Chapter 12 - SAMUEL REEDSamuel was arrested that night.
But arresting him didn't make me feel safe.
It made me feel like we had finally pulled one thread from a sweater that was tied around the entire city.
The investigation expanded rapidly.
Mercer Holdings.
Fraud.
Money laundering.
Identity theft.
Extortion.
But Samuel refused to speak.
Until I asked for him.
The detective objected.
I insisted.
We sat in a small interview room.
Samuel's hands were cuffed.
For the first time, he looked old.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone says that.”
“Because it's true.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“You followed my family.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Derek was controlling me.”
“Yes.”
“And you did nothing.”
He looked down.
“I thought staying alive mattered more.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because your father taught me to.”
“My father taught you to let me suffer?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Samuel looked at me.
“He taught me that sometimes the safest prison is the one the prisoner believes is a home.”
I felt sick.
“You let Derek trap me.”
“I put Derek near you.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“What?”
“He was supposed to protect you from the outside.”
“He abused me.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“You knew?”
“I underestimated him.”
“That's your excuse?”
“No.”
He took a breath.
“It's my failure.”
“Who controls Mercer?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“You are asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Who controlled your father?”
“Evelyn?”
“No.”
“My mother?”
“No.”
“Derek?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Samuel finally looked at me.
“Your brother.”
My heart stopped.
“Lucas is dead.”
Samuel nodded.
“He is.”
“Then how?”
“He wasn't the man behind it.”
“What do you mean?”
Samuel slid a photograph across the table.
A young man.
Lucas.
But beside him was someone older.
The man from the detective's photograph.
I recognized him.
He had appeared in my father's old wedding album.
He had been standing behind Evelyn.
I looked closer.
A name was written on the back.
Richard Mercer.
“Who is Richard?”
Samuel answered:
“Your grandfather.”
“My grandfather died before I was born.”
“No.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He didn't.”
I stared at him.
Samuel continued.
“Richard Mercer built the network your father tried to destroy.”
“Then where is he?”
Samuel's eyes moved toward the door.
“Closer than you think.”
The interview room door opened.
A detective entered.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed a private nursing facility.
An elderly man sitting beside a window.
The photograph had been taken that morning.
“This man was supposed to be under witness protection.”
I stared.
Richard Mercer.
My grandfather.
Alive.
The detective continued.
“He disappeared four hours ago.”
“How?”
“No cameras.”
“No witnesses.”
“Then where did he go?”
The detective looked at me.
“We don't know.”
Then my phone vibrated.
One new message.
Unknown number.
A photograph.
Emily sleeping in Rachel's arms.
Taken from behind us.
Under it, a sentence:
Your grandfather wants his heir back.
Rachel saw it.
Her face went white.
I grabbed Emily.
Daniel locked the doors.
And for the first time, I realized something.
May you like
The fifteen dollars had not been the beginning of my escape.
They had been the beginning of a hunt.
