Chapter 4 - THE SON ERASED FROM THE FAMILY
Gabriel’s brother had been named Julian Mercer.
He was two years older.
No public obituary connected him to Patricia.
His death certificate listed the mother as unknown and described him as an unmarried construction consultant who died from an accidental overdose.
Naomi found his name in old incorporation records.
Julian co-founded Mercer Urban Partners with Thomas.
Gabriel joined only after both men died.
“They erased him,” I said.
Lena nodded.
“Or tried to.”
We met secretly inside a private rehabilitation clinic where my burns were being treated under another physician. Gabriel believed I was attending routine wound care.
Julian’s death occurred twelve days after Thomas’s.
Both men had recently attempted to remove Patricia from the company.
Thomas wanted to repay investors after discovering manipulated property valuations.
Julian supported him.
Gabriel inherited their combined shares after signing documents Patricia prepared.
“Did Gabriel know?” I asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
The hidden recordings suggested he feared Patricia but obeyed her.
Fear did not erase what he had done to me.
Still, the difference mattered for understanding the conspiracy.
Lena obtained sealed toxicology records.
Thomas’s blood contained a heart medication he had never been prescribed.
Julian’s contained the same sedative Dr. Ross offered me.
Patricia had used medical professionals before.
Dr. Ross was not only helping create false psychiatric claims.
He was connected to both deaths.
His suspension frightened him.
He requested immunity.
Prosecutors offered protection only if he provided evidence.
Ross admitted Patricia ordered him to prepare medications for Thomas and Julian. He claimed another physician administered them.
That physician died in a boating accident five years earlier.
The pattern of convenient deaths continued.
Ross also revealed Patricia’s next plan for me.
She intended to manufacture a fall from the condo balcony.
My injuries and pain medication would make the death look accidental.
Gabriel would inherit under the marriage agreement—unless the protection clause blocked him.
That was why Patricia desperately needed control of the trust first.
“Does Gabriel know about the balcony?” I asked.
Ross looked away.
“He was present when she discussed it.”
The answer removed the last illusion.
Whatever fear controlled my husband, he had listened to plans for my death and remained beside her.
We decided to force them into revealing more.
Naomi arranged a false notification suggesting the trust restriction could be removed only through an original paper certificate stored in my father’s private office inside the condo.
No such certificate existed.
But Gabriel and Patricia believed it did.
That night, I pretended to fall asleep early.
At 1:17 a.m., Gabriel entered the guest room.
He checked my breathing.
Then he took my phone from the bedside table.
The device was a decoy.
My real phone was hidden beneath the mattress.
Gabriel left.
Through the camera feed, I watched Patricia enter using the access code again.
They moved toward my father’s office.
Patricia carried tools.
Gabriel whispered, “What if she wakes?”
“You gave her the tablets?”
“She took one.”
I had pretended to swallow it.
“Then she will sleep.”
They searched the desk, wall safe, and shelves.
Patricia tore apart my father’s personal files.
Gabriel found a locked drawer.
Inside was another decoy.
A flash drive labeled MERCER INVESTIGATION.
Patricia inserted it into the computer.
The drive copied data from the device automatically.
It also activated a live communication link with Lena’s team.
On screen appeared fabricated documents suggesting my father knew Thomas Mercer had been murdered and possessed a recording of Patricia ordering it.
Patricia went pale.
Gabriel looked at her.
“Did you kill Dad?”
She closed the laptop.
“This is not the time.”
“Answer me.”
“Your father was going to send you to prison.”
“For what?”
“For helping falsify the company accounts.”
Gabriel stepped backward.
“I didn’t know they were false.”
“You signed them.”
“Because you told me to.”
“Exactly. You have always needed someone stronger to decide for you.”
His face collapsed.
“Did you kill Julian too?”
“He betrayed us.”
“He was my brother.”
“He was going to expose your signatures.”
Gabriel looked ill.
Patricia had just confessed to motive and involvement.
But Lena wanted the method.
Gabriel shouted, “How did you do it?”
Patricia grabbed his arm.
“Lower your voice.”
“You poisoned them?”
“I protected the company.”
The office door opened.
Detective Lena Morales entered with four officers.
Patricia’s face became blank.
Gabriel stared.
I stepped from the hallway on crutches.
“You were supposed to be asleep,” he whispered.
“You were supposed to be my husband.”
Patricia ran toward the balcony.
An officer blocked her.
She reached inside her coat.
Lena drew her weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Patricia slowly removed a small syringe.
The same sedative used in Julian’s death.
She had brought it for me.
Officers arrested her for assault, attempted fraud, conspiracy, and possession of a controlled substance with apparent criminal intent.
Gabriel was handcuffed for conspiracy and attempted property theft.
As they led him away, he looked at me.
“I didn’t know she would actually kill you.”
“You knew she was planning it.”
“I thought I could stop her later.”
I remembered him stepping over my burned body.
Watching his mother grab my injured leg.
Allowing a false medical story.
“You never stopped anything that cost you comfort.”
The elevator doors closed between us.
I believed the danger was finally contained.
Then Naomi called.
Someone had accessed the property trust during the arrests.
An emergency transfer moved eight million dollars into an offshore account.
The authorization carried my biometric signature.
Someone had stolen it from the hospital.
May you like
Patricia and Gabriel were not the only people inside the plan.
My surgeon was involved.
