Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND THE DOCTOR
Noah and Lily ran back into the walls.
Mercer followed.
He knew the passages better than they did.
That meant hiding wouldn’t work.
Noah needed a plan.
“Go to Mom.”
“What about you?”
“I’m right behind you.”
“Noah.”
“Go!”
Lily ran toward the underground stairs.
Noah turned another direction.
He wanted Mercer to follow him.
It worked.
“Noah!”
Mercer’s footsteps came faster.
Noah entered an old dumbwaiter room.
Dead end.
Mercer appeared in the doorway.
“You’re making this unnecessarily difficult.”
Noah backed away.
“You kidnapped my mother.”
“I saved her.”
“By chaining her to a bed?”
Mercer sighed.
“Your mother suffered severe burns, smoke inhalation, and neurological damage.”
“You lied about her death.”
“For her protection.”
“From who?”
Mercer smiled.
“Your family.”
Noah gripped the ledger.
Mercer’s eyes dropped to it.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“You have no idea what it is.”
“It’s evidence.”
“It’s insurance.”
Noah frowned.
Mercer stepped closer.
“Your grandfather understood something your father never did.”
“What?”
“Respectability is the most profitable disguise in America.”
He explained that the foundation wasn’t merely Richard’s criminal enterprise.
It was a network.
People paid to bury scandals.
Hospitals altered records.
Judges protected donors.
Politicians redirected investigations.
Mercer managed the medical side.
Richard handled money.
And Vanessa?
“She was supposed to be temporary.”
Noah stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Mercer smiled.
“Vanessa wasn’t Richard’s lover when she came here.”
“She was yours?”
“No.”
Mercer stepped closer.
“She was your mother’s nurse.”
Noah’s blood went cold.
After the fire, Vanessa had helped care for Evelyn underground.
She learned the passwords.
The family secrets.
Richard’s weaknesses.
Then she realized she could replace the woman everyone believed was dead.
“She blackmailed your father,” Mercer said.
“And he let her?”
“Your father had very little choice.”
Noah almost laughed.
“Everybody in this house keeps saying that.”
Mercer’s smile vanished.
He lunged.
Noah threw a metal tray.
Mercer ducked.
Noah ran past him.
Mercer grabbed his shirt.
Fabric ripped.
The ledger fell.
Mercer reached for it.
Noah kicked it beneath the dumbwaiter shaft.
Mercer swore.
Noah hit the release lever.
The ancient dumbwaiter platform dropped.
The ledger disappeared with it.
Mercer punched Noah across the face.
Pain exploded through his jaw.
He fell.
Mercer grabbed his collar.
“Where does the shaft end?”
Noah spat blood.
“Figure it out.”
Mercer raised his fist.
A voice behind him said:
“Touch my son again.”
Mercer turned.
Vanessa stood in the doorway holding a pistol.
Noah stared at her.
Mercer laughed.
“You?”
Vanessa aimed at his chest.
“Move away from him.”
“You don’t have the nerve.”
“Try me.”
Mercer released Noah.
“Vanessa,” Noah whispered.
She looked at him.
“Go.”
“Why are you helping me?”
Her face tightened.
“I’m not.”
“Then why—”
“Because Mercer is going to kill all of us.”
A gunshot exploded through the passage.
Mercer dropped.
Noah screamed.
But Vanessa hadn’t fired.
Blood spread across Mercer’s shoulder.
Vanessa looked behind her.
Richard stood at the other end of the corridor.
Barely conscious.
May you like
Holding another gun.
And he was pointing it at Vanessa.
