Chapter 10 - THE LETTER MY MOTHER NEVER SENT
We reached Aster Row at 2:11 a.m.
Sloane was gone.
The archive room was burning.
Fire suppression systems limited the damage, but dozens of files were destroyed.
My mother’s was not.
Someone had removed it before the fire.
Then I noticed the old employee locker wall.
My mother had once worked at Aster Row too.
Not just for Henry Mercer.
That detail had been hidden.
Locker 117 still had a brass plate.
K. CALLAHAN.
I tried the handle.
Locked.
Mateo broke it.
Inside was one envelope.
Yellowed.
Sealed.
My name on the front.
Tess.
My hands shook.
Julian stood beside me.
“You can read it alone.”
“No.”
I opened it.
My sweet girl,
If you ever find this, then Charles has entered your life.
My stomach tightened.
He will tell you he is your father.
That part is true.
I stopped reading.
Julian touched my shoulder.
I continued.
What he will never tell you is why he wanted a child.
My skin went cold.
Charles believed Henry planned to exclude him permanently from the Mercer estate.
He wanted a biological descendant he could use as leverage.
I felt sick.
My mother had been twenty-three when Charles began seeing her.
He promised marriage.
He lied.
When she became pregnant, she discovered documents proving he intended to claim custody once I was born.
So she ran.
Henry Mercer helped her.
That shocked Julian.
“My father helped?”
The letter explained.
Henry was ruthless, but even he believed Charles had gone too far.
He created a secret account for Kathleen and me.
Protected our identities.
Then wrote one final warning:
Charles will eventually look for you if the Mercer line becomes unstable.
If Julian has no child, Charles may try to use you.
I stared at the sentence.
“Use me how?”
Julian understood first.
“The trust.”
I looked at him.
Charles’s children might have succession rights.
Which meant me.
If Julian died without an heir, and Gabriel had no recognized child, Charles could push his own descendant into the bloodline structure.
Me.
My stomach turned.
“He planned to use me as a backup heir.”
“Yes.”
Then Mateo found another page.
A handwritten amendment from Henry.
TESS CALLAHAN SHALL NEVER BE COMPELLED, COERCED, OR PLACED INTO THE MERCER SUCCESSION WITHOUT HER EXPLICIT CONSENT.
Below it:
IF CHARLES ATTEMPTS TO DO SO, HIS ENTIRE BLOODLINE CLAIM IS VOID.
I almost laughed.
Henry Mercer had trapped Charles twenty-seven years ago.
Julian looked toward me.
“Your mother protected you.”
“Yes.”
“And my father helped.”
“Apparently monsters can occasionally do decent things.”
He gave a humorless smile.
“Fair.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Applause.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Sloane stood in the doorway.
Gun in her hand.
“Beautiful.”
Security moved.
She pressed the barrel against Brynn’s head.
Brynn was crying.
“You really thought I came back for paperwork?”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“What do you want?”
Sloane looked at me.
“Her.”
I froze.
“Why?”
“Because Charles is finished.”
May you like
She smiled.
“And I need a new Mercer heir.”
