to start Mercer Luxury."

"What about the loans?" Jerry pursed his lips.

"There are a few unidentifiable loan amounts totaling up to $675,000 dollars. I understand your mother's life insurance policy was used to cover $200,000. Where did the other $475,000 dollars come from?" Marcia was careful to keep her tone even; she tried to avoid arousing suspicion in her inquiry.

Jerry stood up and walked over to a glass bookcase located on the other side of the room. He placed his hand on one of the books, "A few of my old buddies from our Union days helped pitch in so that I could have all this. I have to say that I owe them most of my success. You'll see many of them work here."

"So are these loan amounts all from the Union workers? If so, we need them to fill out the correct paperwork. As of right now, the IRS will find out what I have found and you'll be heavily taxed. Is it possible to gather the men by the end of this week?" Marcia stood up and prepared to go back to her office, but awaited Jerry's reply.

Jerry lowered his head and held it for a moment, "Yeah, I'll get the guys in here, just give me a day or two to round them up."

Marcia nodded and walked down the hall past Evan. Evan walked past her not acknowledging her presence. Instead he walked straight into Jerry's office and slammed the door behind him.

Marcia shut the heavy oak door to her office and locked it behind her. Once back at her desk, Marcia reached for her cell and dialed, "He seems nervous."

"About?"

"I questioned him about the $675,000 dollars. He claims it came from some old co-workers of his, some of who currently work for him now."

"Remember you have until tonight."

Marcia placed the phone down and sighed. She was coming up with information fast, but she didn't need them sending Madison in to clean up when she was doing fine on her own.