Chapter 3 - The Video Brandon Couldn't Delete
Ronan turned toward the sound.
One of his men appeared in the hallway.
"Found him."
Mirabelle nearly collapsed.
"Kellen?"
"Fire escape."
She ran.
Kellen climbed through the kitchen window seconds later.
"Mir?"
She threw her arms around him.
He stiffened when he saw her hair.
"What happened to you?"
"Nothing that matters right now."
"You're bleeding."
"I'm fine."
It wasn't entirely true, but he was alive.
That was enough.
Kellen looked at Ronan.
"Who is that?"
Mirabelle didn't answer.
She held up the photograph.
"Did you see whoever left this?"
Kellen's face changed.
"No."
"Kellen."
"A guy came to the door."
"What guy?"
"I didn't open it."
"What did he look like?"
"Baseball cap. Gray jacket."
"Did he say anything?"
Kellen hesitated.
"He said Dad sent him."
Silence.
Mirabelle's father had disappeared before Kellen was old enough to remember him.
Or at least that was what their mother had always said.
"What exactly did he say?"
"He said, 'Your father thinks it's time you learned the truth.'"
Mirabelle looked at Ronan.
"Tell me."
"I can't tell you something I don't know."
"But you know more than you're saying."
Ronan didn't deny it.
He looked at Kellen.
"Your mother protected information about your birth."
Kellen blinked.
"What?"
Mirabelle touched his shoulder.
"We're figuring it out."
Kellen stared at her uneven hair again.
"No. First tell me what happened to you."
So she did.
Not everything.
Just enough.
By the time she finished, Kellen's face was red.
"I'm going to kill him."
"No."
"He tied you up?"
"Kellen."
"I'm serious."
"And that's exactly what he wants."
Kellen stopped.
Mirabelle held his gaze.
"People like Brandon think they can decide how everyone else reacts. He wanted me terrified. He wanted you angry. We're not giving him either."
Ronan watched her.
Something like admiration passed across his face.
Then his phone buzzed.
He checked it.
"The video is online."
Mirabelle's stomach dropped.
"What?"
"Someone uploaded it."
Tate hadn't.
The account was anonymous.
But the clip wasn't what Brandon would have wanted.
It showed everything.
The locked door.
Mirabelle telling them to leave.
Brandon grabbing her hair.
Her warning him.
Then Ronan entering.
Within an hour, thousands of people had seen it.
By sunrise, Blackhaven was talking about nothing else.
Brandon's father released a statement calling the footage "incomplete."
That lasted approximately seventeen minutes.
Then a second video appeared.
The entire recording.
Uncut.
The statement disappeared.
Mirabelle watched none of it.
She sat at the kitchen table while Kellen made coffee.
At seven thirty, someone knocked.
Ronan opened the door.
Tate stood outside.
He looked exhausted.
"I need to talk to Mirabelle."
She let him in.
Tate placed a flash drive on the table.
"Brandon tried to delete this last night."
"What is it?"
"Not the diner video."
Tate swallowed.
"It's from his father's office."
Ronan became very still.
"How did you get it?"
"Brandon asked me to wipe some files."
"Why?"
"Because one of them had Evelyn Hayes's name."
Mirabelle stared at him.
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't know who she was."
Tate looked ashamed.
"Then last night I saw you."
He nodded toward Mirabelle.
"And I remembered the picture attached to the file."
Ronan picked up the drive.
"What's on it?"
"Property records. Payments. Private agreements."
"And?"
Tate looked at Kellen.
"A birth certificate."
Kellen stopped breathing.
Mirabelle gripped the table.
"Whose?"
Tate didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Ronan inserted the drive into a laptop.
The files opened.
There were dozens.
Payments from Mercer Development.
Confidential settlements.
Land purchases.
Then a folder marked HAYES.
Inside was a scanned document.
Kellen's birth certificate.
Mother:
Evelyn Hayes.
Father:
Blank.
But someone had added a handwritten note to the scanned copy.
G.M.
Mirabelle looked at Ronan.
"Graham Mercer?"
"I don't know."
Kellen laughed once.
It sounded broken.
"Of course."
Mirabelle grabbed his hand.
"We don't know yet."
Ronan opened another file.
A photograph appeared.
Evelyn stood beside Graham Mercer.
She was holding a baby.
Kellen.
Behind them was the Starlight Diner.
On the back of the scanned photograph someone had written:
THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT REMAINS UNDER BOOTH 7.
Mirabelle looked up.
"The diner."
Ronan was already reaching for his coat.
They arrived before nine.
Police tape marked the entrance from the previous night's incident.
The owner let Mirabelle inside.
Booth Seven stood against the western wall.
Mirabelle had served customers there for years.
She slid underneath.
Nothing.
Ronan examined the metal frame.
One screw looked newer than the others.
He removed it.
A thin compartment opened.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
Mirabelle's name was written on it.
She pulled it free.
Her hands trembled.
Inside was a letter from her mother.
My beautiful Mirabelle,
If you're reading this, then the secret I tried to bury has reached you.
I'm sorry.
I wanted you and Kellen to have ordinary lives.
Graham Mercer is not Kellen's father.
But he knows who is.
Mirabelle stopped.
Kellen leaned closer.
"Keep reading."
She did.
Years ago, I discovered Mercer Development was buying properties through false companies. The Starlight was one of them. I copied documents because I thought exposing them would protect people.
Instead, I learned something worse.
Your father wasn't gone.
He had been working with Graham.
Mirabelle's hands went numb.
She continued.
I left because I learned they were planning to use Kellen someday to force me into silence.
There is one person I trusted with enough pieces to protect you if everything failed.
Ronan Voss.
But Ronan does not know the final truth.
Nobody does except Graham and me.
The proof is—
The letter ended.
The bottom half had been torn away.
Kellen stared at it.
"That's it?"
"No."
Ronan pointed toward the envelope.
Something remained inside.
A small brass key.
Stamped into it were two characters.
M17.
Ronan's face changed.
Mirabelle noticed.
"You know what that means."
He nodded.
"Mercer Tower."
"What is M17?"
Ronan looked at the key.
"Private archive level."
Then a sound came from behind them.
The diner door opened.
Graham Mercer stepped inside alone.
His face was pale.
He looked directly at the key.
"Give me that."
Mirabelle closed her fist around it.
"No."
Graham's composure cracked.
"You have no idea what you're opening."
"Then tell me."
"I can't."
"Why?"
Graham looked at Kellen.
Because, for the first time, he seemed genuinely frightened for him.
"Because if you open that archive," Graham whispered, "your brother will learn why his real father disappeared."
Ronan stepped forward.
Graham shook his head.
"You still don't understand, Voss."
"Understand what?"
Graham looked directly at him.
"Kellen's father didn't disappear."
A shadow crossed the glass door behind Graham.
Someone was standing outside.
Graham saw him.
His face went white.
May you like
Then he whispered a name.
"Daniel."
