Chapter 12 - The Thirty-Minute CountdownElias stared at the timer.
“Stop it.”
“No.”
He fired at the terminal.
The glass shattered.
The timer continued.
29:41.
Adrian moved toward me.
“What did you activate?”
“The failsafe.”
“You'll release everything.”
“Yes.”
“You'll destroy yourself too.”
“I know.”
He stared at me.
“That isn't what I expected.”
“Neither was bruising my ribs.”
He looked away.
For the first time, he seemed ashamed.
Elias shouted to his men.
“Break the doors!”
They attacked the reinforced steel.
Clara's voice came through the speakers.
“Evelyn!”
I looked up.
Her face appeared on a security monitor.
She was no longer tied up.
She was standing beside a control panel.
“Clara?”
“I got out.”
“How?”
She smiled.
“Your father taught me.”
My father appeared behind her.
My mother beside him.
Gabriel stood nearby.
All three were alive.
The family that had lied to me for twenty years was finally standing together.
But the clock kept ticking.
27:12.
Elias stared at the screen.
“You don't understand what happens if that information goes public.”
“People finally learn the truth.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“Markets collapse.”
“Maybe.”
“Governments fall.”
“Maybe.”
“People die.”
I stared at him.
“People already died.”
He paused.
Then Adrian spoke.
“She's right.”
Everyone turned.
Elias looked at his son.
“You're defending her?”
“No.”
Adrian swallowed.
“I'm defending myself.”
“You owe me everything.”
“I owe you nothing.”
Elias raised his gun.
Adrian stepped in front of me.
“Do it.”
Elias fired.
The bullet struck Adrian in the chest.
He collapsed.
I screamed.
“Adrian!”
Elias smiled.
“He always was a disappointment.”
I knelt beside him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Why?”
He laughed weakly.
“Because I finally realized…”
He coughed.
“…you were the only person who ever looked at me and didn't see the Mercer name.”
I pressed my hand against his wound.
“You're going to live.”
“Don't promise things you can't control.”
The timer reached 20:00.
Elias turned toward me.
“There's only one way to stop this.”
“What?”
“The trust requires a second authorization.”
“Whose?”
He smiled.
“Adrian's.”
I froze.
Adrian looked at the terminal.
He understood.
“If I die…”
“The system shuts down,” Elias said.
“No.”
Clara shouted through the speakers.
“Don't listen to him!”
Elias laughed.
“Ask your precious witness.”
Clara's face changed.
“What does he mean?”
Elias looked directly at the camera.
“Clara knows.”
I stared at her.
“Knows what?”
Silence.
Then Clara whispered:
“Adrian isn't the real heir.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
“The trust was altered.”
“By whom?”
Clara looked at my father.
He didn't answer.
She continued.
“Adrian's identity was replaced twelve years ago.”
I looked at Adrian.
His eyes filled with confusion.
“You knew?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Clara stared at him.
“You aren't Thomas Mercer's biological son.”
Adrian's face went blank.
Elias laughed.
“That is why you were so easy to control.”
The timer hit 15:00.
Another door unlocked.
Footsteps approached.
Someone entered.
A woman in a red coat.
I recognized her from my childhood photographs.
She looked at Adrian.
Then at me.
She smiled.
“My name is Elise.”
My mother's sister.
The woman my family had claimed disappeared.
May you like
She looked at Adrian.
“I'm your real mother.”
