Chapter 17 - The Original Ledger
Another shot punched through the wall.
Daniel crawled behind the overturned bench.
“What do you mean I have it?”
Laura pointed toward his father’s house key ring.
“The brass key Robert left Rachel opens more than Ashcroft.”
Rachel stared at the key in Daniel’s pocket.
“The hidden room safe.”
“It was empty,” Daniel said.
“The safe has a false bottom.”
Outside, state police returned fire toward the trees.
Samuel shouted, “Last chance!”
Laura fired the flare through the broken window.
Red light exploded across the shoreline, revealing Samuel crouched behind a truck.
Police moved.
Samuel ran toward the water.
Daniel chased him despite Rachel screaming his name.
Samuel reached the dock and turned with a pistol.
“You should have stayed ignorant.”
Daniel stopped.
“That was everyone’s favorite plan.”
Samuel smiled. “Your father understood. Truth doesn’t save families. It destroys them.”
“Then why are you still running from it?”
Samuel’s smile vanished.
A spotlight hit him from the police boat.
“Drop the weapon!”
Samuel looked at Daniel, then at the black water.
He threw the gun aside.
Police tackled him before he reached the edge.
By dawn, Samuel Price was in custody.
Daniel drove straight back to Chicago with Kim.
They opened the gray safe.
The false bottom lifted with the brass key.
Inside was the original Mercer-Hale ledger, signed inspection bribes, offshore transfers, and one sealed statement from Robert.
But there was something else.
A birth certificate.
Daniel frowned.
It was his.
Father: ROBERT MERCER.
Mother: LAURA MERCER.
Nothing unusual.
Then Emma noticed a second certificate underneath.
Same date.
Same hospital.
Different child.
A boy named Michael Mercer.
Daniel looked at Laura.
“Who is Michael?”
May you like
His mother sat down.
“My other son.”
