Chapter 4 - The Brother at the Door
Roman did not answer.
Matteo's voice came again.
"You have thirty seconds."
Daniel checked the rear exit.
Two men.
Roman checked the windows.
Four more.
Claire held Maisie against her chest.
"We can't shoot our way out."
Roman looked at Daniel.
"Can we?"
"Not with Maisie here."
Roman's eyes moved toward the ceiling.
"Maintenance tunnel."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
"Under this building."
They moved a metal cabinet.
Behind it was a narrow hatch.
Roman opened it.
"Claire first."
She climbed down with Maisie.
Rosa followed.
Daniel remained above.
"You coming?"
"In a minute."
Claire recognized that look.
"No."
"Claire."
"You already disappeared once."
Daniel looked at her.
That stopped him.
Roman shoved the recorder into his pocket.
"Nobody disappears tonight."
They all entered the tunnel.
Seconds later, the building door exploded inward.
They crawled through darkness.
Maisie remained amazingly quiet.
After several minutes, Roman stopped.
The tunnel split.
"Left goes outside the estate."
"And right?" Claire asked.
"The mansion."
Daniel understood immediately.
"Matteo expects us to run."
Roman nodded.
"So we go home."
They emerged beneath the wine cellar.
The mansion was strangely quiet.
Most employees had been sent home.
Matteo had prepared for this.
Roman opened a locked cabinet.
Inside were security monitors independent of the main system.
One camera remained active.
They watched Matteo's men search the north building.
Another camera showed Victor entering the mansion.
Then another figure appeared.
Aunt Elena.
Roman leaned closer.
She met Victor in the library.
Claire whispered, "She knows."
Roman shook his head.
"Wait."
Elena handed Victor something.
A flash drive.
Victor smiled.
Then Elena slapped him.
No audio.
Victor grabbed her arm.
Roman moved toward the door.
Daniel stopped him.
"Watch."
Elena pulled something from her necklace.
A tiny transmitter.
Daniel smiled.
"Your aunt isn't helping him."
Roman looked confused.
"Then what is she doing?"
"Finishing what your father started."
The transmitter activated an audio feed.
Elena's voice filled the cellar.
"You promised Daniel Ellis would survive."
Victor replied, "Plans changed."
"And Roman?"
"Matteo wanted control."
Elena's voice shook.
"You tried to burn my nephew alive."
Victor laughed.
"You've spent twenty years around this family and still think blood means loyalty?"
Roman's jaw tightened.
Elena said, "Matteo won't survive this."
"Matteo isn't the problem anymore."
Victor leaned closer.
"Roman is."
The feed suddenly cut.
Roman tried it again.
Nothing.
Daniel looked at the monitor.
Victor had discovered the transmitter.
He ripped the necklace from Elena.
Then Matteo entered.
Claire watched his face.
He looked frightened.
Not powerful.
Frightened.
Matteo argued with Victor.
Victor shoved him.
Roman whispered, "He's not in charge."
Daniel frowned.
"Maybe he never was."
Claire remembered the note.
IF ROMAN SURVIVES, ASK HIM ABOUT MERCER.
Who had left it?
Not Victor.
He wanted Roman dead.
Not Matteo.
Then someone else had been trying to lead Claire toward the truth.
Roman looked at Aunt Elena.
"My father trusted her."
Daniel said, "Maybe she left the photograph."
Roman headed upstairs.
This time nobody stopped him.
He entered the library through a hidden door.
Victor turned.
Roman hit him before he could reach his gun.
Daniel disarmed Matteo.
Claire freed Elena.
"You left the photograph."
Elena nodded.
"I couldn't tell you directly."
"Why?"
"Victor watched everything."
Roman grabbed Matteo.
"You ordered the fire?"
Matteo cried, "I didn't know you were inside!"
Roman froze.
Victor laughed from the floor.
Roman turned.
"What?"
Matteo's voice shook.
"I ordered them to scare you. I wanted you out of the house for a few hours."
Victor smiled.
"You always were weak."
Daniel pointed the gun at him.
"Who ordered the murder?"
Victor looked at Claire.
"Ask your husband."
Claire turned.
Daniel's face had changed.
"What does he mean?"
Daniel said nothing.
Victor laughed again.
"Tell her."
"Shut up."
"Tell your wife why you were really working for Roman's father."
Claire stared at Daniel.
"What is he talking about?"
Daniel lowered the gun.
"Claire..."
Roman stepped between them.
"Whatever it is, say it."
Daniel took a breath.
"Your husband didn't hire me."
Claire waited.
"My father did?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Daniel looked at her.
"Your father."
Claire almost laughed.
"My father was a mechanic."
"No."
Daniel reached into his coat.
He removed a photograph.
Claire's father stood beside Roman's father.
Between them was the Mercer symbol.
Three letters.
M.E.R.
Claire stared.
"My father died when I was seventeen."
Daniel shook his head.
"That's what you were told."
Before Claire could speak, every light in the mansion came on.
A security alarm sounded.
The front gates opened automatically.
Roman looked at the monitor.
A black sedan entered the driveway.
Nobody had authorized it.
It stopped at the front steps.
The rear door opened.
An elderly man stepped out.
Claire recognized him before she saw his face clearly.
The same shoulders.
The same limp.
The man she had buried twenty years ago walked toward the mansion.
Maisie looked up at her mother.
"Mommy, who's that?"
Claire could barely speak.
May you like
"My father."
Then the front door opened from the outside...
