Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The address led Elena to an abandoned theater outside Manhattan.
She did not actually come alone.
Marcus remained several blocks away.
Adrian stayed with him.
Elena entered through the side door.
The theater was dark.
Rows of empty seats faced a dusty stage.
One light burned near the center.
A woman sat beneath it.
She looked approximately sixty-five.
Silver hair.
Thin frame.
Elegant posture.
Elena stopped.
The woman slowly stood.
“You look like Alexander.”
Elena already knew.
“Catherine Mercer.”
The woman smiled sadly.
“I haven’t heard that name spoken aloud in years.”
Elena approached cautiously.
“Adrian thinks you’re dead.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because keeping him away from me kept him alive.”
Elena studied her.
“Victor Lang?”
Catherine’s expression changed.
“Yes.”
She reached inside her coat.
Elena tensed.
Catherine removed an old photograph.
Alexander Voss stood beside her.
A young Victor Lang was visible behind them.
“Elena, your father discovered something shortly before he died.”
“What?”
“Victor wasn’t stealing money.”
Elena frowned.
“Then what was he doing?”
“Buying people.”
Catherine handed her another document.
Judges.
Regulators.
Executives.
Politicians.
Bankers.
Names filled three pages.
“Your father realized Victor was building influence using Voss companies.”
“Why?”
“To eventually control them without owning them.”
Elena thought about the shell companies.
“Monarch Capital.”
Catherine nodded.
“Victor created it from Alexander’s contingency plan.”
“Why didn’t my father stop him?”
“He tried.”
Elena stared at her.
Catherine’s eyes filled with old pain.
“Three weeks later, Alexander died.”
Elena became very still.
Her father’s death had officially been attributed to a heart condition.
“You’re saying Victor killed him?”
“I’m saying your father believed someone would.”
Catherine removed a small key.
“He gave me this the night before he died.”
Elena took it.
“What does it open?”
“A safe deposit box.”
“Where?”
Catherine gave her the bank information.
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena frowned.
“You never opened it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Alexander told me only his children should.”
Children.
Plural.
Elena looked toward the entrance.
“Adrian is outside.”
Catherine’s face collapsed.
For the first time, her composure disappeared.
“He came?”
Elena nodded.
Minutes later, Adrian entered.
He stopped the instant he saw Catherine.
Nobody spoke.
Catherine covered her mouth.
Adrian looked as though the floor had disappeared beneath him.
“You’re alive.”
Catherine took one step toward him.
“I’m sorry.”
Adrian backed away.
“You let me bury you.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You let me believe I had nobody.”
“I know.”
His voice broke.
“Twelve years.”
Catherine closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Adrian turned away.
Elena watched them.
For once, there was no corporate strategy.
No calculated response.
Only a family that had been deliberately broken apart.
Then Marcus’s voice came through Elena’s earpiece.
“Elena.”
She touched it.
“What?”
“You need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Victor’s people found the theater.”
Outside, tires screeched.
Catherine looked toward the door.
Her face went pale.
“He knows.”
May you like
Elena grabbed her hand.
“Then we stop running.”
