Chapter 3 - The Man Behind the Marriage
Robert Mercer raised both hands.
"Nobody needs to panic."
Daniel almost laughed.
"You broke into my dead father's apartment."
Robert looked at the key in Claire's hand.
"So did you."
Robert was Richard's younger brother and Mercer Capital's longtime general counsel.
Claire had known him for seven years.
He had toasted her marriage.
He had sent flowers when she and Daniel bought their first apartment.
He had called her "the daughter Richard never had."
Now Michael was pointing a gun at him.
Daniel stared at his brother.
"You have a gun?"
"I've been dead twelve years. You think I survived by being optimistic?"
Robert smiled faintly.
"Still dramatic, Michael."
Claire looked between them.
"You knew he was alive."
Robert's smile disappeared.
"Yes."
Daniel's voice turned cold.
"Who didn't?"
"I didn't know until three years ago."
"That's supposed to help?"
"No."
Robert looked toward Claire.
"Richard made mistakes."
"Was one of them leaving my unborn child a trust?"
Robert's expression changed.
So he knew.
Claire noticed.
"How much is it?"
"Claire—"
"How much?"
Michael answered.
"Four hundred and eighty million dollars."
Claire couldn't speak.
Daniel stared at him.
"That's impossible."
"Your father transferred his private holdings into it."
"Why?"
"Because the money isn't the important part."
Claire remembered Richard's letter.
Do not trust the person who tells you this is about money.
She looked at Robert.
"What does the trust contain?"
Robert remained silent.
Michael raised the gun.
"Answer."
"Evidence."
"Of what?"
Robert looked at Daniel.
"Twenty-seven years of illegal transactions."
Daniel sat down.
"My father?"
"No."
Robert's answer was immediate.
"Richard discovered them."
"Who started them?"
Robert hesitated.
Vanessa moved closer to the desk.
"Robert."
He looked at her.
Claire saw something pass between them.
"You two know each other," Claire said.
Vanessa didn't deny it.
Robert closed his eyes.
"Vanessa is my daughter."
Daniel swore.
Claire felt almost numb now.
Every answer produced another secret.
Vanessa folded her arms.
"My mother worked for Mercer Capital. Robert never acknowledged me publicly."
Robert looked ashamed.
"I was married."
"You were cowardly."
"Both can be true."
Claire returned to the letter.
Richard had underlined one sentence.
Do not assume my death was the beginning.
"What happened twenty-seven years ago?"
Robert sat down.
"Your father took control of Mercer Capital."
Daniel frowned.
"Grandfather retired."
"No. Your grandfather was forced out."
"By Dad?"
"By me."
Silence.
Robert continued.
"I discovered your father was trying to expose a laundering operation running through Mercer Capital."
"Whose operation?"
Robert looked toward Michael.
Michael's jaw tightened.
Daniel noticed.
"You know."
Michael said nothing.
"Who?"
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
Claire gasped.
Daniel found her immediately.
"Stay with me."
Glass shattered in the bedroom.
Michael ran toward it.
A second later he shouted.
"Fire escape!"
Someone had entered.
Then disappeared.
When the emergency lights came on, the desk had been disturbed.
Richard's letter was still there.
The payment list was gone.
Vanessa checked her bag.
"My phone."
Gone.
Robert cursed.
Claire looked down.
Something lay beneath the desk.
A photograph.
She picked it up.
It showed Richard Mercer standing beside another man twenty-seven years earlier.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
HE BUILT IT WITH ME.
Daniel took the photograph.
His face changed.
Claire looked at the man beside Richard.
She knew him.
Everyone in Manhattan finance knew him.
Arthur Vale.
Chairman of Vale Holdings.
And Claire's father.
Claire stopped breathing.
"My father?"
Robert looked away.
Claire grabbed his arm.
"What did my father build?"
Robert whispered, "The network."
"No."
"Claire—"
"My father died when I was sixteen."
Robert looked at her.
"That's what you were told."
Her knees nearly gave out.
Daniel caught her.
Claire pushed him away.
"Don't."
She couldn't handle another comforting lie.
Michael approached the broken window.
"Whoever came through here knew exactly what to take."
Claire stared at the photograph.
Her father.
Richard.
Twenty-seven years earlier.
Partners.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She opened the message.
A video file.
Claire pressed play.
An older man appeared.
Gray hair.
Sharp eyes.
A scar near his jaw.
Claire's childhood disappeared beneath twenty years, but she recognized him anyway.
Her father.
Arthur Vale looked directly into the camera.
"Claire, if you're seeing this, Richard failed."
Claire covered her mouth.
The video continued.
"And if Daniel Mercer is standing beside you, ask him one question."
The screen went black.
Text appeared.
ASK DANIEL WHAT HAPPENED IN BOSTON.
Claire turned.
Daniel had gone pale.
"You know what that means."
Daniel didn't answer.
"Daniel."
He looked at her.
"Yes."
"What happened in Boston?"
He swallowed.
"Three years before we met, I was sent there to close a Mercer subsidiary."
"And?"
"There was an accident."
Michael cursed quietly.
Claire heard him.
"What accident?"
Daniel stared at the floor.
"A warehouse burned."
"Was someone inside?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
Daniel looked at her.
Before he could answer, someone knocked on the apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Everyone froze.
Then a woman's voice came through the door.
"Claire?"
May you like
Claire recognized that voice too.
It belonged to the mother she had buried sixteen years ago.
