Chapter 14 - The Fall of the MercersThe bullet hit Daniel in the shoulder.
He staggered backward.
Victoria screamed.
Ryan ducked.
Glass exploded.
Marcus burst into the chamber with armed security behind him.
Everything happened at once.
Daniel tried to reach the control panel.
My mother fired again.
Victoria tackled her.
Ryan grabbed Victoria.
Emily pulled Lily behind the steel vault.
I ran toward Daniel.
He swung at me.
I blocked it.
“You destroyed my family!”
He laughed.
“You're still my son.”
“No.”
I hit him.
“You stopped being my father a long time ago.”
He fell.
Police stormed the chamber.
Dozens of officers.
Federal agents.
Investigators.
They had been listening through a hidden transmitter Thomas installed.
The entire confession was recorded.
Daniel was arrested.
Victoria was arrested.
Ryan surrendered.
My mother dropped the gun.
Then she collapsed.
I caught her.
“Mom.”
She looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“For letting you believe I was dead.”
I cried for the first time in years.
She touched my face.
“I thought if I disappeared, Daniel would leave you alone.”
“He didn't.”
“I know.”
Behind us, Emily held Lily.
My daughter looked at me.
“Daddy?”
I smiled.
“Yes?”
“Are we going home?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
But before we left, Thomas appeared.
He looked terrified.
“Nathan.”
“What?”
“There is one more document.”
He handed it to me.
A trust amendment.
I unfolded it.
The document named Lily as the sole beneficiary.
But beneath it was another clause.
If Lily's parents died, control would transfer to a guardian selected by the trustees.
I stared at the name.
Victoria Mercer.
I looked up.
“She planned everything.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
She pointed to the signature.
“That isn't Victoria's.”
I looked closer.
The signature belonged to someone else.
Someone we had trusted.
Someone who had been helping us.
Someone who had been standing beside me through the entire investigation.
Marcus.
My security chief.
He saw the document.
His face changed.
Then he pulled out a gun.
“I'm sorry, Nathan.”
He aimed at Lily.
I moved.
The shot exploded.
Pain tore through my shoulder.
I fell.
Lily screamed.
Marcus ran.
But the gunfire had triggered the vault's emergency system.
Steel doors slammed shut.
Marcus was trapped.
Police surrounded him.
He dropped the gun.
And then he smiled.
“You think you won?”
He laughed.
“Daniel was never the boss.”
The room went silent.
“Who is?”
Marcus looked directly at Lily.
“Her.”
I turned.
Lily was holding the broken bracelet.
Marcus whispered:
“The girl was never the key.”
May you like
“She was the heir.”
Then every light in the vault went black.
