Chapter 10 - The Debt Between Brothers
“Don't come in!”
I stopped.
Police sirens sounded behind me.
That saved both of us.
Vale hadn't kidnapped Tyler.
Not exactly.
He had lured him there by claiming he possessed evidence that could keep Tyler out of prison.
Tyler came because he was terrified.
Vale wanted him to sign an affidavit blaming me.
Again.
Tyler refused.
For once, when given the choice between protecting himself and betraying me, my brother chose correctly.
Vale escaped through a rear loading entrance before police surrounded the property.
But he left something behind.
His laptop.
The files on it destroyed him.
Payments to Mason.
Payments to Claire.
The rehabilitation employee.
Draft deeds.
Fake affidavits.
And an entire folder labeled MERCER.
Eight years of surveillance.
Vale had tracked every mortgage payment I made.
Every promotion.
Every major deposit.
He had been waiting for me to fail.
I hadn't.
That fact felt better than revenge.
Three days later, Vale was arrested at a private airfield.
He had tried to board a charter flight using false identification.
His legal empire collapsed quickly after that.
But my family remained broken.
There was no dramatic hug.
No instant forgiveness.
Tyler moved out.
Not because I forced him.
Because he said he needed to learn how to stand on his own.
He rented a small apartment.
Got a job.
Mom hated it.
I thought it was the first adult decision he'd made in years.
One evening he called.
“My rent is ridiculous.”
I laughed.
“Welcome to adulthood.”
He laughed too.
It was awkward.
But real.
Then he said:
“I've been thinking about the party.”
“So have I.”
“I can't take back what I said.”
“No.”
“But I can tell you why.”
I waited.
“Mom told me you were going to sell the house after Dad died.”
I froze.
“She said what?”
Tyler went silent.
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
“She said that's why they had to transfer it to me.”
I drove to Mom's house.
She admitted it.
But she claimed someone had told her.
“Mason?”
“No.”
“Vale?”
“No.”
“Who?”
She looked terrified.
“Your uncle.”
Robert.
I called him.
No answer.
I drove to his office.
Dark.
Locked.
Then I saw light beneath the records-room door.
I entered using the emergency key Dad had given me years earlier.
“Robert?”
No answer.
I reached the records room.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, every Mercer file had been placed on the floor.
May you like
And Robert was sitting beside them.
Waiting for me.
