Chapter 14 - The Dead Man’s ConfessionJulian Mercer looked impossibly old.
But alive.
He walked slowly into the room.
Everyone froze.
My mother whispered:
“Father.”
Julian looked at her.
“Helena.”
Then at Elise.
“Still angry?”
She raised her gun.
“You stole my life.”
“No.”
“You stole your granddaughter.”
“I saved her.”
He looked at me.
“You.”
I stared.
“My entire life was a lie.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth would have killed you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You're not protecting me.”
“I am.”
“You built this.”
“Yes.”
“You created the trust.”
“Yes.”
“You used my father.”
“Yes.”
“Then you are the reason all of this happened.”
Julian nodded.
“I am.”
The honesty was almost unbearable.
He explained the final secret.
The Mercer fortune had been created to protect the family from a government scheme decades earlier.
Then greed changed everything.
His sons turned protection into domination.
Julian tried to destroy the system.
They tried to kill him.
So he vanished.
He staged his death.
He created the trust.
Then he watched from the shadows.
He had selected me because I was the only descendant who had refused to become part of the family business.
Or so he believed.
“You're wrong,” I said.
“About what?”
“I wasn't spared.”
Julian looked at me.
“I became a forensic accountant.”
He smiled.
“You discovered the truth.”
“Because you taught me numbers.”
“Yes.”
“Then you knew what I would become.”
“I hoped.”
“Did you know Adrian would hurt me?”
His smile disappeared.
“No.”
“You knew enough to know what he was.”
“I thought I could control him.”
“You couldn't.”
“No.”
I looked at Adrian.
He was barely conscious.
Julian approached him.
“You were never my enemy, Adrian.”
Adrian laughed weakly.
“You made me one.”
“I did.”
The timer showed 02:45.
Elias suddenly lunged.
He grabbed Julian.
A gunshot exploded.
Julian collapsed.
My mother screamed.
Elias grabbed my wrist.
“Come with me.”
I fought.
He dragged me toward the exit.
Adrian tried to stand.
Gabriel attacked Elias.
Clara fired.
The room became chaos again.
Then the timer reached 01:00.
I realized the failsafe was still active.
If I left, the building would self-destruct.
I turned.
“Everyone out!”
Nobody moved.
“RUN!”
My father dragged my mother.
Clara pulled Adrian.
Gabriel grabbed Julian.
Elias remained.
He smiled at me.
“You think you can escape your family?”
I looked at him.
“I already did.”
He fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
I ran.
We reached the staircase.
Behind us, alarms screamed.
Then the tower shook.
Glass shattered above.
The entire underground chamber collapsed.
We burst into the street.
Seconds later, Mercer Tower's lower floors erupted.
Smoke filled the sky.
People screamed.
Sirens approached.
News helicopters circled overhead.
The servers continued broadcasting.
The Mercer empire was finished.
Or so I thought.
Then my father grabbed my shoulder.
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
He looked at the burning building.
“Elias wasn't in there.”
My heart sank.
“What?”
“He escaped.”
I stared at the smoke.
Then my phone vibrated.
A message.
No number.
One photograph.
Elias standing in a hospital room.
Behind him was an unconscious woman.
My mother.
But my mother was standing beside me.
I turned.
My mother was right there.
Alive.
The woman in the photograph was someone else.
I zoomed in.
My blood ran cold.
It was my reflection.
Not me.
A woman who looked exactly like me.
May you like
Elias sent one final message.
YOU WERE NEVER THE ONLY HEIRESS.
