Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN BEHIND MERCER
Eleanor Morgan stood in the doorway.
Leah forgot how to move.
Twenty years vanished.
For one second, she was twelve again.
Standing in a kitchen.
Watching her mother tie her hair.
Smelling cinnamon coffee.
Hearing her laugh.
Then reality crashed back.
Eleanor was older now.
Gray streaks framed her face.
Her posture was straighter than Leah remembered.
Her eyes were the same.
Leah walked forward.
Slowly.
Eleanor descended one step.
“Leah.”
Leah stopped ten feet away.
“You’re alive.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead for twenty years.”
“I know.”
Leah’s voice shook.
“My father lied to me because of you.”
“No.”
“Don’t.”
Eleanor froze.
“Don’t explain yet.”
Leah pointed toward the house.
“You have exactly one chance to tell me what is happening.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Come inside.”
Vanessa immediately objected.
“That sounds like how people disappear.”
Eleanor looked toward her.
“You must be Vanessa.”
Vanessa blinked.
“You know me?”
“I know everyone Edmund uses.”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“I wasn’t used.”
Eleanor stared at her.
“You were blackmailed into giving access to donor lists.”
Vanessa paused.
“Fine.”
Eleanor looked toward Vale.
“And you must be Richard.”
Vale’s jaw tightened.
“Where is Mercer?”
“Inside.”
They entered.
The sitting room looked almost ordinary.
Daniel Mercer stood near the fireplace.
Leah immediately stepped toward him.
“You threatened me.”
Mercer nodded.
“Yes.”
“You threatened Vale’s daughter.”
His expression changed.
“No.”
Vale moved forward.
“You held her in that warehouse.”
“I moved her there after Edmund’s men took her.”
Vale froze.
Mercer continued.
“I was trying to keep her alive.”
“You could have told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Edmund monitors your phone.”
Vale went pale.
Mercer looked toward Eleanor.
“She can explain.”
Leah laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“Edmund has controlled parts of Bellgrave for decades.”
“Through Mercer?”
“No.”
“Through whom?”
Eleanor looked directly at Leah.
“Alexander’s father.”
Leah frowned.
“He’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“But before he died, he helped Edmund move money.”
Vanessa stared.
“Alexander’s father was involved?”
Eleanor nodded.
“At first.”
“And later?”
“He tried to stop.”
Leah understood.
“That’s why he helped you.”
“Yes.”
Mercer continued.
“He spent his last years trying to dismantle the network quietly.”
“Why quietly?”
Eleanor answered.
“Because Edmund had judges.”
“Politicians.”
“Police.”
“Bankers.”
“Board members.”
Vanessa exhaled.
“So this isn’t just Bellgrave.”
“No.”
“It never was.”
Leah looked at Mercer.
“Then why steal two hundred and eighty-six million?”
Mercer nodded toward a laptop.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“I froze it.”
Alexander’s voice came from the doorway.
“Interesting choice of words.”
Everyone turned.
Alexander stood there with security.
His expression was thunder.
Leah sighed.
“I told you not to come.”
He stared at her.
“You hung up.”
“That was intentional.”
“So was ignoring you.”
Eleanor studied him.
“Alexander.”
He looked at her.
“Eleanor Morgan.”
“Yes.”
“My father lied to me about you.”
“Yes.”
“Apparently everyone did.”
Mrs. Bellgrave rolled in behind him.
Eleanor froze.
The two women stared at each other for twenty years of silence.
Mrs. Bellgrave spoke first.
“You look terrible.”
Eleanor laughed unexpectedly.
“So do you.”
Then they both started crying.
Alexander looked exhausted.
“Can we postpone the reunion until after someone explains why my company has been used to launder nearly two billion dollars?”
Eleanor wiped her eyes.
“Yes.”
She pointed toward the laptop.
“Mercer froze the two hundred and eighty-six million because Edmund was about to move it into accounts we couldn’t trace.”
Alexander looked at Mercer.
“You could have called me.”
Mercer laughed.
“Your office leaks.”
“Who?”
Mercer looked toward the hallway.
“We don’t know.”
Alexander’s expression hardened.
“You’re telling me someone in my immediate office works for Edmund.”
“Yes.”
“How immediate?”
Eleanor answered.
“Very.”
Vanessa whispered.
“That narrows nothing.”
Eleanor continued.
“We used the blackout to identify who attempted emergency authorization.”
Alexander frowned.
“And?”
Mercer turned the laptop around.
Three names appeared.
Alexander read them.
His chief legal officer.
His head of security.
And his chief of staff.
Alexander went completely still.
“No.”
Leah looked toward him.
His chief of staff had been beside them all night.
Mercer nodded.
“One of those three tried to release the frozen funds.”
Alexander looked toward security.
“Where is Michael?”
His chief of staff.
Nobody answered.
Alexander turned.
“Where is he?”
A security officer checked his phone.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“He left the palace twenty minutes ago.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
Eleanor stepped forward.
“That means Edmund knows we’re here.”
A loud explosion shook the windows.
Everyone ducked.
Glass shattered.
Smoke filled the front hall.
Security shouted.
Leah heard engines outside.
Mercer ran toward the window.
“They’re here.”
Alexander looked toward his mother.
“Get her downstairs.”
Mrs. Bellgrave protested.
“I can still hear.”
“Mother.”
“Fine.”
Security moved her toward the cellar.
Vanessa grabbed Leah’s arm.
“You’re coming.”
Leah shook free.
“My mother is here.”
“So is mine?”
Vanessa frowned.
“What?”
Leah realized what she said.
“Never mind.”
Another explosion hit the rear wall.
Eleanor grabbed Leah.
“You have the files?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Leah didn’t answer.
Good.
Her mother almost smiled.
“Thomas taught you well.”
Then Mercer shouted from the window.
“Alexander!”
A black SUV stopped outside the gate.
The rear door opened.
Edmund Bellgrave stepped out.
No weapon.
No body armor.
Just a dark coat.
And beside him stood Alexander’s chief of staff, Michael Reeves.
Edmund looked toward the house.
Then smiled.
He raised a phone.
Leah’s phone rang.
She answered.
Edmund spoke.
“Good morning.”
Leah stared at him through the broken window.
“You killed my father.”
Edmund smiled.
May you like
“Bring me the files.”
“And I’ll tell you exactly how he died.”
