Chapter 13 - The Recording She Didn't Know ExistedMy mother heard the click too late.
Her eyes dropped toward the pen.
Then toward me.
"You..."
I stepped backward.
Daniel shielded Emma.
Police flooded the cabin.
My mother raised the gun.
But Claire fired the emergency flare through the glass.
The distraction was enough.
Two officers tackled my mother.
The gun skidded across the floor.
She screamed my name.
"Hannah!"
I didn't move.
She was handcuffed within seconds.
The recording had captured everything.
Twenty years of lies.
Murders.
Financial crimes.
Blackmail.
The manipulation of my marriage.
The staged death.
The altered DNA.
The attempted theft of the Mercer estate.
My mother was taken away.
Emma clung to Daniel.
Claire collapsed into a chair.
Sophie cried silently.
Marcus stood by the door.
For the first time in months, he looked like an old man instead of a lawyer.
"I owe you the truth," he said.
I looked at him.
"You do."
He handed me another file.
"Your father left this for you."
I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
This one was handwritten.
No codes.
No conditions.
Just words.
Hannah,
I know what you're going to feel when you discover everything.
Anger.
Betrayal.
Confusion.
You will wonder why I allowed so many lies to continue.
The answer is simple.
I wanted you alive.
I kept reading.
Your mother loved power more than people.
Victor loved money more than loyalty.
Robert Brooks loved his legacy more than his son.
Marcus loved his own fear more than the truth.
And Daniel...
My hands stopped.
Daniel looked at me.
I continued.
Daniel loved you.
I closed my eyes.
A tear fell onto the paper.
I knew it before he did.
That is why I trusted him with the one thing I could not protect alone.
You.
I looked at Daniel.
He didn't move.
My father's final lines were short.
Do not inherit my empire.
End it.
I looked at Marcus.
"What does he mean?"
Marcus smiled sadly.
"The Mercer Foundation."
I remembered the document.
My father had wanted the empire transferred into a foundation.
Not owned by a family.
Not controlled by husbands.
Not used as leverage.
A structure designed to protect employees, tenants, communities and future developments.
"Why didn't he do it?"
"Because he died before he could."
"And now?"
Marcus slid the original trust toward me.
"Now you can."
I stared at the documents.
"Then what happens to Daniel?"
Daniel looked at me.
"I'm not asking for anything."
"What about Emma?"
"She gets whatever you decide."
"And Claire?"
Claire shook her head.
"I don't want money."
I looked at her.
"Then what do you want?"
"To know who killed Elliot."
I remembered Victor.
"He's alive."
"He is."
"Then you'll get your answer."
The next day, Victor was charged.
The evidence from the ledger connected him to the network.
But one question remained.
Who had ordered Elliot's murder?
Victor blamed my mother.
My mother blamed Victor.
Neither would admit it.
Then forensic investigators found something inside Elliot's watch.
A hidden memory card.
It contained one video.
Elliot speaking into a camera.
"If you're watching this, I am probably dead."
Claire began to cry.
Elliot looked terrified.
"I found the person above Victor."
The video skipped.
Then returned.
"I thought it was Thomas Mercer."
Another skip.
"It wasn't."
He leaned closer.
"The person above him has been controlling both families for decades."
Daniel stepped closer to the screen.
"Who?"
Elliot whispered:
"Robert Brooks."
Daniel went pale.
"My father?"
Elliot nodded.
"He's not dead."
The room froze.
Robert Brooks had supposedly died eight years ago.
Elliot's voice continued.
"He's alive."
He glanced behind him.
"And he's coming back for Emma."
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
Daniel stared at the black screen.
His father.
Alive.
The architect above Victor.
The man who had manipulated Claire.
The man who had helped build the network.
The man who had known about Emma.
I looked at Daniel.
"Where is he?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
Marcus looked at the ledger.
Then at the window.
"Your father did."
We all turned.
Marcus pointed to a final page.
A location was written there.
A private island off the coast of South Carolina.
The name beneath it:
BROOKS ISLAND.
May you like
And in the corner was a date.
Tomorrow.
