Chapter 5 - The Red BridgeWe found the bridge before sunrise.
It was abandoned.
Old steel.
Rusting rails.
A river moving beneath it like black glass.
I went alone.
At least that's what I told everyone.
Marcus followed me anyway.
“You're terrible at following orders,” I said.
“I'm excellent at keeping my employer alive.”
We crossed the bridge.
At the center stood a red mailbox.
Inside was a key.
And a note.
Come alone.
Marcus frowned.
I took the key.
“What does it open?”
We searched the underside of the bridge.
Nothing.
Then I noticed a small metal hatch concealed beneath the support beams.
The key fit.
The hatch opened.
A ladder descended into darkness.
We climbed.
At the bottom was a tunnel.
And at the end of the tunnel stood a door.
Inside was a room filled with surveillance equipment.
Hundreds of monitors.
My house.
My office.
My bedroom.
Lily's room.
Even the hospital where Grace was being treated.
Someone had been watching us.
For months.
Then one monitor changed.
Emily appeared.
Alive.
Standing in an unknown room.
“Nathan.”
My breath caught.
“Emily!”
She smiled sadly.
“I knew you'd come.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“I tried.”
“You called once.”
“I called seventeen times.”
“What?”
“Victoria intercepted them.”
My jaw tightened.
Emily continued.
“Your father has been moving money through shell corporations for years. But that's not what matters.”
“What does?”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Lily.”
I froze.
“She isn't just the beneficiary.”
“What is she?”
Emily hesitated.
Then:
“She is the proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Daniel killed your grandfather.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Grandfather wasn't going to leave the trust untouched. Daniel murdered him and forged the documents.”
“But why would Lily prove that?”
“Because Grandfather hid the evidence in something only Lily could access.”
I laughed nervously.
“She was four months old.”
“Exactly.”
Emily reached toward the camera.
“Look behind you.”
We turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Marcus immediately drew his gun.
The man raised both hands.
“Don't shoot.”
It was the family attorney.
Thomas Hale.
He had handled every Mercer estate transaction for twenty years.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
Thomas looked at the monitors.
Then at me.
“I came to tell you that your father isn't the only person you should fear.”
Before he could continue, every screen went black.
The lights died.
Then a single monitor flickered back on.
My mother's face appeared.
Her lips were covered in blood.
She whispered:
“Nathan…”
Then the image switched.
To Emily.
Then Lily.
Then Grace.
Three women.
Three locations.
And one message appeared in white letters:
CHOOSE ONE.
Thomas whispered:
“They've started.”
I turned toward him.
“Started what?”
May you like
He looked at me with genuine terror.
“The part where they make you choose who dies.”
