Chapter 9 - THE DAUGHTER VICTOR ERASED
Marcus thought Ethan was delirious.
“My sister?”
Ethan's breathing was shallow.
“You don't have much time.”
“Who is she?”
Ethan looked toward the paramedics.
Then back.
“Ask Victor about Anna.”
His eyes closed.
Machines began alarming.
The paramedics pushed Marcus away.
Sophia took Lily outside while doctors worked.
Ethan survived.
Barely.
But before he was transported, he said nothing else.
Anna.
Marcus had never heard the name.
Victor appeared three hours later at a federal safe house.
Marcus met him alone.
“Who's Anna?”
Victor stopped walking.
That was enough.
Marcus felt anger rise.
“You have ten seconds.”
Victor sat slowly.
“Your sister.”
Marcus laughed once.
No humor.
“I know that part.”
“She was born before you.”
“What happened?”
Victor looked older than ever.
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“She was four.”
Marcus stared.
“How?”
“Kidnapped.”
“By Mercer?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“We never found out.”
Marcus paced.
“And you erased her?”
“Your mother couldn't survive the grief.”
“So you pretended Anna never existed?”
“We removed photographs. Moved houses. Started over.”
Marcus stared at him with disgust.
“You people solved everything by erasing it.”
Victor lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why was Dominic looking for her?”
“Because Evelyn believed Anna was alive.”
Marcus stopped.
“Was she?”
Victor looked toward the door.
“I don't know.”
Evelyn entered.
“Yes.”
Marcus turned.
His mother had heard everything.
Victor stood.
“Evelyn.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You knew Caleb had found her.”
Victor's face changed.
Marcus looked between them.
Evelyn held out an old photograph.
A little girl.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
She looked like Dominic.
Like Marcus.
“Her name is Anna Voss,” Evelyn said. “But she hasn't used that name in thirty years.”
“Where is she?”
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“Marcus…”
“Where?”
“She lives in Chicago.”
He waited.
Evelyn whispered:
“Helen Ward.”
Marcus stopped breathing.
The federal prosecutor.
The woman he had trusted for years.
Helen.
His sister.
“No.”
“She doesn't know,” Evelyn said.
“How could she not know?”
“She was adopted after the kidnapping. The family who raised her believed it was legal.”
“Mercer knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he kill her?”
“Because Caleb arranged the kidnapping.”
Victor looked stunned.
Evelyn continued.
“He was young. He wanted to punish Victor. But once he realized what he'd done, he couldn't kill a child. He placed Anna through a corrupt adoption attorney.”
Marcus felt physically sick.
“And you've known?”
“Only for six months.”
“Six months?”
“I was trying to prove it.”
“You had DNA?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell her?”
Evelyn began crying.
“Because I was afraid.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
That was the Voss family inheritance.
Not money.
Not power.
Fear disguised as protection.
Marcus left the room.
Sophia found him outside.
He told her everything.
She listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she said:
“You're going to tell Helen.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“You think it's that simple?”
“No.”
Sophia looked through the glass where Lily slept.
“But secrets don't become kinder because you keep them longer.”
Marcus looked at her.
“When did you become smarter than me?”
“About three years before you noticed.”
He smiled.
A real smile.
Then his phone rang.
Helen.
Marcus answered.
“Where are you?”
Her voice sounded strange.
“At home.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“Stay there.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
“I'm coming.”
He drove to Helen's apartment.
The door was open.
Marcus entered carefully.
“Helen?”
No answer.
The living room was destroyed.
Furniture overturned.
Blood on the floor.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Helen?”
A photograph sat on the table.
The childhood picture of Anna.
On the back:
ONE VOSS DAUGHTER FOR ANOTHER.
Marcus went cold.
His phone rang.
Mercer.
“Do you see the poetry?”
Marcus gripped the phone.
“You're finished.”
“Maybe.”
“Where is Helen?”
“Where Anna disappeared.”
Marcus understood.
An abandoned amusement pier on Lake Michigan.
His family had visited when he was a child.
Anna had been taken there.
“Bring Evelyn.”
Mercer hung up.
Marcus called Sophia.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Rafael answered.
“She's with me.”
Marcus exhaled.
“Keep her there.”
“What's happening?”
“Mercer has Helen.”
“I'm coming.”
“No. Protect Lily.”
Marcus returned to the safe house.
Evelyn was waiting.
“I heard.”
“You're not going.”
“She is my daughter.”
“So am I supposed to lose my mother ten minutes after finding my sister?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“No.”
“Then stay.”
Victor entered.
“I'll go.”
Marcus stared.
Mercer hated Victor most.
Maybe that was useful.
At midnight, Marcus and Victor arrived at the abandoned pier.
The old Ferris wheel stood against the lake like a skeleton.
Helen was tied to a chair on the platform.
Mercer stood behind her.
“Marcus!”
Helen shouted.
“Don't come closer!”
Mercer held a gun.
Victor stepped into the light.
“Caleb.”
Mercer's expression changed.
“You.”
“You wanted a Voss.”
Victor spread his arms.
“Take me.”
Mercer laughed.
“You still think this is about revenge?”
“What else?”
“Truth.”
Mercer looked at Helen.
“Tell her.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Helen shouted, “Tell me what?”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Helen.”
She looked at him.
“There is something you need to know.”
Mercer smiled.
Marcus ignored him.
“Your adoption wasn't legal.”
Helen stared.
“What?”
“Your birth name was Anna.”
Her face changed.
Marcus continued.
“Anna Voss.”
Helen laughed in disbelief.
“No.”
Victor began crying.
Helen looked at him.
Then at Marcus.
“No.”
Marcus's voice softened.
“You're my sister.”
Helen stared at him.
Mercer enjoyed every second.
Then Helen did something unexpected.
She laughed.
Mercer's smile disappeared.
“You think I didn't know?”
Marcus froze.
Helen looked at Evelyn, who had quietly appeared behind the pier entrance.
“I've known for eleven years.”
Evelyn stopped.
Helen continued.
“I became a federal prosecutor because I knew.”
Marcus stared.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was building a case against Mercer.”
Mercer's face darkened.
Helen smiled.
“And because Caleb never understood one thing.”
“What?”
“You don't kidnap a federal prosecutor without giving the FBI a reason to follow her.”
Red lights appeared across the lake.
Boats.
Helicopters.
Agents flooded the pier.
Mercer grabbed Helen.
Gunfire erupted.
Victor tackled him.
The weapon discharged.
Victor fell.
“Father!”
Marcus ran.
Mercer escaped toward the Ferris wheel.
Helen freed herself.
Marcus knelt beside Victor.
Blood covered his shirt.
Victor grabbed his hand.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Finish it.”
Marcus looked toward Mercer.
Then at his father.
For once, Victor wasn't disappearing.
He was staying.
Marcus stood.
He chased Mercer onto the Ferris wheel platform.
The old structure groaned in the wind.
Mercer climbed.
Marcus followed.
Higher.
Fifty feet.
Seventy.
Mercer reached the top maintenance platform.
No escape.
Marcus approached.
Mercer raised his gun.
Empty.
Marcus looked at him.
“It's over.”
Mercer laughed.
“You really believe happy endings happen to families like yours?”
Marcus thought of Dominic.
Sophia.
Lily.
Helen.
His mother.
Even Victor bleeding below.
“Yes.”
Mercer stared.
Marcus continued.
“Because we're done letting men like you write the ending.”
Mercer charged.
They fought.
Metal shook beneath them.
Mercer slipped.
Marcus caught his wrist.
For one second, the man dangled above the pier.
Mercer looked up.
“Let me fall.”
Marcus tightened his grip.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because dying is easier.”
Agents climbed toward them.
Marcus pulled Mercer onto the platform.
“You're going to live long enough to watch everything you built disappear.”
Agents handcuffed him.
Marcus descended.
Victor was alive.
Barely.
Paramedics loaded him into an ambulance.
Helen stood beside Evelyn.
Mother and daughter looked at each other for the first time knowing exactly who they were.
Marcus's phone rang.
Sophia.
He answered.
“It's over.”
Silence.
Then Sophia said something that made his smile disappear.
“No, Marcus.”
May you like
Her voice shook.
“Lily's gone.”
