Chapter 7 - THE MAN ABOVE THEM
Vale lunged forward.
“Emma!”
His daughter started crying.
“Dad!”
Security immediately raised their weapons.
Mercer smiled.
“Careful.”
His hand tightened around the girl’s shoulder.
Vale stopped.
“You touch her and I swear—”
“You swear what?”
Mercer looked amused.
“You already sold your integrity for her once.”
Vale’s face twisted.
Alexander stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
Mercer looked down.
“There he is.”
“Let her go.”
“The mighty Alexander Bellgrave.”
Mercer laughed.
“You still speak like everyone is required to obey.”
Alexander didn’t react.
“You stole from my company.”
Mercer shook his head.
“I redirected capital.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“I secured leverage.”
“You threatened my mother.”
Mercer’s smile faded slightly.
“That was someone else.”
Leah looked up.
“Who?”
Mercer’s eyes moved to her.
“Thomas’s daughter.”
Leah felt cold.
“You knew my father.”
“Oh, very well.”
“You killed him.”
Mercer didn’t answer.
Leah stepped closer.
“You killed him.”
Mercer tilted his head.
“Do you really want answers?”
“Yes.”
“Then lower the weapons.”
Alexander looked at security.
Nobody moved.
Mercer tightened his grip on Emma.
Vale screamed.
“Do it!”
Alexander lifted one hand.
Security lowered their weapons.
Mercer smiled.
“Good.”
Vale stared up at his daughter.
“Emma, baby, look at me.”
She was sobbing.
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
Mercer looked bored.
“Touching.”
Leah glared at him.
“Why bring us here?”
“To give you something.”
“What?”
Mercer nodded toward a large screen mounted behind the catwalk.
It turned on.
Bank records appeared.
Thousands of transactions.
Shell companies.
Foundations.
Offshore accounts.
Alexander stared.
“What is that?”
“The actual network.”
Vanessa whispered.
“How much?”
Mercer smiled.
“Over nine years?”
He paused.
“One point eight billion dollars.”
Vale nearly collapsed.
Alexander’s face became unreadable.
Leah stared at the screen.
“Why show us?”
“Because none of you understand what you’ve walked into.”
Mercer released Emma.
For one hopeful second, Vale moved.
Then two men stepped from the shadows and blocked the staircase.
Mercer continued.
“I moved money.”
“Yes.”
“I falsified approvals.”
“Yes.”
“I manipulated auditors.”
Alexander’s eyes narrowed.
“Then who authorized the political accounts?”
Mercer’s smile disappeared.
“That question got Thomas killed.”
Leah’s anger erupted.
“Say his name.”
Mercer stared at her.
“No.”
“You brought me here.”
“Not to satisfy your grief.”
“Then why?”
“To offer you the same choice I offered your father.”
Leah went still.
Alexander stepped closer to her.
Mercer continued.
“Walk away.”
Leah laughed bitterly.
“You think I’m going to walk away after hearing my father was murdered?”
“Your father had the same problem.”
“What problem?”
“He believed truth was valuable.”
Mercer leaned against the railing.
“It isn’t.”
“Evidence is valuable.”
“Leverage is valuable.”
“Truth is usually just inconvenient.”
Leah clenched her fists.
Mercer pointed toward the screen.
“You can leave tonight.”
“You can take ten million dollars.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You’re bribing her?”
Mercer looked at her.
“No.”
“I’m buying silence.”
Leah said nothing.
Mercer continued.
“Ten million.”
“Your brother never worries about tuition again.”
“Your mother’s house disappears from every bank ledger.”
“You buy whatever life you want.”
Leah’s jaw tightened.
“My mother is dead.”
Mercer paused.
For the first time, he looked surprised.
Then he laughed quietly.
“Thomas never told you.”
Leah felt something inside her chest go cold.
“Told me what?”
Mercer’s expression changed.
Almost pity.
“Your mother didn’t die when you were twelve.”
Leah stared at him.
“Shut up.”
Alexander looked sharply at Mercer.
“That’s enough.”
Mercer ignored him.
“She disappeared.”
Leah shook her head.
“No.”
“Thomas told you she died because it was safer.”
“Stop.”
“He sent her away.”
Leah’s voice rose.
“STOP.”
The warehouse echoed.
Mercer watched her.
“He was protecting you.”
Leah’s breathing became ragged.
She remembered the funeral.
No open casket.
Her father saying her mother had died overseas.
A closed memorial.
No body.
No hospital.
No police.
Nothing.
Alexander touched her shoulder.
“Leah.”
She pulled away.
“No.”
She looked at Mercer.
“Where is she?”
Mercer smiled faintly.
“Now we’re negotiating.”
Leah stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
“Take the deal.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Ten million.”
“WHERE IS SHE?”
Emma screamed.
Everyone looked up.
One of the men beside her had grabbed her arm.
Vale charged.
Alexander’s security moved.
Gunfire cracked above them.
Leah ducked.
Glass shattered.
Vanessa screamed and dropped behind a crate.
Alexander pulled Leah down.
“Stay here.”
Vale ran toward the stairs.
“Emma!”
Mercer disappeared behind the catwalk.
Security rushed upward.
Leah heard another shot.
Then a scream.
A body fell from the upper level.
Not Emma.
One of Mercer’s men.
Vale reached his daughter.
He pulled her into his arms.
Alexander shouted.
“Mercer!”
No answer.
Security searched the upper level.
Empty.
A steel fire door swung open at the far end.
Mercer was gone.
Vanessa stood slowly.
“I hate this night.”
Leah barely heard her.
She was still staring at the screen.
Her mother might be alive.
Alexander walked toward her.
“Leah.”
She looked at him.
“I buried her.”
He said nothing.
“I spent twenty years believing she was dead.”
“We don’t know Mercer was telling the truth.”
“He knew things.”
“Yes.”
“He knew my brother.”
“Yes.”
“He knew the house.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“That means he investigated you.”
“Or my father told him.”
Leah turned toward the screen.
Then she noticed something.
One transfer.
A recurring payment.
Every month for twenty years.
Same amount.
Same recipient code.
E.M.
She leaned closer.
“Alexander.”
He followed her finger.
The account was registered in Switzerland.
The beneficiary name was hidden.
But the initials remained.
E.M.
Leah whispered.
“My mother’s name was Eleanor Morgan.”
May you like
Alexander stared at the screen.
And suddenly Mercer’s lie no longer looked like a lie.
