Chapter 12 - The Mercer VaultWe entered the tower knowing someone wanted me alive. We didn't know why.
Mercer Tower stood in the center of Pinehaven like a black blade against the night.
Nathaniel entered first.
I followed.
We didn't take guards.
He had agreed to my mother's warning.
No one else knew we were coming.
The elevator stopped on the forty-third floor.
Nathaniel stepped out.
I followed.
“This floor doesn't exist on public records.”
“I know.”
“Your father built this?”
“Yes.”
The corridor ended at a steel door.
Nathaniel inserted the key.
Nothing happened.
My mother had said the vault required my blood.
I pressed my palm against the scanner.
The door opened.
Inside was a room filled with files.
Thousands.
Every Blackridge transaction.
Every murder.
Every bribed official.
Every witness.
My mother's work.
Alexander's evidence.
And photographs of me.
Hundreds of them.
Age six.
Age nine.
Age thirteen.
Age seventeen.
Twenty-one.
Twenty-four.
My hands started shaking.
“He watched me.”
Nathaniel didn't answer.
There was a photograph of me asleep in my apartment.
Another of me getting into my car.
Another of me at work.
“He's been monitoring me.”
“Yes.”
A voice came from the darkness.
“I had to.”
Nathaniel raised his gun.
A man stepped into the light.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Straight-backed.
Cold blue eyes.
Nathaniel's father.
Marcus Mercer.
He smiled.
“Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel stared.
“You're dead.”
Marcus laughed.
“Apparently not.”
“You killed Alexander.”
Marcus's expression remained calm.
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“You murdered my father.”
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“You murdered my mother too.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your mother survived.”
“Because of Nathaniel.”
“Exactly.”
Nathaniel's gun remained pointed at him.
“Why did you leave me?”
Marcus sighed.
“Because I needed you to become ruthless enough to inherit what I built.”
“You built a prison.”
“I built an empire.”
“You built fear.”
Marcus shrugged.
“Fear works.”
He looked at me.
“But you.”
“What about me?”
“You were the only thing Alexander cared about.”
Nathaniel stepped forward.
Marcus continued.
“That's why you were always valuable.”
I felt cold.
“What do you want?”
Marcus smiled.
“The trust.”
“You mean my inheritance.”
“Yes.”
“And if I refuse?”
He looked at Nathaniel.
“Then Nathaniel loses everything.”
Nathaniel's expression didn't change.
Marcus tapped the desk.
“Pinehaven.”
Then another file.
“Blackridge.”
Then one final document.
“Every legitimate Mercer asset.”
He looked at me.
“Sign the transfer.”
I stared at the document.
Nathaniel whispered:
“Don't.”
Marcus smiled.
“You should listen to him.”
I looked at Nathaniel.
He was watching me.
May you like
Then Marcus added:
“Because once she signs, I'll kill him first.”
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