Chapter 7 - THE BROTHER IN ANTHONY'S HOUSE
Dominic crossed the space between them before anyone could stop him.
“Who?”
Leonard held his stare.
“You won't believe me.”
“Try.”
“You've known him most of your life.”
Frank's face tightened.
“Name.”
Leonard looked toward the warehouse windows.
Then at Helen.
“Anthony figured it out last year.”
Helen whispered:
“Who is Daniel?”
Leonard answered.
“Paul Mercer.”
Nobody understood at first.
Then Helen did.
Paul.
The security guard.
The same man who had appeared outside Anthony's study when Sabrina demanded to know what Helen put in her pocket.
The man caught with a signal jammer.
The man who had tried to reach Anthony's safe.
Paul had worked for the DeLucas for eleven years.
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
Leonard continued.
“His legal name is Paul Daniel Mercer.”
Frank stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Is it?”
“Michael's sons were identical twins?”
“No. Fraternal.”
Dominic had dark hair.
Paul was lighter.
Different build.
Different face.
Nothing that would make strangers immediately see brothers.
Yet Helen suddenly remembered Anthony watching Paul at Christmas dinner the previous year.
Not casually.
Studying him.
She had asked what was wrong.
Anthony said:
“Nothing.”
Another lie disguised as protection.
Rebecca asked:
“How did Anthony discover him?”
“DNA.”
“The same test?”
Leonard nodded.
“Anthony quietly tested several people after Margaret contacted him.”
Dominic looked sick.
“He knew Paul was my brother and kept him working security?”
“He was trying to determine whether Paul knew.”
Frank asked:
“Did he?”
Leonard smiled faintly.
“Ask Paul.”
Rebecca immediately called Marjorie.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Her face tightened.
“Paul was supposed to be transferred to a secure location.”
Dominic already had his phone out.
“Call the team.”
Rebecca did.
The answer came thirty seconds later.
Paul was gone.
Two men had arrived claiming to be federal investigators.
They had legitimate-looking credentials.
By the time Marjorie's team verified they were fake, Paul and the vehicle had vanished.
Frank cursed.
Helen asked:
“Did he escape or was he taken?”
“No idea.”
Sabrina looked at her father.
“You knew Paul was Dominic's brother.”
Leonard said nothing.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“And you didn't tell me.”
“For your protection.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Everybody loves that phrase.”
Leonard's eyes hardened.
“You have no idea what I protected you from.”
“You sent me into this family.”
“I needed access.”
“To money?”
“To Anthony.”
“Why?”
Leonard finally lost his temper.
“Because Anthony had Victor.”
Silence.
Frank stepped forward.
“What?”
“Victor didn't disappear by himself. Anthony hid him.”
Helen stared at Leonard.
“Where?”
“I spent thirty-nine years trying to find out.”
Rebecca said:
“Why would Anthony hide his brother?”
Leonard looked exhausted.
“Because Victor was the only living person who could prove Charles Cross ordered the attempt on Michael.”
Sabrina whispered:
“My grandfather.”
“Yes.”
“You worked for Grandpa.”
Leonard's mouth tightened.
“I was twenty-seven. I thought we were moving money.”
“And when you learned he was willing to kill?”
“I was already trapped.”
Sabrina's eyes filled.
“You could've walked away.”
“So could you.”
That silenced her.
Dominic looked at Leonard.
“And the forged documents now?”
Leonard glanced at him.
“Those were mine.”
“Why?”
“Because Anthony's death created an opportunity.”
“To steal eight million?”
“Not exactly.”
Helen almost laughed.
“People keep saying eight million as though stealing less would improve my opinion.”
Leonard looked at her.
“I needed control of the house.”
“Why?”
“Because Anthony hid Victor somewhere connected to the estate.”
Rebecca frowned.
“How did you know?”
“Anthony told me.”
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
Helen's heart tightened.
“What exactly did he say?”
Leonard smiled faintly.
“He said, ‘When I'm gone, you'll finally understand why the house belongs to Helen.’”
Rebecca looked at Helen.
Anthony had said nearly the same thing from his hospital bed.
This house stays yours.
They can't force you out.
I made sure.
The estate wasn't simply inheritance.
The mansion itself contained something.
Or someone.
Frank understood too.
“Victor.”
Leonard nodded.
“I searched the entire house.”
Helen stared.
“You've been inside Anthony's home for twenty-two years.”
“I never found him.”
“Maybe because Victor isn't there.”
“Then something identifying his location is.”
Rebecca looked suddenly thoughtful.
“The forged waiver transferred the house.”
Helen nodded.
“If Leonard controlled the property, he could tear it apart legally.”
Sabrina stared at her father.
“So marrying Dominic was supposed to help you get the house.”
Leonard said nothing.
She shook her head.
“And you let me believe you cared whether I loved him.”
“I care about you.”
“No.”
She looked at Dominic.
Then back at Leonard.
“You care about your plan.”
Dominic said nothing.
He was not ready to comfort her.
Helen didn't blame him.
Frank walked toward Rosa.
“Anthony ever mention a part of the mansion nobody used?”
Rosa thought.
“The old servants' wing.”
Helen frowned.
“That's been closed since the renovation.”
“Mr. Anthony went there sometimes.”
“When?”
“Late.”
Frank looked at Helen.
“How late?”
“After midnight.”
Helen's skin prickled.
For years she had assumed Anthony walked when he couldn't sleep.
She knew he went downstairs.
Never where.
Rebecca checked the time.
“We need to return before whoever has Paul reaches the house.”
Leonard laughed.
“Too late.”
Dominic glared at him.
“What now?”
“Paul knows the mansion better than any of you.”
Frank stepped toward Leonard.
“Did Paul know Anthony suspected him?”
“I don't know.”
“You know enough.”
Leonard shrugged.
“I know Anthony spent the final month making changes to hidden security systems.”
Helen thought of the steel room.
The recorder.
The secret safe.
How many more things had her husband built around her?
At 8:11, they returned to the DeLuca mansion.
Police took Leonard into custody on kidnapping, fraud, and weapons charges.
Sabrina watched him leave.
He did not look back at her.
For several seconds, she stood in the driveway in the rain.
Dominic passed her.
She quietly said:
“I really did love you.”
He stopped.
Helen watched from several feet away.
Dominic did not turn around.
“When did that start?”
Sabrina swallowed.
“I don't know.”
“That isn't good enough.”
“No.”
“You came into my life because your father told you to.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about who you were.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Anthony wasn't my biological father.”
“Yes.”
“You helped your father prepare papers that could've taken my mother's home.”
Sabrina's eyes filled.
“I didn't know those were forged until later.”
“But later came.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“And you still said nothing.”
“Yes.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
Then walked inside.
Sabrina did not follow.
Helen wanted to hate her.
Part of her did.
But she saw something familiar in Sabrina's face.
A person discovering that obedience could become guilt long before it felt like a choice.
Inside, Frank opened the sealed servants' wing.
Dust covered old furniture.
Plastic sheets hung over cabinets.
Dominic searched one room.
Rebecca another.
Helen entered the narrow corridor alone.
She remembered the mansion before renovations.
When Dominic was young.
When Anthony still came home early enough for dinner.
At the end of the corridor stood a door she didn't remember.
No handle.
Only a keypad.
Frank approached.
“New.”
“How new?”
He examined the frame.
“Few years.”
Rebecca joined them.
“Anthony's doing?”
“Probably.”
Helen stared at the keypad.
Four digits.
She entered Anthony's birthday.
Red.
Their anniversary.
Red.
Dominic's birthday.
Green.
The lock opened.
Nobody commented on that.
Inside was not a hidden bedroom.
It was an archive.
Shelves.
Boxes.
Photographs.
Financial records.
A wall covered with maps.
And at the center, a desk.
On it sat another recorder.
Helen pressed PLAY.
Anthony's voice.
“Helen.”
She closed her eyes.
“This is the last room.”
A pause.
“If you found it, then Leonard finally made his move.”
Rebecca looked at Frank.
Anthony continued.
“Victor is alive.”
Helen's pulse jumped.
“He helped me protect Michael's children.”
Dominic stared at the recorder.
“One stayed with us.”
Anthony's voice softened.
“Dominic.”
“And Victor took Daniel.”
Frank looked down.
“For years, I believed Daniel was safe.”
Anthony paused.
“I was wrong.”
Helen gripped the edge of the desk.
“Charles Cross found him.”
Sabrina had quietly entered the doorway behind them.
Nobody noticed until Anthony said her grandfather's name.
“He couldn't kill the boy without risking exposure, so he did something worse.”
Sabrina whispered:
“What?”
Anthony continued.
“He changed Daniel's identity.”
Helen looked at Dominic.
“He raised him around people loyal to Cross.”
Paul.
“He made sure the boy grew up believing the DeLucas had murdered his father.”
Dominic went pale.
Exactly the story Sabrina had been told.
Anthony continued.
“Last year, I confirmed Paul Mercer is Daniel Moretti.”
Frank covered his mouth.
“I brought him closer because I hoped blood would recognize blood before hatred finished the job.”
Dominic stared at the floor.
Anthony's voice trembled for the first time.
“I failed.”
A noise came from behind them.
The archive door slammed.
The lights died.
Frank turned.
“Paul?”
A voice came through the darkness.
Very close.
“Daniel.”
Dominic froze.
The lights flickered back on.
Paul stood at the far end of the room.
Gun in his hand.
Tears in his eyes.
“My name is Daniel.”
May you like
He looked directly at Dominic.
“And Anthony DeLuca murdered our father.”
