PART 6 — MY MOTHER'S SECRET
My mother's name was Margaret.
She had been dead for eleven years.
Yet Daniel had just told me she was the original owner of the company.
I stared at him.
“That isn't possible.”
He didn't answer.
“Daniel, my mother never had anything to do with Mercer Logistics.”
“She did.”
“No.”
“She did, Elizabeth.”
I shook my head.
“My father founded the company.”
Daniel looked at me sadly.
“That is what everyone was supposed to believe.”
Laura stepped between us.
“We need to leave.”
I looked at her.
“Where?”
“Somewhere secure.”
“No.”
I held up the brass key.
“I'm going to the bank.”
Laura frowned.
“That's exactly what whoever sent those messages wants you to do.”
“Maybe.”
“But we don't know what's waiting there.”
I looked at Daniel.
“He does.”
Daniel nodded.
“And that's why I'm coming.”
Laura hesitated.
Then she made a decision.
“Fine. But we go together.”
Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the private bank.
The streets were nearly empty.
Snow covered the sidewalks.
Daniel parked beneath an underground entrance.
“Vault 317 is downstairs.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I was there once.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“For Victor?”
He shook his head.
“For your mother.”
We entered the building.
The security guard checked Laura's identification.
Then he looked at me.
His expression changed.
“Elizabeth Mercer?”
“Yes.”
He reached beneath the counter.
“There was an instruction left for you.”
My heart began pounding.
“What instruction?”
He handed me a sealed envelope.
My name was written across it.
I opened it.
Inside was a single sentence.
If Elizabeth ever comes looking for Box 317, let her in.
No signature.
But I knew the handwriting.
My mother's.
I nearly dropped the paper.
“She wrote this?”
Daniel nodded.
“She knew this day would come.”
We descended into the vault.
The number 317 was at the end of the corridor.
My hands trembled as I inserted the key.
It clicked.
The metal door opened.
Inside was a small wooden box.
Nothing else.
I carried it to the table.
Laura stood beside me.
Daniel remained near the door.
I opened the box.
Inside were three objects.
A photograph.
A USB drive.
And a letter.
I picked up the photograph first.
It showed my mother standing beside three men.
My father.
Charles.
And another man.
I didn't recognize him.
Daniel did.
He whispered:
“Victor.”
I looked closer.
The photograph was dated thirty years earlier.
On the back, my mother's handwriting read:
The four people who built the empire.
I turned toward Daniel.
“You said my father didn't own the company.”
“He didn't.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel pointed to my mother.
“She did.”
I stared at the photograph.
“Why would she give it to my father?”
“She didn't.”
He looked at me.
“She gave him control.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your mother created the company.”
My mind struggled to process it.
“Why?”
“To protect your family.”
“From what?”
Daniel's eyes darkened.
“Victor.”
I picked up the letter.
The envelope had my name on it.
I opened it.
My mother's handwriting filled the page.
My dearest Elizabeth,
If you're reading this, then the people I feared finally found a way to reach you.
My vision blurred.
I continued.
I need you to know that your father never betrayed me. Charles did.
I looked at Daniel.
Laura leaned closer.
The letter continued.
Thirty years ago, I discovered that Victor was using our company to move money belonging to people who could destroy us. I tried to stop him.
That's when I learned the truth. Victor wasn't working alone.
I stopped reading.
“Who was he working with?”
Daniel's expression changed.
I looked back at the letter.
The next sentence answered me.
He was working with someone inside my own family.
I felt sick.
I kept reading.
Charles.
I looked toward Daniel.
“So Charles betrayed her.”
“Yes.”
The letter continued.
I transferred the controlling shares into a private trust. I named Elizabeth as the eventual beneficiary.
My hands froze.
“What?”
Daniel nodded.
“That's why you became majority shareholder.”
I stared at him.
“But I bought the shares.”
“You bought the shares that were publicly available.”
He pointed toward the document.
“The trust shares were already yours.”
I couldn't speak.
Everything suddenly made sense.
My father's mysterious inheritance.
The shares Daniel had pressured me to transfer.
The company's desperate financial situation.
The acquisition.
It had all been part of something much bigger.
Then I reached the final paragraph.
Elizabeth, there is one person you must never trust.
My heart stopped.
I read the next line.
It is not Charles.
I looked at Daniel.
He went completely still.
I continued.
It is someone you have known since childhood.
My breathing became shallow.
Daniel stepped toward me.
“Elizabeth…”
I held up the letter.
“Who?”
He didn't answer.
I looked at the final line.
And if Daniel is with you when you read this, do not believe him.
Silence.
I slowly lowered the letter.
Daniel's face had gone pale.
Laura immediately reached for her weapon.
“Step away from her.”
Daniel didn't move.
“I can explain.”
I stared at him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my mother wrote this.”
“Yes.”
“And you still brought me here.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His voice cracked.
“Because I had no choice.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone says that.”
Daniel looked at me.
“I didn't know what was in the letter.”
“But you knew she warned me about you.”
He shook his head.
“I knew she didn't trust me.”
“Why?”
“Because I lied to her.”
I stared at him.
“What did you lie about?”
Daniel looked down.
Then he said something that made the entire room go silent.
“I wasn't the one who saved your father that night.”
My blood ran cold.
“Then who was?”
Daniel looked at Laura.
Then at me.
“The person who saved your father…”
He swallowed.
“…was your mother.”
I froze.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does.”
He stepped closer.
“Your mother wasn't dead eleven years ago.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
Daniel whispered:
“She disappeared.”
“No.”
“She disappeared the same week your father came back.”
I shook my head.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
He pointed toward the USB drive.
“Everything is on there.”
I picked it up.
Before I could open it, the lights inside the vault suddenly went out.
Laura shouted.
“Everyone stay still!”
A metallic sound came from behind us.
The vault door was closing.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Run!”
We rushed toward the exit.
But the door slammed shut.
We were trapped.
Then a voice came through the intercom.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Familiar.
A voice I hadn't heard in eleven years.
“Elizabeth…”
I stopped breathing.
The voice continued:
“I'm sorry you had to find out this way.”
I dropped the USB drive.
Because I knew that voice.
It was my mother.
And she was alive.
