Chapter 12 - THE MAN WHO CAME TO THE HOSPITAL
The hospital went into lockdown before sunrise.
Federal agents stood outside Lily’s operating room.
Two more guarded Ethan.
Another team remained with Natalie.
Victor sat in the hallway with blood dried across his shirt.
Some belonged to him.
Most belonged to Lily.
Ethan sat beside him.
The boy had not spoken for twenty minutes.
Victor looked down.
Ethan was holding Lily’s phone.
The cracked screen still showed the recording app.
Victor’s child has to disappear before the trust is activated.
That sentence had started everything.
Victor looked toward the operating-room doors.
Lily had saved Ethan before anyone knew what was happening.
Then she had saved him again.
And again.
Ethan finally spoke.
“Is she going to die?”
Victor looked at him.
He refused to lie.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan stared at the floor.
Victor put an arm around him.
“But she has very good doctors.”
Ethan nodded.
“Can I stay until she wakes up?”
“Yes.”
“All night?”
“Yes.”
“What if it takes two days?”
“We stay two days.”
“A week?”
Victor looked at him.
“A week.”
Ethan leaned against him.
Victor closed his eyes.
Footsteps approached.
Evelyn walked down the hallway.
She had showered.
Changed clothes.
But nothing could hide seven years of captivity.
She stopped a few feet away.
Victor looked at her.
Neither knew how to begin.
Ethan solved it.
“Mom.”
Evelyn froze.
Ethan stood.
For one second, uncertainty crossed his face.
Then he walked toward her.
Evelyn dropped to her knees.
Ethan hugged her.
She broke.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
Seven years came out of her all at once.
She held her son and sobbed into his shoulder.
Victor looked away.
He gave them that moment.
After a while, Ethan whispered.
“Are you staying?”
Evelyn pulled back.
“If you want me to.”
Ethan nodded.
“Dad wants you too.”
Victor looked at him.
Ethan looked completely serious.
Evelyn almost laughed through her tears.
Victor rubbed his face.
“We’ll discuss that part later.”
Ethan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because adults make everything unnecessarily complicated.”
Evelyn actually laughed.
For the first time that night, Victor heard the laugh he remembered.
It hurt.
But not in the way he expected.
A doctor entered the hallway.
Victor stood immediately.
“Lily Bennett’s family?”
Ethan raised his hand.
“I am.”
The doctor looked at him.
Victor stepped beside Ethan.
“How is she?”
“The bullet missed the major artery.”
Victor exhaled.
Ethan grabbed his hand.
The doctor continued.
“She lost significant blood, but surgery went well.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“We expect her to recover.”
Ethan began crying.
Victor crouched.
The boy hugged him.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
The doctor smiled gently.
“You can see her when she wakes.”
“Thank you.”
The doctor left.
Victor sat again.
For the first time since coming home early, he allowed himself to breathe.
Then Daniel Cross appeared at the end of the hallway.
Alive.
Victor stood.
Daniel was in his fifties.
Gray suit.
No tie.
Two federal agents followed him.
Victor stared.
“Margaret said you were dead.”
Daniel smiled tiredly.
“Margaret has been wrong about several things tonight.”
Lily’s scheduled message had reached him.
He had opened it.
And immediately forwarded copies outside the compromised network.
That decision had saved the evidence.
Victor shook his hand.
“What happens now?”
Daniel looked toward Ethan.
“Now?”
“We start digging.”
Victor almost laughed.
“You’ll need a large shovel.”
Daniel did not smile.
“I’ve seen the first files.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“How bad?”
Daniel looked toward the federal agents.
“Bad enough that this will not stay a family scandal.”
“Richard Hale?”
“In custody.”
“Marcus?”
“Alive.”
Victor almost sounded disappointed.
Daniel noticed.
“He’s talking.”
Victor frowned.
“Already?”
“He wants immunity.”
“He’s not getting it.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“That part isn’t your decision.”
Victor looked toward the window.
“And Margaret?”
“In custody.”
“Serena?”
Daniel’s expression became more complicated.
Victor understood.
“She helped.”
“She also kidnapped Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“She threatened him.”
“Yes.”
“She conspired with Richard.”
“Yes.”
Victor sighed.
Daniel continued.
“She also turned on Richard.”
“Helped save Evelyn.”
“Helped Lily.”
“And voluntarily surrendered.”
Victor looked toward the room where Natalie was being treated.
“What happens to her?”
“That depends on what she tells us.”
Victor nodded.
“And Adrian?”
Daniel looked surprised.
“You haven’t seen him?”
Victor frowned.
“No.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“He left the estate before federal agents secured the evacuation tunnel.”
Victor stood straighter.
“What?”
“We assumed he was with you.”
Victor looked toward Evelyn.
She had heard.
“Adrian left?”
Daniel nodded.
Evelyn looked worried.
“He was shot.”
“We found blood.”
“But no Adrian.”
Victor’s instincts woke again.
“Find him.”
Daniel nodded.
“We are.”
Then Daniel hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
Victor stared.
Of course there was.
There was always something else.
Daniel handed him a tablet.
“This was found in Richard’s private server.”
Victor looked at the file.
PROJECT ORPHEUS — PHASE TWO.
Victor felt cold.
“I thought Ethan was Project Orpheus.”
“Phase One.”
Victor opened the file.
There were photographs.
Medical records.
DNA charts.
Children.
Not Ethan.
Other children.
Victor’s stomach turned.
“How many?”
Daniel answered.
“At least twelve.”
Evelyn moved closer.
“What?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Richard and Margaret didn’t create only one potential Mercer beneficiary.”
Silence.
Victor stared.
“They made backups.”
Daniel nodded.
“Apparently.”
Evelyn looked sick.
“Where are they?”
“We don’t know.”
Victor scrolled.
Most identities were coded.
SUBJECT 02.
SUBJECT 03.
SUBJECT 04.
Then one file had a name.
Victor stopped.
LILY BENNETT.
He stared.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That’s why I came here.”
Evelyn read over Victor’s shoulder.
Her face changed.
Lily had not merely been chosen by Caroline.
She had been part of Project Orpheus.
Victor opened the file.
DNA ORIGIN: CAROLINE MERCER.
PATERNAL ORIGIN: CLASSIFIED.
Victor stared.
Evelyn whispered.
“She’s a Mercer.”
“Yes.”
Victor scrolled.
GUARDIAN COMPATIBILITY: 100%.
SUCCESSION COMPATIBILITY: 100%.
Victor frowned.
“She can inherit.”
Daniel nodded.
“If Ethan rejects the network.”
Victor remembered Margaret’s words.
It passes to Lily.
But there was more.
A final page.
Victor opened it.
PROJECT ORPHEUS PHASE TWO OBJECTIVE:
PAIR PRIMARY BENEFICIARY WITH SECONDARY GUARDIAN LINE.
Victor stared.
“What does pair mean?”
Daniel said nothing.
Victor looked at him.
“Daniel.”
“We don’t know.”
That answer did not satisfy Victor.
He scrolled farther.
A photograph appeared.
Lily.
Age six.
Standing beside her mother.
Caroline.
Behind them was a man.
His face had been partially obscured.
Victor zoomed in.
Evelyn gasped.
Victor recognized him.
Adrian.
Lily’s biological father was Adrian Mercer.
Victor felt the room shift again.
Evelyn stared.
“My brother?”
Daniel nodded.
“The DNA files indicate it.”
Victor looked toward Lily’s operating room.
Lily was Adrian’s daughter.
Ethan was also biologically Adrian’s son.
That made Lily and Ethan half-siblings.
Victor closed his eyes.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Caroline had not chosen Lily randomly.
She had chosen Ethan’s sister.
A sister who did not know he existed.
Victor looked at Ethan.
The boy was staring.
He had heard enough.
“Lily is my sister?”
Victor walked toward him.
“Biologically.”
Ethan looked toward the operating-room doors.
A strange little smile appeared through his exhaustion.
“I knew she was family.”
Victor swallowed.
“Yes.”
“You did.”
Evelyn sat beside Ethan.
Victor looked at Daniel.
“Does Lily know?”
“No.”
“Then she hears it when she’s ready.”
Daniel nodded.
Victor looked at the tablet again.
Something bothered him.
Adrian had claimed he thought Ethan was his.
That might have been true.
But Adrian had never mentioned Lily.
If he was Lily’s father, did he know?
Victor opened another attachment.
A message.
Sent from Adrian to Richard eight months earlier.
Victor read it.
His blood ran cold.
I FOUND CAROLINE’S DAUGHTER.
SHE’S WORKING INSIDE VICTOR’S HOUSE.
DO NOT APPROACH HER.
Richard’s reply:
DOES SHE KNOW?
Adrian:
NO.
AND SHE NEVER WILL.
Victor stared.
Adrian had known.
For at least eight months.
He knew Lily was his daughter.
And he had stayed away.
Why?
Victor scrolled.
Another message.
Richard:
IF ETHAN REJECTS SUCCESSION, SHE BECOMES THE TARGET.
Adrian:
THEN ETHAN CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO REJECT IT.
Victor’s expression changed.
Evelyn saw.
“What?”
Victor handed her the tablet.
She read.
Her face drained.
Ethan looked between them.
“What happened?”
Victor did not answer yet.
Because the truth was worse than he expected.
Adrian had not come to the chapel only to rescue Evelyn.
He had come to make sure Ethan accepted the Mercer network.
If Ethan refused, the inheritance passed to Lily.
And Adrian had apparently been willing to prevent that at any cost.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Cross.”
His expression changed.
“When?”
Victor watched.
Daniel looked toward the hospital entrance.
“Lock the building down.”
Victor stood.
“What?”
Daniel ended the call.
“Adrian was just seen on a traffic camera.”
“Where?”
Daniel looked directly at Victor.
“Three blocks from this hospital.”
Victor’s stomach dropped.
The hospital alarm suddenly sounded.
Security doors began closing.
Ethan stood.
Victor pulled him close.
Evelyn looked toward Lily’s room.
Then the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Victor froze.
He knew that pattern now.
The lights went out.
Ethan grabbed his hand.
“Dad?”
Victor stared into the darkness.
Then a voice came through the hospital intercom.
Adrian’s voice.
“Victor.”
Evelyn whispered.
“No.”
Adrian continued.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Victor pulled Ethan behind him.
The emergency lights came on.
Red.
Exactly like the mansion.
Adrian’s voice filled the corridor.
“But you have something that belongs to my family.”
Victor looked toward Lily’s recovery room.
And understood.
May you like
Adrian had not come for Ethan.
He had come for Lily.
