Chapter 13 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
13
Daniel once told me his father died when he was seventeen.
He described the funeral.
The rain.
The closed casket.
His mother's hand gripping his shoulder while the priest read Psalm 23.
He told me losing Warren Mercer was the moment his childhood ended.
Now Victor Hale stood inside my father's office and told us Warren was alive.
Daniel looked as if someone had struck him.
“You're lying.”
Victor smiled.
“Ask your mother.”
He turned the phone toward Patricia.
“Tell him.”
Patricia's bruised face filled the screen.
She didn't speak.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Mom.”
Patricia closed her eyes.
That was the answer.
Daniel backed away.
“No.”
“Daniel,” she whispered.
“No.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
He laughed once, an ugly broken sound.
“You held a funeral.”
“I had no choice.”
“You made me stand beside an empty coffin?”
Patricia began crying.
I had never imagined I would feel anything watching Patricia Mercer cry.
I still didn't.
She had stood in my kitchen three hours before my wedding and laughed about taking control of my father's company.
Whatever pain she carried didn't erase what she had done.
Victor leaned against the wall.
“Warren has been living abroad under several identities for years. Lisbon. Geneva. Singapore. Mostly places where people ask fewer questions if your accounts are large enough.”
Martin spoke.
“Why fake his death?”
“Because federal investigators were getting close to Vega.”
Martin's expression hardened.
“Warren founded Vega.”
Victor smiled.
“Now you're catching up.”
Daniel looked at his mother on the screen.
“You told me Dad worked in manufacturing.”
“He did.”
“For a criminal network?”
Patricia whispered, “It wasn't supposed to become what it became.”
Victor laughed.
“Oh, Patricia.”
Daniel turned on him.
“Where is he?”
“Closer than you think.”
“Where?”
Victor checked his watch.
“He should be arriving soon.”
My blood went cold.
Martin moved subtly toward the desk.
Victor noticed.
“Don't.”
Martin stopped.
Victor pointed at me.
“Claire unlocks the server. Then everyone walks away.”
“You murdered my father.”
“I didn't murder anyone.”
“Daniel saw you run him off the road.”
Victor glanced at Daniel.
“Daniel saw two vehicles collide in a storm.”
“You went down the embankment.”
“Yes.”
“And my father was alive.”
Victor's face gave nothing away.
I stepped toward him.
“What did you do?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“I gave him an opportunity.”
“To do what?”
“Tell me where he'd hidden the evidence.”
“And when he refused?”
Victor said nothing.
My hands began trembling.
Not from fear.
From rage.
Daniel moved closer to Victor.
“What did you do to Edward?”
Victor's smile vanished.
“Careful.”
“What did you do?”
Gavin suddenly spoke.
“Daniel.”
We all turned.
Something about Gavin's voice changed the room.
He looked frightened.
Not of Victor.
Of something else.
Then the elevator chimed.
The doors opened.
An elderly man stepped out.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Expensive charcoal overcoat.
He carried no visible weapon.
He didn't need one.
Two men accompanied him.
Daniel stared.
The color drained from his face.
The man looked at him.
“Hello, son.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Warren Mercer was alive.
He looked older than the photograph I'd once seen in Patricia's house, but there was no mistaking the bone structure.
Daniel had his eyes.
His jaw.
Even the slight tilt of his head.
Daniel whispered, “Dad?”
Warren smiled.
“I've missed you.”
Daniel's expression turned into something I had never seen before.
Hatred and longing at the same time.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Fifteen years.”
“I know.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
Warren looked almost bored by the accusation.
“There were complications.”
Daniel lunged.
Gavin grabbed him before he reached his father.
“Daniel!”
Warren didn't flinch.
“That temper was always your weakness.”
Daniel tore free.
“You don't get to speak to me like you know me.”
“I know you better than you think.”
Warren looked toward me.
“And you must be Claire.”
My skin crawled.
“Don't say my name.”
His smile deepened.
“Edward said the same thing.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I remembered my father.
Evidence before emotion.
I kept my phone recording.
Warren entered the office slowly.
“Your father and I knew each other for almost thirty years.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
Daniel looked equally stunned.
Warren glanced toward the hidden room.
“We started in adjacent industries. Edward built data systems. I built logistics networks.”
“You built Vega.”
“Yes.”
“And Patricia?”
“She was much better with numbers than I was.”
Patricia's voice came through Victor's phone.
“Warren, stop.”
He ignored her.
I said, “Why did my father investigate you?”
“Because Edward became self-righteous.”
Martin snapped, “Edward discovered you were laundering money.”
Warren shrugged.
“Money is always dirty by the time enough people touch it.”
“You killed him.”
Warren looked at me carefully.
“I didn't.”
“Victor did.”
“Victor followed instructions badly.”
Victor's face tightened.
That mattered.
Warren had just distanced himself.
I filed it away.
“Whose instructions?”
Silence.
Warren smiled.
“You really are Edward's daughter.”
“Answer me.”
“Edward had something that belonged to me.”
“The Vega records.”
“Yes.”
“So you ordered Victor to recover them.”
“I ordered him to persuade Edward to return them.”
I almost laughed.
“And Daniel?”
Warren glanced at his son.
“Daniel was useful.”
Daniel looked sick.
“You planned Claire?”
“Not personally.”
Warren nodded toward Patricia's video.
“Your mother developed that strategy.”
Daniel stared at the screen.
Patricia closed her eyes.
I whispered, “You chose me.”
Patricia said, “Claire—”
“You chose me before I met Daniel.”
No answer.
“Why?”
“Because Edward's greatest weakness was you.”
Daniel turned toward his mother.
“You told me Claire was just a corporate research target.”
“She was.”
“You pushed me toward her.”
“I told you to build trust.”
“You encouraged the engagement.”
“Because by then things had changed.”
“What changed?”
Patricia looked at me.
“Edward died.”
The sentence landed like ice.
After my father died, I inherited voting control.
That made me more valuable than he had been.
I finally understood.
They had adjusted the plan.
Daniel was supposed to gain information.
Then my father's death turned me into the key to everything.
Marriage could give them influence that surveillance never could.
Warren said, “Unfortunately, Daniel developed feelings.”
His disappointment was almost comical.
Daniel stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Of course.”
“How?”
Warren looked at Gavin.
Daniel slowly turned.
Gavin lowered his eyes.
The betrayal was immediate.
“You?”
Gavin whispered, “I'm sorry.”
Daniel stepped back.
His best friend.
His best man.
The man who had apparently been following him the night my father died.
Not Patricia's employee.
Warren's.
Gavin said, “Your father paid me to keep you alive.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You mean keep him informed.”
Gavin didn't answer.
Warren looked toward the hidden room.
“Enough family therapy.”
He addressed me.
“Unlock the server.”
“No.”
“You misunderstand your position.”
“No, Warren. You misunderstand yours.”
For the first time, his smile weakened.
I held up my phone.
“You walked into my father's building, admitted your connection to Vega, admitted Victor acted on your instructions, and confirmed my father had evidence against you.”
Victor cursed.
Warren laughed.
“You believe a phone recording saves you?”
“No.”
I looked at Martin.
“The upload does.”
Warren's eyes changed.
Martin smiled.
The moment the hidden computer came online, he'd quietly connected an encrypted transfer to our attorneys and to a federal contact my father had apparently trusted.
I hadn't known if it worked.
Martin nodded.
“Everything on Edward's server began duplicating eleven minutes ago.”
Victor rushed toward the hidden room.
Gavin blocked him.
Victor punched Gavin.
Daniel tackled Victor.
Chaos exploded.
One of Warren's men reached inside his coat.
A security alarm screamed throughout Harbor Street.
Red lights flashed.
Doors automatically locked.
My father's private security team appeared from both ends of the corridor.
Warren stared at me.
I stared back.
“My father designed the building.”
Sirens began approaching outside.
“You should have remembered that.”
Warren's confidence finally cracked.
He moved toward the stairwell.
Locked.
The elevator shut down.
Victor struggled beneath Daniel.
Gavin was bleeding from his mouth.
Then Warren laughed.
“You think this ends because police are coming?”
“It helps.”
He stepped closer to me.
“Claire, Edward didn't tell you everything.”
I almost ignored him.
Then he said,
“He didn't start investigating Vega because he discovered us.”
I froze.
“He investigated because he already knew us.”
Martin said, “Don't listen.”
Warren continued.
“Ask Martin why Edward's original company nearly collapsed thirty years ago.”
I looked at Martin.
His face had gone pale.
Warren saw it.
“There.”
His smile returned.
“Ask who gave your father the money to save Ellison Maritime Analytics.”
I stared at Martin.
“Martin?”
No answer.
Warren whispered,
“Your father built Harbor Street with my money.”
The sirens grew louder.
Then Warren delivered the final blow.
“And there is a reason Edward never went to the police until it was too late.”
He leaned closer.
“Your father wasn't merely investigating Vega.”
May you like
His voice dropped.
“He helped create it.”
