Chapter 10 - The elevator opened beneath the hotel.There was no basement listed on the blueprints.
No power system.
No plumbing.
No public access.
Yet an entire underground facility existed below us.
Rows of steel doors.
Medical equipment.
Documents.
Storage.
A room filled with prescription bottles.
Gabriel looked around.
“This is a laboratory.”
“No.”
I pointed toward the far wall.
“It’s a distribution center.”
Every bottle carried different names.
Doctors.
Patients.
Dates.
My wife.
Me.
Others.
Victor had not invented a single plan.
He had built a system.
People entered.
Medications changed.
Symptoms appeared.
Doctors reacted.
Deaths followed.
Natural causes became murder weapons.
We found the room marked 8:12.
Inside was a desk.
No monitors.
Only a tape recorder.
A red folder rested beside it.
I opened it.
There was one photograph.
My father.
Victor standing beside him.
My hands shook.
I knew Victor had worked for my father before me.
But I had never known how close they were.
At the bottom of the file was a contract.
My father had signed a private agreement with Crown Meridian.
My family assets would eventually pass through a succession trust.
Controlled by an independent administrator.
Victor.
I looked at Gabriel.
“My father gave him control.”
“Not exactly.”
Gabriel turned the page.
A second signature.
My father's lawyer.
Then a third.
My mother.
My stomach turned.
“Why would they do that?”
Gabriel looked at the date.
“The year you were born.”
I stared.
Victor had not entered my life twenty-five years ago.
He had been waiting for me before I knew his name.
The tape recorder clicked on.
My father's voice.
“Victor, you're asking too much.”
Victor answered.
“I am asking for protection.”
“From what?”
“From your son.”
Silence.
Then my father's voice:
“You're afraid of Julian?”
“No.”
Victor sounded calm.
“I am protecting the company from what he will become.”
The recording ended.
I felt sick.
There was another tape.
My mother's voice.
“We made a mistake.”
Then Victor.
“No. You made an investment.”
My mother:
“He doesn't know.”
Victor:
“He doesn't need to.”
The tape ended.
Gabriel stared at me.
“The whole thing started before you were born.”
I looked toward the corridor.
“What was Victor protecting?”
Gabriel opened another file.
Inside was one sentence.
THE MERCER BLOODLINE CARRIES CONTROL OF THE DAWNRIDGE TRUST.
“What is Dawnridge?”
Gabriel looked troubled.
“A hidden trust.”
“Who owns it?”
“You.”
“What does it control?”
He handed me a list.
Banks.
Properties.
Insurance companies.
Political foundations.
Private equity funds.
Offshore accounts.
Companies across three countries.
My jaw tightened.
“This is impossible.”
“No.”
Gabriel pointed to the final page.
“Your father built Dawnridge after discovering Crown Meridian.”
“So Victor works for the trust?”
“He wants to own it.”
“And killing me gives him access.”
“Not immediately.”
“What then?”
Gabriel pointed to another clause.
SUCCESSION TRANSFER ACTIVATES UPON NATURAL DEATH OF PRIMARY BENEFICIARY.
Natural death.
Everything suddenly aligned.
The pill.
The altered dosage.
The doctor's appointments.
The forged records.
Victor did not want me shot.
He wanted me to die exactly when the paperwork said I should.
And after that, the trust would transfer.
I closed my eyes.
Then a sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
We drew our weapons.
A woman entered.
Elena.
Alive.
But alone.
“Sophia?” I asked.
She ran toward me.
“He took her.”
“What?”
“He took her from the room before the explosion.”
“Where?”
Elena was crying.
“I don't know.”
I grabbed her shoulders.
“What do you know?”
She looked at me.
“Victor told me something.”
“What?”
“He said the final step isn't your death.”
I froze.
“What is it?”
Elena whispered:
“It is your signature.”
I remembered the succession documents.
Victor didn't just need me dead.
He needed me to sign first.
A legal transfer.
A controlled handover.
My phone vibrated.
One message.
BRING THE REAL MEDICATION.
Another.
BRING THE TRUST AGREEMENT.
Then the final one.
BRING SOPHIA'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
“He knows about everything.”
I nodded.
Then Elena said:
“No.”
“What?”
She looked at me.
“He doesn't want the birth certificate.”
“Then what does he want?”
May you like
Her voice cracked.
“He wants proof Sophia is your daughter.”
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