Chapter 11 - The Man at the Door
Claire aimed the pistol at the door.
Julian moved Leo behind him.
The knock came again.
Three slow taps.
Claire opened the side panel beside the door and looked through.
Her hand began to shake.
“Oh my God.”
She unlocked it.
A thin man with a gray beard stepped inside.
Nolan staggered backward.
“Charles?”
Julian forgot how to speak.
His father had been declared dead after a private plane crashed in the Atlantic three years earlier.
No body had been recovered.
The man looked older, weaker, but unmistakable.
Charles Mercer.
Julian’s father.
Leo whispered, “Grandpa?”
Charles looked at him and broke down.
Julian shoved him against the wall.
“You’re alive.”
“I can explain.”
“You let me bury an empty coffin.”
“I had to disappear.”
“You left me with this mess.”
“I was trying to keep you out of it.”
Julian nearly hit him.
Claire stepped between them. “Not in front of Leo.”
Charles looked at the flash drive.
“Amelia found the second ledger.”
“So you killed her?” Julian demanded.
“No.”
“Your people cut her brake line.”
“My people?” Charles laughed weakly. “Eleanor was never my employee by the end. She worked for Adrian Cross’s uncle, Grant.”
Nolan went pale.
Charles continued. “Grant used her to move Cross money through Mercer accounts, then made it look like I stole it. I did steal some. I’m not asking for sainthood. But not what Amelia found.”
Claire stared. “You’re saying the ledger points to Grant?”
“Yes.”
Julian’s phone buzzed.
A video message.
Eleanor appeared on screen, sitting calmly in a hotel room.
“Hello, Julian.”
Behind her, bound to a chair, was one of Julian’s security officers.
Eleanor smiled.
“You have something I need. I have something you need.”
The camera shifted.
A second chair came into view.
Maya gasped.
In it sat Julian’s attorney, Rebecca Shaw.
May you like
Eleanor leaned toward the camera.
“Bring me Amelia’s drive by noon, or the divorce papers will be the least of your problems.”
