Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER
Clara stepped backward.
Adrian felt the room change.
“Mother,” he said carefully.
Victoria looked at Clara.
“I can explain.”
“You killed my father?”
“No.”
“You just said you pulled the trigger.”
“I shot Daniel Mercer. I did not kill him.”
Clara laughed in disbelief.
“That distinction matters to you?”
“Yes.”
“Then explain it.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“It was twenty-six years ago.”
Her voice weakened.
“Richard discovered Daniel was investigating him. But he didn’t know Daniel and Eleanor were together.”
Adrian sat beside her.
“What happened?”
“Daniel came here one night.”
Victoria stared at nothing, seeing another room and another time.
“He wanted Richard to testify against Samuel.”
“Why?”
“Samuel had begun expanding into trafficking.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“People?”
Victoria nodded.
“Richard refused to participate. That was one line even he would not cross.”
Clara looked disgusted.
“So we’re supposed to admire him?”
“No.”
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“Never confuse one boundary with goodness.”
She continued.
“Daniel believed Richard could help dismantle Samuel’s operation. Richard refused because cooperating with federal authorities would expose everything else.”
“What happened that night?” Adrian asked.
“Samuel arrived unexpectedly.”
Victoria’s hands trembled.
“He had already discovered Daniel’s investigation. There was an argument. Samuel drew a gun.”
Clara listened silently.
“Richard attacked him. Daniel reached for Samuel’s weapon.”
Victoria began crying.
“I saw the gun pointing toward Richard.”
“And you fired,” Adrian whispered.
“Yes.”
“Who did you hit?”
“Daniel.”
Clara covered her mouth.
“I thought he was Samuel. The lights had gone out during the struggle.”
“What happened to Daniel?”
“He survived.”
Clara froze.
“What?”
“Richard got him to a doctor he trusted.”
“Then where is he?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Clara’s anger erupted.
“You expect me to believe my father survived and nobody knows what happened?”
“He disappeared afterward.”
“Convenient.”
“Clara—”
“Did my mother know?”
“Yes.”
Clara stared at her.
Victoria whispered, “Daniel left because Samuel threatened you.”
The room became silent.
“He told Eleanor that if Daniel continued the investigation, Samuel would kill their daughter.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“So he abandoned us.”
“No.”
Victoria reached for her.
Clara pulled away.
“He protected you.”
“By disappearing?”
“He believed Samuel would stop watching Eleanor if everyone thought Daniel was dead.”
Clara paced toward the window.
“All these men. Richard. Samuel. Daniel. Everyone deciding what women and children needed without asking them.”
Adrian looked down.
He understood the accusation extended beyond history.
It included him.
A security alert sounded.
Marcus entered.
“We found Samuel.”
“Where?”
“He never left the estate.”
Adrian stood.
“He’s in the old chapel.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked toward Victoria.
“He wants to talk.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“He can talk to police.”
“He says Daniel Mercer is alive.”
Clara spun around.
“What?”
“He says he can prove it.”
They went to the chapel.
Samuel stood near the altar.
No weapon visible.
Adrian’s men surrounded him.
“Hands where I can see them,” Adrian ordered.
Samuel obeyed.
Clara stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
Samuel smiled.
“Straight to business.”
“Where?”
“Alive, last I checked.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You told Richard he died.”
“I lied.”
“Where is he?” Clara screamed.
Samuel looked toward Adrian.
“I want immunity.”
Adrian laughed.
“I’m not the government.”
“But you know people.”
“Not enough to erase murder.”
Samuel shrugged.
“Then Clara never sees Daddy.”
Clara rushed toward him.
Adrian caught her.
Samuel smiled.
“Temper.”
Adrian wanted to break his neck.
Instead he said, “Proof.”
Samuel reached slowly into his jacket.
Several guns lifted.
“Relax.”
He removed a phone.
A video appeared.
An elderly man sat beside a window.
White hair.
Thin face.
He held a newspaper dated three days earlier.
Clara stared.
She had never met Daniel Mercer as an adult.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Her eyes.
The man looked into the camera.
“My name is Daniel Mercer.”
Clara’s knees nearly failed.
Adrian supported her.
Daniel continued.
“If Clara Bennett is seeing this, then Samuel has finally decided I’m useful.”
Clara touched the screen.
“Dad...”
The recording continued.
“Clara, Eleanor never told you about me because I asked her not to. I believed disappearing would save you.”
He swallowed.
“I was wrong.”
The video ended.
“Where?” Clara demanded.
Samuel smiled.
“Key first.”
“We don’t have it.”
“Cole does.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because Cole has become greedy.”
Samuel looked toward Adrian.
“He plans to sell the archive to the highest bidder.”
Adrian frowned.
“Who?”
“Everyone named inside it.”
That meant dozens of powerful people would be hunting Cole.
Samuel continued.
“And when they realize Clara can identify the archive’s contents through her mother’s notes, they’ll come for her.”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“Double security.”
Samuel laughed.
“You still think walls protect people.”
Then the chapel windows shattered.
Gunfire erupted.
Adrian threw Clara to the floor.
Security returned fire.
Victoria screamed.
Marcus dragged her behind a pew.
Adrian looked toward Samuel.
Gone.
Again.
“Who’s shooting?” Clara shouted.
Adrian looked through the broken window.
Three vehicles raced away through the trees.
One remained.
Its rear door opened.
A man was pushed out.
The vehicle sped away.
Adrian ran outside.
Clara followed.
The man lay face down on the wet ground.
Old.
Thin.
White-haired.
Clara stopped twenty feet away.
He slowly lifted his head.
His eyes found hers.
For twenty-six years, Daniel Mercer had imagined this moment.
So had Clara without knowing it.
His lips trembled.
“Clara?”
She began to cry.
Daniel tried to stand.
Then Adrian saw the blood spreading across his shirt.
“Call a doctor!”
Clara ran toward him.
Daniel collapsed into her arms.
Before losing consciousness, he whispered something against her ear.
Clara looked up at Adrian in horror.
“What did he say?” Adrian asked.
May you like
Clara stared toward the mansion.
“He said someone inside your house has been working for Samuel for twenty years.”
