Chapter 5 - The Man Behind Mercer
The signature belonged to Dr. Nathaniel Cross.
The supposedly vanished physician.
Ethan read the note again.
Lucas arrived seconds later.
“No.”
Ethan handed it to him.
Lucas cursed.
“He’s alive.”
“You knew.”
“I knew where he used to be.”
“You didn’t know he was part of this?”
“I thought Silas paid him to falsify Father’s death.”
Ethan mounted.
Lucas seized Bishop’s bridle.
“Come alone means trap.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t be stupid.”
“She has Clara.”
“Which is why you need me.”
Ethan looked down at his brother.
Eight years earlier, he would have argued.
Not now.
“Follow far enough back that they don’t see you.”
Lucas nodded.
The note named an abandoned silver mine twelve miles east.
Ethan reached it after dark.
A lantern burned at the entrance.
He dismounted.
“Clara!”
Her voice came from inside.
“Ethan!”
He entered.
Cross stood twenty feet away.
Older now.
Thin gray beard.
Revolver in hand.
Clara sat tied to a chair beside him.
Her ivory cloak was torn but there was no blood.
Ethan’s gaze scanned her face.
“You hurt?”
“No.”
Cross smiled.
“How touching.”
Ethan’s hands remained visible.
“Let her go.”
“Not yet.”
“What do you want?”
“The box.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then perhaps your brother does.”
Ethan said nothing.
Cross laughed.
“I knew Lucas was alive long before you did.”
Clara stared.
Cross continued.
“Samuel Cole was a stubborn old fool.”
“You poisoned him.”
“I treated him.”
“You poisoned him.”
“On instructions.”
“Whose?”
Cross glanced at Clara.
“Her mother’s.”
Clara went white.
“No.”
Ethan’s expression did not change.
Cross smiled.
“Margaret Whitmore wanted Samuel gone.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
Clara strained against the rope.
“My mother tried to protect him.”
“Your mother protected herself.”
Cross reached into his coat.
Ethan moved.
The revolver lifted.
“Careful.”
Cross removed a letter.
“Margaret and Samuel were more than business partners.”
Clara frowned.
Ethan’s face tightened.
Cross unfolded it.
“Your mother feared Samuel would expose Thomas’s fraud. She also feared what Thomas would reveal in return.”
“What?”
Cross looked at Clara.
“That you were not Thomas Whitmore’s daughter.”
Silence.
Clara stared.
Ethan blinked.
Cross smiled.
“Samuel Cole was your father.”
Clara’s face emptied.
“No.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Stop.”
Cross laughed.
“Does that make your little proposal awkward?”
Ethan went completely still.
Because if Cross was telling the truth—
Clara understood at the same moment.
Her eyes widened in horror.
Ethan and Clara could be—
“No,” Clara whispered.
Cross enjoyed the reaction.
“That’s why Margaret needed Samuel quiet.”
Ethan looked at the letter.
“Give it to me.”
“Come take it.”
Ethan did.
Slowly.
Cross kept the gun trained on him.
Ethan read.
It was not a love letter.
It was a business letter.
Margaret referred to “our child.”
But the next sentence changed everything.
Our child, the company we built together, must not become Thomas’s weapon.
Ethan looked up.
Cross’s smile faded.
Ethan continued reading.
There was no reference to Clara’s parentage.
“Bad choice of forgery.”
Cross’s expression hardened.
Clara exhaled.
Ethan folded the letter.
“You wanted us frightened enough not to think.”
Cross cocked the revolver.
“I only need you dead enough not to speak.”
Ethan threw the letter.
Cross’s eyes flicked.
Ethan moved.
The gun fired.
Pain tore across Ethan’s shoulder.
He crashed into Cross.
They hit the ground.
Clara screamed.
Cross struck Ethan with the gun.
Once.
Twice.
Ethan caught his wrist.
Bones cracked.
Cross howled.
The revolver fell.
Clara kicked it away.
Then another figure entered.
Silas Mercer.
He pointed a shotgun.
“Enough.”
Ethan froze.
Cross stared up.
“You idiot. You were supposed to wait.”
Silas’s face changed.
“You kidnapped her?”
“She was useful.”
“You said nobody would get hurt.”
Cross laughed.
“Samuel got hurt.”
Silas went pale.
Clara saw it.
“You didn’t know.”
Silas looked at Cross.
“You told me Samuel died naturally.”
Cross smiled.
Silas lowered the shotgun slightly.
That was all Ethan needed.
Lucas fired from outside.
The shotgun flew from Silas’s hands.
Sheriff Reeves entered behind him.
Then the territorial marshal.
Cross was arrested.
Silas surrendered.
For the first time, the truth began coming apart properly.
Cross had poisoned Samuel.
But not for Margaret.
Not even for Thomas.
Cross had been stealing company money through false medical and transport invoices.
Samuel discovered it.
Silas had financed some of the same shell companies but claimed he never knew about the murder.
Thomas had learned afterward.
Instead of reporting Cross, he allowed himself to be blackmailed because exposing Cross would expose Thomas’s own land fraud.
Cowardice had connected every crime.
One lie protected another.
Then another.
Until everyone became trapped.
At dawn, Ethan sat outside the mine while Doctor Hale bandaged his shoulder.
Clara approached.
“You were shot.”
“Grazed.”
“You were bleeding.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“That sentence does not comfort me.”
He almost smiled.
She sat beside him.
For a while neither spoke.
Then Clara said, “You came.”
“Of course.”
“You didn’t know Cross was lying about my father.”
“No.”
“So for several minutes, you thought…”
“Yes.”
She looked horrified.
Ethan stared into the snow.
“I’ve had awkward evenings.”
She laughed.
Then covered her mouth.
The laughter turned into tears.
Ethan looked at her.
She shook her head.
“I’m sorry.”
“For laughing?”
“For everything.”
“You didn’t poison anybody.”
“My family—”
“Is not you.”
She looked at him.
He realized he was repeating her argument from days earlier.
A faint smile appeared.
“You finally understand.”
“Don’t get comfortable.”
She leaned closer.
“What about my proposal?”
Ethan’s expression changed.
Clara waited.
“I can’t answer while you need me to save your company.”
Her smile vanished.
“What if I still want you after the company is safe?”
“Then ask again.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She stared.
Ethan looked uncomfortable.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because that was nearly romantic.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Very nearly.”
He stood.
Then winced.
Clara immediately rose.
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been shot.”
“Grazed.”
“Shot.”
He gave up.
They returned to Silver Creek.
The evidence cleared Lucas.
Cross confessed enough to implicate Thomas in fraud but not murder.
Silas remained under investigation.
And Clara had three weeks until her birthday.
For the first time, marriage was no longer merely a legal escape.
Then Jonathan Vale arrived at the ranch carrying a telegram.
He looked grim.
Clara opened it.
Read once.
Then again.
“What?”
She handed it to Ethan.
The territorial court had issued an emergency injunction.
Margaret Whitmore’s will was being challenged.
Until the dispute was resolved, Clara could not inherit control by marriage.
Ethan looked toward Jonathan.
“Who challenged it?”
Jonathan hesitated.
“Someone claiming to be Margaret Whitmore’s surviving son.”
Clara frowned.
“I don’t have a brother.”
Jonathan’s expression told her that was no longer certain.
Then hoofbeats sounded outside.
A stranger rode into the yard.
He dismounted.
Removed his hat.
And looked directly at Clara.
“My name is Alexander Whitmore.”
May you like
Then he said the four words Thomas had spent twenty-seven years hiding.
“I’m your mother’s son.”
