Chapter 6
Daniel listened to Rachel’s recovered recording in the back seat of Detective Reyes’s car.
Her voice shook.
That frightened him most.
Rachel had rarely sounded afraid.
“If Daniel hears this, I didn’t make it to him.”
Daniel covered his mouth.
Reyes sat silently beside him.
Rachel continued.
“Michael knows I found the accounts. Eleanor knows too. Thomas Vale is alive. They have him hidden somewhere at the old Mercer house.”
Daniel stared through the windshield.
Rain had started tapping against the glass.
“I’m going to the police tonight. I tried calling Daniel, but someone has access to his messages. I don’t know who I can trust.”
Then Rachel said something quieter.
“If anything happens to me, protect Sophie.”
The recording ended.
Daniel could not move.
Four years.
For four years, he had believed Rachel died because of mechanical failure.
For four years, Sophie had grown up without her mother.
For four years, Eleanor and Michael had sat at his table.
Had hugged him.
Had told him grief would pass.
Daniel suddenly remembered Michael at the funeral.
His uncle had held his shoulder and said, “Sometimes terrible things happen for no reason.”
Daniel almost became sick.
Detective Reyes’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“When?”
She listened.
“Block the airports.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“What happened?”
She ended the call.
“Michael Mercer left his Chicago residence forty minutes ago.”
“Where is he going?”
“We don’t know.”
Daniel immediately called Marcus.
No answer.
He called again.
Still nothing.
Then a text arrived.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
Stop digging.
Daniel showed Reyes.
Another message arrived.
You already lost one wife.
Daniel’s face went cold.
A third message.
Don’t lose your daughter too.
Reyes immediately took the phone.
“We need Sophie moved.”
Daniel’s heart began racing.
“She’s at my house.”
“With officers.”
“Not enough.”
They drove back under escort.
When Daniel entered, Sophie ran into his arms.
He nearly collapsed from relief.
Marcus appeared from the security hallway.
“Sorry, sir. My phone died while we were isolating the system.”
Daniel grabbed his shoulder.
“We have a threat.”
Marcus read the messages.
His expression hardened.
“We relocate now.”
“Where?”
“No family property.”
“No hotels registered to your name.”
Detective Reyes arranged a secure location.
Daniel packed nothing except Sophie’s clothes, her rabbit, and Rachel’s photo album.
Claire approached him before he left.
“Daniel.”
He almost ignored her.
Then stopped.
“What?”
“I know I have no right to ask you for anything.”
“You’re correct.”
“But Eleanor gave me something months ago.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“A key.”
Claire took a small silver key from her purse.
“She said it opened a safe-deposit box.”
“Why give it to you?”
“She said if anything happened to her, I should protect the Mercer family.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Which Mercer family?”
Claire looked ashamed.
“I thought she meant you.”
Daniel examined the key.
There was a bank code stamped on one side.
Detective Reyes placed it into evidence.
Claire continued.
“There’s more.”
Daniel waited.
“Eleanor talked about Sophie.”
His jaw tightened.
“What did she say?”
“She said Sophie reminded you too much of Rachel.”
Daniel looked toward his daughter.
“She said as long as Sophie was around, you would never fully move on.”
“And you still visited her?”
Claire started crying.
“I believed Eleanor when she said Sophie needed stability.”
“She had stability.”
“I know that now.”
“No. You knew she had a father.”
Claire had no answer.
Daniel walked away.
The secure house belonged to the police department’s witness-protection unit.
It was plain.
Small.
Quiet.
Sophie loved it immediately.
“Can we stay here?”
Daniel forced a smile.
“For a little while.”
“No Vanessa?”
“No.”
“No Grandma?”
“No.”
Sophie relaxed.
That alone told Daniel how badly he had failed to see her fear.
That night, she slept beside him.
At 3:06 a.m., Daniel woke to the sound of her whispering.
“Mommy.”
He sat up.
Sophie was asleep.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
“Mommy, don’t go.”
Daniel gently woke her.
She opened her eyes.
“Daddy?”
“You were dreaming.”
Sophie looked around.
Then hugged him.
Daniel held her until morning.
At eight, Detective Reyes arrived.
“We opened the safe-deposit box.”
Daniel stood.
“And?”
“Cash. Passports. Two phones. A flash drive.”
“Whose passports?”
“Eleanor’s.”
“Running money?”
“Looks like it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“So Claire was her escape plan.”
“Possibly.”
“What’s on the drive?”
Reyes hesitated.
“Video.”
Daniel knew from her face.
“Rachel?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Your father.”
Daniel stopped.
Richard Mercer had died seven years before Rachel.
Official cause: heart attack.
Reyes placed a laptop on the kitchen table.
The recording showed Richard sitting in his office.
The date was thirteen years earlier.
Richard looked furious.
“If you’re watching this, then Eleanor has gone too far.”
Daniel’s breath caught.
His father continued.
“I discovered money missing from the foundation. Eleanor says Michael moved it for tax reasons. Michael says Eleanor authorized everything. They are both lying.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Richard leaned toward the camera.
“Thomas Vale has the original ledgers. I told him to make copies.”
Daniel looked at Reyes.
Thomas had disappeared two years after this recording.
Richard continued.
“I made a mistake trusting blood over facts.”
Daniel felt those words like a knife.
His father had made the same mistake Daniel later made.
The recording shifted.
“If something happens to me, Daniel must receive control of my private shares. Not Eleanor. Not Michael.”
Daniel frowned.
He had received those shares.
Richard continued.
“But there is one more thing Daniel doesn’t know.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“I changed Sophie’s inheritance structure.”
Daniel froze.
Sophie had not been born when this recording was made.
Reyes noticed immediately.
“That doesn’t match the date.”
Daniel stared.
“Then the timestamp is wrong.”
Marcus was called remotely.
He examined the metadata.
“The file has been edited.”
“By who?”
“Unknown.”
Reyes frowned.
“Could this be a fabricated recording?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Parts may be authentic. But something was inserted later.”
Daniel replayed the last sentence.
I changed Sophie’s inheritance structure.
His father could never have said Sophie’s name.
Someone wanted Daniel to believe he had.
“Why?”
Then another file appeared on the drive.
A document.
TITLE:
CONTINGENCY TRANSFER — SOPHIA MERCER TRUST
Daniel’s hands went cold.
Sophie’s legal name was Sophia.
He opened it.
The trust controlled assets worth nearly three hundred million dollars.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
He had never seen it.
The beneficiary was Sophie.
The trustee was Daniel.
But if Daniel became incapacitated or legally unfit, control transferred to Eleanor Mercer.
And if Eleanor could not serve?
Michael Mercer.
Daniel finally understood.
This was not only about hating Rachel.
It was not only about controlling his family.
Sophie was worth a fortune.
Vanessa had been pushing her out.
Eleanor had been building a case that Sophie was unstable.
And someone had just threatened Daniel.
Detective Reyes looked at the document.
“If this is real, your daughter is the center of all of it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She’s four.”
“That doesn’t matter to people who want three hundred million dollars.”
Daniel looked toward the bedroom where Sophie slept.
Then his phone rang.
Blocked number.
Reyes signaled him to answer.
Daniel put it on speaker.
A man’s voice said, “Hello, nephew.”
Daniel went still.
“Michael.”
His uncle laughed softly.
“You finally figured out the money.”
“Where are you?”
“Far enough away.”
“You killed Rachel.”
Silence.
Then Michael answered.
“Your mother wants you to believe that.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Eleanor didn’t tell you the biggest secret.”
“What secret?”
May you like
Michael laughed.
“Rachel didn’t die in that car.”
