Chapter 14 - The Man Behind Richard RourkeThe empire had been ruled by a stranger
Everything changed in one second.
Richard stepped into the basement.
He stared at Thomas.
“You should have stayed quiet.”
Thomas smiled weakly.
“Too late.”
Maxwell aimed his gun.
“Who are you?”
Richard said nothing.
Thomas answered for him.
“His name is Elias Mercer.”
Maxwell froze.
Victor had once mentioned the name.
A strategist.
A fixer.
A man who had worked for Richard before disappearing.
“He killed the real Richard,” Thomas said.
“Fourteen years ago.”
“Then took his identity.”
I looked at the man upstairs.
“You're not my father.”
He smiled.
“No.”
“Then why did you tell me I was your daughter?”
“Because blood is the easiest leash to put around someone's neck.”
My stomach twisted.
Maxwell stepped forward.
“Why did you replace him?”
Elias smiled.
“Because Richard was losing control.”
“And you wanted his empire.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I wanted the one thing Richard could never control.”
“What?”
“Who inherited it.”
I finally understood.
The ledger.
The blood key.
The hidden network.
The entire operation had been designed around succession.
Elias wanted me to inherit it.
Then he could control me.
I shook my head.
“You're insane.”
“Perhaps.”
He raised a phone.
A live video appeared.
A dozen men were standing outside the Rourke terminal.
“Your choice.”
“What choice?”
“Enter the vault.”
“Why?”
“Because the ledger inside contains proof of my identity.”
“And if I refuse?”
He looked at Thomas.
I understood.
He would kill him.
Maxwell lowered his gun.
“We go.”
I grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He whispered:
“Trust me.”
We entered the terminal.
The building was abandoned.
Or appeared to be.
At the center stood a steel elevator.
Three locks.
One for each key.
Victor appeared behind us.
He held the first key.
Maxwell looked at him.
“Which side are you on?”
Victor smiled.
“The winning side.”
He inserted the key.
A mechanical click.
Elias inserted the second.
Then he looked at me.
“Your turn.”
I put the microchip against the reader.
The system scanned my blood.
Green light.
The elevator doors opened.
Inside was a vault beneath the terminal.
Rows of shelves.
Hard drives.
Paper files.
Cash.
Photographs.
And at the center, one box.
Martha Kovak.
I opened it.
Inside was a video recorder.
I pressed play.
My mother appeared on screen.
The real Klara.
Alive.
Older.
Terrified.
“If you're seeing this, Martha, then everyone has failed you.”
I started crying.
She continued.
“Elias Mercer is not Richard Rourke.”
“I know.”
“He is worse.”
Elias laughed behind me.
Klara looked directly at the camera.
“Maxwell is not Richard's son either.”
Maxwell went still.
“He is Thomas Vale's brother.”
Thomas's brother?
Gideon stared at his father.
Thomas began crying.
Klara continued.
“Richard took Maxwell when he was seven.”
“He raised him as a weapon.”
“He told everyone the boy was his.”
“He murdered the boy's real family.”
Maxwell stumbled backward.
His whole identity was a lie.
I looked at him.
He looked devastated.
Klara's final words were:
“Maxwell saved Martha because he remembered what it felt like to be stolen.”
The video ended.
Silence.
Then the vault doors slammed shut.
Elias smiled.
“Now you finally understand.”
Maxwell looked at me.
“I'll get you out.”
But before he could move, a red light began flashing.
A voice announced:
“Incineration sequence activated.”
Victor looked at Elias.
“You said the vault wouldn't burn.”
Elias stared at him.
“I didn't activate it.”
Everyone looked at me.
I hadn't either.
Then a speaker crackled.
A woman's voice spoke.
“Hello, Martha.”
I froze.
My mother's real voice.
“I'm sorry it took me so long.”
Maxwell looked around.
“Where are you?”
The voice answered:
“Right outside.”
May you like
The vault doors opened.
And Klara Kovak walked in.
