Chapter 12 - The Empty ApartmentThe intruder wanted one thing from Leo's nurserySecurity reached the apartment in nine minutes.
The front door was locked.
The windows were intact.
Nothing appeared stolen.
Then they entered the nursery.
One drawer was open.
Inside was a small envelope.
It had belonged to my mother.
I had never seen it before.
Dad picked it up.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
He opened it.
Inside was an old photograph.
My mother.
Dad.
And another man.
I recognized him.
Gideon Mercer.
My stomach dropped.
“They knew each other?”
Dad looked at the photo.
“Yes.”
“How?”
He sat down.
“Mercer wasn't always our enemy.”
“What happened?”
“Your mother trusted him.”
“And then?”
“He betrayed us.”
I stared at the photograph.
“So this started before Dominic.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Twenty-three years.”
I looked toward Leo's room.
“Then why target me now?”
Dad answered:
“Because Mercer believes your mother's trust contains information she hid before she died.”
I looked at the envelope.
“There was something inside.”
“A note.”
He unfolded it.
My mother's handwriting.
Charles,
If Meridian returns, the information must never be allowed to leave the family.
I stared.
“What information?”
Dad read the next line.
Only Audrey should receive it.
I felt dizzy.
“Me?”
He nodded.
“What is it?”
“I don't know.”
“You're telling me my mother hid something for me?”
“Yes.”
“Then where is it?”
Dad looked at the photograph.
“There was an estate property.”
“Where?”
“Upstate.”
“What property?”
“A house your mother owned privately.”
I had never heard of it.
“When can we go?”
“Not tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because Mercer knows about it.”
The security team entered.
“General.”
Dad turned.
“We found this near the garage.”
A small metal object.
A tracking device.
Someone had attached it beneath one of the cars.
Dad examined it.
“Three days old.”
My skin prickled.
“They've been tracking us.”
“Yes.”
Then security found something else.
A camera.
Hidden across from the building.
Pointed directly at our apartment.
Someone had been watching.
I held Leo tighter.
Dad's expression hardened.
“We move.”
That night, we relocated to a secure residence.
At 2:17 a.m., Elena called.
“We found the property.”
“Where?”
“Hudson Valley.”
“What's there?”
“Apparently nothing.”
I frowned.
“Then why does Mercer want it?”
“Because the deed contains an unusual clause.”
“What clause?”
“It transfers the property to Audrey upon her twenty-fifth birthday.”
I stared.
“I was twenty-five years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Then it's mine.”
“There is more.”
“What?”
“The property was never sold.”
“So?”
“So no one has accessed it in nineteen years.”
Dad looked at me.
“We're going there.”
We arrived at dawn.
The house was smaller than I expected.
A white farmhouse.
Old stone walls.
Wild grass.
Trees surrounding the property.
I stepped inside.
Dust covered everything.
Leo slept in Dad's arms.
I walked through the hallway.
Then stopped.
There was a portrait on the wall.
My mother.
She looked younger.
Happy.
Alive.
Underneath it was a wooden cabinet.
I opened it.
Inside was an envelope.
My name was written across it.
Audrey.
My hands shook.
I opened it.
Inside was a key.
And one sentence.
The truth about your father is behind the red door.
I looked up.
“Dad.”
He turned.
“What?”
“There is a red door.”
I walked toward it.
Dad followed.
I put the key into the lock.
It clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room filled with boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
A computer.
And on the center table sat a recorder.
A red light blinked.
Someone had left it waiting.
I pressed play.
My mother's voice filled the room.
May you like
“If you're hearing this, Audrey, then somebody finally found you.”
End of Chapter 12And Grace Brooks's next sentence changed everything Audrey believed about her father.
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