Chapter 3 - The Dead Brother
Grant heard the elevator.
He heard Elena stop breathing.
He heard Daniel whisper a word Grant had not heard him use in fifteen years.
“Jesus.”
The man stepped forward.
“Hello, little brother.”
Grant’s face turned toward the voice.
Six years disappeared.
Victor.
Not a recording.
Not a memory.
Victor Mercer.
Alive.
Grant said nothing.
Victor approached slowly.
“You got old.”
Grant’s hand closed into a fist.
“You’re dead.”
Victor laughed.
“So were you, according to several people.”
Daniel raised his weapon.
Victor’s two escorts immediately drew theirs.
Elena pulled Lily behind her.
Victor lifted both hands.
“Everybody relax.”
Grant spoke.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“Lower it.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Grant—”
“Lower it.”
Weapons slowly dropped.
Victor looked at Lily.
“So that’s the child.”
Elena stiffened.
Grant caught the sentence.
“You know Lily?”
Victor smiled.
“I know everyone in your house.”
Grant’s expression sharpened.
“You’ve been using the hidden room.”
“Sometimes.”
“Marcus?”
“Useful.”
“The drugs?”
Victor did not answer.
Grant stepped toward him.
“You kept me blind.”
Victor looked almost offended.
“No.”
“Then explain.”
“I kept you alive.”
Grant struck him.
The sound echoed.
Victor staggered.
His guards moved.
Daniel raised his weapon again.
Victor waved them off.
“I deserved that.”
Grant’s voice shook with controlled fury.
“You stole five years.”
“I bought you five years.”
“With darkness?”
“With survival.”
Victor wiped blood from his lip.
“The explosion was supposed to kill you.”
Grant froze.
“Who ordered it?”
Victor looked toward Elena.
“Send the maid away.”
“No.”
“She isn’t part of this.”
“She found your room.”
Victor studied her.
Then Lily.
“Actually, the kid found it.”
Lily smiled.
Victor unexpectedly smiled back.
Grant stepped between them.
“Talk.”
Victor exhaled.
“Five years ago, you were about to discover that half the waterfront operation had been infiltrated.”
“By whom?”
“A coalition. Russian money, city contractors, customs officials.”
Grant’s face tightened.
“Names.”
“I’ll give you names.”
“Now.”
Victor shook his head.
“You won’t survive the night if I do.”
Grant moved closer.
Victor lowered his voice.
“They needed you dead. Marcus and I created another option.”
Grant stared blindly toward him.
“You drugged me.”
“We convinced them the explosion destroyed your sight.”
“It nearly did.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Victor hesitated.
“We kept the condition believable.”
Elena’s anger rose.
“You poisoned him for five years.”
Victor turned.
“You think blindness was worse than a bullet?”
“I think you made that decision for him.”
Victor looked at Grant.
“So does he.”
Grant said, “Correct.”
Victor continued.
“The organization believed blindness made you manageable. They stopped trying to kill you.”
“Who is they?”
Victor’s face hardened.
“The same people who staged my death.”
Grant went silent.
Victor explained.
His car accident had been deliberate.
He survived.
Barely.
Marcus hid him.
Victor disappeared.
From the shadows, he discovered something worse.
Their father’s old organization had fractured.
Someone inside the Mercer network was selling routes, judges, cops, and information.
Victor spent years tracing the leak.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you trusted the traitor.”
“Who?”
Victor glanced at Daniel.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Don’t.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“I wasn’t looking at you.”
Daniel frowned.
Victor turned toward the ceiling.
“The penthouse is bugged.”
Grant nodded.
“I assumed.”
Victor removed a small device from his coat.
A signal jammer.
He activated it.
“Three minutes.”
Grant said, “Name.”
Victor met his eyes even though Grant could not yet see him.
“Your godfather.”
Grant’s expression changed.
Anthony Rizzo.
The man who raised both brothers after their father died.
The man who taught Grant business.
The man who sat beside Grant’s hospital bed after the explosion.
Impossible.
Victor continued.
“Rizzo controls customs inspectors, two councilmen, and Marcus.”
Grant’s voice became flat.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish.”
“Proof.”
Victor removed an envelope.
Daniel took it.
Inside were photographs.
Transfers.
Encrypted communications.
One photograph showed Rizzo meeting Marcus.
Another showed Rizzo standing near the vehicle used in Victor’s staged crash.
Another showed Marcus receiving a case.
Grant could not examine them.
Elena did.
Her face turned pale.
“They look real.”
Victor nodded.
“The blindness wasn’t supposed to last five years.”
Grant turned sharply.
“What?”
“Marcus changed the dosage.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said Marcus worked with you.”
“He did.”
Victor’s jaw hardened.
“Until eighteen months ago.”
Grant understood.
Marcus had switched sides.
Victor continued.
“I stopped receiving his reports. Then two of my people disappeared.”
Elena thought of the hidden room.
“Marcus had photographs of Grant sleeping.”
Victor frowned.
“Sleeping?”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t me.”
Everyone went silent.
Victor stepped closer.
“What photographs?”
Elena described them.
Victor’s face lost color.
“That room wasn’t for monitoring Grant.”
“What was it for?”
“My emergency medical storage.”
Grant laughed without humor.
“Apparently my house contains many surprises.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“How did she get the flashlight?”
Elena answered.
“She found it inside the room.”
Victor frowned.
“That flashlight belongs to Marcus.”
Grant nodded.
“We know.”
Victor looked uneasy.
“Marcus carries it for neurological tests.”
The elevator chimed again.
Daniel drew his gun.
Nobody had called it.
The doors opened.
Empty.
A phone lay on the elevator floor.
It rang.
Grant said, “Speaker.”
Daniel picked it up.
Answered.
Marcus Vale’s voice filled the room.
“Grant.”
Grant stepped forward.
“Where are you?”
Marcus ignored him.
“Victor made it back, didn’t he?”
Victor’s face hardened.
Marcus continued.
“He always was difficult to kill.”
Grant said, “You have sixty seconds to explain why you kept dosing me.”
Marcus laughed softly.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone seems very protective.”
“You don’t understand what your brother found.”
“Then tell me.”
“No.”
A pause.
Then Marcus said something that changed everything.
“Elena does.”
Elena stared at the phone.
Grant turned toward her.
“What does that mean?”
“I have no idea.”
Marcus continued.
“Ask her about Peter Marlow.”
Elena went white.
Grant heard it in her breathing.
“Who is Peter Marlow?”
Elena could barely speak.
“My husband.”
Grant frowned.
“You told me Lily’s father died before she was born.”
“He did.”
Marcus laughed.
“No, Elena.”
Her hands began trembling.
Marcus said, “Peter died because he discovered who really ordered the explosion that blinded Grant.”
Elena grabbed the phone.
“You knew Peter?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Where were you when he died?”
Marcus paused.
Then whispered, “Standing beside him.”
The call ended.
Elena stared at the phone.
Grant said nothing.
Victor did.
“Peter Marlow worked for Rizzo.”
Elena turned.
“No.”
“He was an accountant.”
“He worked in shipping.”
Victor’s expression softened.
“Shipping was the cover.”
Elena stepped back.
“You’re lying.”
“Your husband was investigating missing Mercer funds.”
Lily looked between the adults.
“Mama?”
Elena lifted her.
“It’s okay.”
It was not.
Grant asked Victor, “Did Peter know about the attack?”
“He knew after.”
“How?”
“He saw the payment.”
“To whom?”
Victor hesitated.
“Marcus.”
Elena shook her head.
“Then Marcus killed him.”
“Maybe.”
Grant turned.
“What aren’t you saying?”
Victor reached into his coat.
Pulled out a small drive.
“Peter recorded everything.”
Elena stared.
“You have his files?”
“Some.”
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“Because everyone Peter contacted died.”
Elena’s knees weakened.
Grant steadied her.
It was strange.
A blind man supporting the only person in the room who could see clearly.
Victor handed her the drive.
“He left a message for you.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
She pressed the drive against her chest.
Grant said, “We need somewhere secure.”
Victor nodded.
“I have a place.”
Grant refused immediately.
“No.”
“Grant.”
“I’m not following my supposedly dead brother into a secret location.”
Victor almost smiled.
“Fair.”
Daniel interrupted.
“Security alarm.”
He checked his phone.
“Garage.”
Grant tilted his head.
“How many?”
Daniel looked at the feed.
“Six.”
“Rizzo?”
“Can’t tell.”
Victor went to the window.
Another alarm sounded.
Then another.
Daniel’s expression changed.
“They’ve locked down the building.”
Grant turned toward the private elevator.
“Can you override it?”
“No.”
The lights went out.
Lily began crying.
Elena held her tightly.
Emergency lighting flickered on.
Grant stood in darkness that felt no different from before.
For everyone else, panic.
For him, familiar territory.
“Everybody stop moving.”
They obeyed.
Grant listened.
Ventilation.
Emergency generator.
Lily’s breathing.
Elena.
Daniel.
Victor.
Two guards.
And another sound.
Inside the wall.
A metallic click.
Grant turned toward it.
“Someone’s in the service corridor.”
Daniel raised his gun.
“How do you know?”
Grant pointed.
“There.”
The hidden panel opened.
A man stepped through.
Daniel aimed.
Then froze.
Grant could not see him.
But Elena could.
May you like
Anthony Rizzo walked into the room smiling.
And in his hand was Lily’s photograph.
