Chapter 5 - THE WIFE WHO NEVER DIED
Elise called again eighteen hours later.
This time, Julian was ready.
The call lasted thirty-seven seconds.
Long enough to trace.
Pennsylvania.
An abandoned convent converted into a private rehabilitation center.
We drove there before dawn.
Julian barely spoke.
I sat across from him in the SUV.
“You don’t have to bring me.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you?”
He looked at me.
“Because she called you.”
I understood.
Elise trusted me more than she trusted him.
That had to hurt.
The facility was nearly empty.
We found her in room fourteen.
She was thinner than the photographs.
Older.
Alive.
Julian stopped in the doorway.
“Elise.”
She began crying.
He did not move toward her.
Not yet.
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You watched me grieve.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
She looked at Mateo.
“Because Henry Mercer’s people were still watching.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“My father was dead.”
“His organization wasn’t.”
“What organization?”
Elise hesitated.
“The Black Ledger.”
Julian frowned.
She explained.
Henry Mercer had created a secret network hidden behind legitimate Mercer companies.
Political bribery.
Weapons trafficking.
Blackmail.
Gabriel discovered it first.
That was why he died.
“The warehouse fire?” Julian asked.
“Murder.”
Julian’s jaw clenched.
“And you?”
“I found Gabriel’s records after his death.”
“So they killed you too?”
“They tried.”
Dr. Keene helped Elise disappear.
He falsified the death certificate.
Changed medical records.
Moved her between private facilities.
“Why didn’t you contact me?”
“Because your father’s network had someone inside your household.”
Julian’s eyes sharpened.
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Then Elise looked at me.
“Sloane.”
My stomach tightened.
“You know her?”
“She found me six months ago.”
Julian’s face became dangerous.
“What did she want?”
“Gabriel’s fertility samples.”
“Why?”
“To create an heir.”
“To me?”
“No.”
Elise looked terrified.
“To the Mercer trust.”
Julian frowned.
“The trust recognizes Gabriel’s biological descendants.”
“Yes.”
“And if Gabriel has a living child?”
“Your controlling share drops below fifty percent.”
Julian understood.
“Sloane wanted leverage.”
“More than leverage.”
Elise looked toward the door.
“Your father created a sealed succession file.”
“Where?”
“Inside the trust vault.”
“What does it contain?”
“Proof of the Black Ledger network.”
“And only Gabriel’s heir can open it?”
“Yes.”
The unborn baby was not about family.
It was a key.
Sloane planned to pose as the mother of Gabriel’s child.
Marry Julian.
Kill him during the honeymoon.
Then use the baby to seize control of both sides of the Mercer estate.
I felt sick.
Julian asked:
“Who helped her?”
Elise looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“Someone you trust.”
“Name.”
She shook her head.
“I only saw him once.”
“Describe him.”
“Older. Silver hair. Scar near his thumb.”
Julian went still.
Mateo looked equally shocked.
I whispered:
“Who?”
Julian’s voice dropped.
“My godfather.”
Charles Mercer.
His father’s younger brother.
The man who had raised Julian after Henry’s death.
Then Elise said something worse.
“Julian…”
He looked at her.
“Charles didn’t help Sloane create the plan.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“He created Sloane.”
