Chapter 3 - The Second SonNobody spoke.
Gabriel stood in the doorway as if he owned the room.
I stared at him.
He looked enough like Adrian to make my stomach twist.
Same dark eyes.
Same controlled expression.
But there was something different.
Adrian always carried violence beneath his skin.
Gabriel carried calculation.
He closed the door.
Eleanor stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
He smiled.
“Apparently, the family secret.”
Clara's face had gone pale.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Gabriel laughed quietly.
“That's becoming a family tradition.”
He walked to the table.
I watched every movement.
“Why are you here?”
“To stop your investigation.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't know what you're about to uncover.”
I folded my arms.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because everyone has lied to you.”
He reached into his coat and placed a photograph on the table.
My father.
Adrian's father.
My mother.
And a fourth person.
A young woman I didn't recognize.
Gabriel pointed to her.
“Her name was Elise.”
“Who is she?”
“Your mother's sister.”
I stared.
“My mother had a sister?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared.”
Clara interrupted.
“Gabriel, enough.”
He looked at her.
“You still think silence protects people.”
“I know what your silence cost me.”
“And I know what your truth will cost Evelyn.”
I stepped between them.
“Stop talking around me.”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Your father's criminal operation wasn't about money.”
I frowned.
“Then what was it about?”
“Control.”
He explained.
The Mercer empire had created dozens of shell companies over three decades.
They didn't simply move stolen money.
They purchased debt.
Hospitals.
Factories.
Private schools.
Small banks.
When businesses failed, Mercer Financial bought them cheaply.
Then it erased competitors.
Manipulated markets.
Paid politicians.
Destroyed whistleblowers.
The fortune Adrian inherited was built from systematic financial warfare.
My father's role had been designing the accounting network that made it possible.
But there was more.
Gabriel pulled out another file.
“Your mother discovered everything.”
I stared at him.
“She knew?”
“She was going to expose them.”
“And they killed her?”
“No.”
He paused.
“She survived.”
My heartbeat stopped.
“You're lying.”
“I thought you might say that.”
He placed a photograph in front of me.
An elderly woman standing beside a lake.
Her face was turned away.
But around her neck hung a necklace.
A tiny silver moon.
I knew it instantly.
My mother had worn the same necklace every day of my childhood.
“No,” I whispered.
Gabriel leaned closer.
“She is alive.”
My knees nearly buckled.
“Where?”
He said nothing.
“Where is my mother?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you still intend to destroy Adrian.”
I stared at him.
“Of course.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“Then your mother dies.”
The room went silent.
Clara grabbed him by the collar.
“You promised!”
Gabriel calmly removed her hand.
“I promised I would keep Evelyn alive.”
“Not her mother?”
He looked at me.
“There are people above Adrian.”
“How high?”
Gabriel smiled without humor.
“Higher than your federal agent.”
My mind raced.
Government officials?
Judges?
Bankers?
Politicians?
He continued.
“Adrian is expendable.”
“Then why protect him?”
“I’m not protecting him.”
Gabriel slid a flash drive across the table.
“I'm protecting the truth.”
Eleanor picked it up.
“What is on this?”
“Everything your father buried.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Why give it to me?”
“Because I want the Mercer family destroyed too.”
“Then why threaten my mother?”
“To make you understand.”
He turned toward the door.
I stepped after him.
“Gabriel.”
He stopped.
“You said Adrian wasn't the only son.”
“Yes.”
“Who's the third?”
He slowly looked back.
“My twin.”
My blood turned cold.
“Where is he?”
Gabriel's smile disappeared.
“Standing beside the federal agent.”
I froze.
Gabriel walked away.
Seconds later, Eleanor ran upstairs.
I followed.
The federal agent who had been assigned to Adrian's case was gone.
His phone lay on the floor.
The screen was still glowing.
One text message had just arrived.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
YOU HAVE SIX HOURS TO FIND YOUR MOTHER.
Then another.
A photograph appeared.
My mother sat in a chair.
Alive.
Terrified.
Behind her stood a man wearing a black suit.
His face was partly hidden.
May you like
But his hand rested gently on her shoulder.
He was wearing my father's wedding ring.
