Chapter 6 - The Mother’s ConfessionI didn't answer immediately.
I couldn't.
My mother's voice was the sound of my childhood.
The lullabies.
The fever nights.
The bedtime stories.
The woman who had tucked me beneath a blanket and promised the world could never hurt me.
Now she was telling me my father had lied.
“Where are you?”
Silence.
“Mom?”
“Don't come looking for me.”
“Why?”
“Because they know you're close.”
“Who?”
She whispered a name.
“Elias.”
The line disconnected.
Gabriel stared at me.
“Who is Elias?”
I shook my head.
“I don't know.”
Clara suddenly appeared from the corridor.
Her face was bleeding.
“The east tunnel is blocked.”
I looked at her.
“My mother called.”
Clara froze.
“What did she say?”
“Your father lied.”
Clara closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
“What does that mean?”
She looked at Gabriel.
“We have to tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
Clara's voice cracked.
“Your father did not create the Mercer operation.”
I stared.
“Then who did?”
She whispered:
“Elias.”
I felt a strange chill.
“Who is Elias?”
“My father's lawyer.”
“That's not possible.”
“Why?”
“Because he died.”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
Gabriel looked toward the corridor.
“He never died.”
We moved deeper underground.
Clara explained while we walked.
Elias Voss had been the Mercer family's legal architect.
He created the shell companies.
Structured the offshore accounts.
Purchased judges.
Buried investigations.
Destroyed witnesses.
He had also advised my father.
But eleven years ago, Elias vanished.
Everyone believed he had fled after the Mercer collapse.
The truth was worse.
“He disappeared because he took control,” Clara said.
“Control of what?”
“The accounts.”
I stopped.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“So Adrian doesn't own the fortune.”
“No.”
“Then who does?”
“Elias.”
My phone vibrated.
A message.
No number.
Just coordinates.
Then another message.
COME ALONE.
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You said you wanted the truth.”
“I do.”
“Then we go.”
The coordinates led us to an abandoned theater downtown.
The building had been closed for twenty years.
Inside, dust covered the seats.
A projector flickered on by itself.
The screen showed my childhood.
Me at six.
My mother beside me.
My father holding a cake.
Then another scene.
My parents arguing.
Then my father shouting.
Then my mother slapping him.
The film stopped.
A voice came from the balcony.
“Your family was never happy.”
A man stepped into the light.
Gray hair.
Black suit.
Thin smile.
Elias Voss.
Clara raised her weapon.
“You.”
He smiled.
“Still alive.”
“You killed Thomas.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Thomas killed himself.”
I stepped forward.
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Where she has been for fifteen years.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother knows the truth.”
“What truth?”
Elias looked at me.
“You were not your father's daughter.”
Everything inside me went still.
Clara lowered her gun.
Gabriel whispered, “Elias…”
But the old man continued.
“Your mother had a daughter before she met your father.”
I shook my head.
“That's impossible.”
“You were that daughter.”
I laughed.
“No.”
Elias pulled out a document.
Birth records.
Names.
Dates.
My mother's surname.
Not Vale.
A different surname.
One connected to the Mercer family.
I read the document twice.
My hands went numb.
“What am I looking at?”
Elias smiled.
“You are a Mercer.”
I stared at Clara.
She whispered:
“That means…”
Elias finished the sentence.
“You are Adrian's cousin.”
I felt sick.
Adrian had not randomly chosen me.
He had known.
He had married me because of my bloodline.
Then Elias said the words that destroyed everything.
“Your father discovered the truth.”
“And?”
“He tried to protect you.”
“From whom?”
“From Adrian.”
I swallowed.
“Why?”
Elias's expression finally changed.
May you like
Because for the first time, he looked afraid.
“Because Adrian knew you were the only person who could inherit the original Mercer fortune.”
