Chapter 5 - The Secret My Father Died For
Liam hit me before the second shot came.
Not with his fist.
With his entire body.
He threw himself sideways and knocked me behind the bed as another bullet punched through the window.
Glass rained across the floor.
Leo fired toward the trees.
“Shooter!”
Liam landed hard beside me.
His face turned white.
Then I saw blood.
“Your stitches.”
“Forget them.”
“Absolutely not.”
He shoved the memory card into my palm.
“Protect that.”
Another shot struck the wall.
Leo dragged Catherine toward the hallway while guards flooded the room.
I pressed both hands against Liam's abdomen.
Warm blood soaked through my fingers.
“Stay awake.”
“I'm awake.”
“You're bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
“This is what happens when patients don't listen.”
He actually laughed.
Then his eyes closed.
“Liam!”
I slapped his cheek.
His eyes reopened.
“Don't ever do that again.”
“Then stop passing out.”
The next twenty minutes became medicine instead of fear.
Pressure.
IV.
Vitals.
Fresh dressing.
Dr. Ellis arrived with a surgical kit.
I almost attacked him before Catherine stopped me.
“He's loyal.”
“He kidnapped Tommy.”
“I relocated him,” Ellis said.
“Not helping.”
Despite everything, Leo snorted.
We stabilized Liam without moving him.
Only after his blood pressure recovered did anyone remember the memory card.
Catherine produced a secure laptop.
I inserted it.
One audio file appeared.
DANIEL_17.
My hands shook when I clicked.
Static.
Then my father's voice.
Twelve years disappeared.
“If anyone finds this, my name is Daniel Bennett.”
I covered my mouth.
Tommy had been ten when Dad died.
I had been sixteen.
I hadn't heard his voice in years.
The recording continued.
“I witnessed Patrick Mercer order the execution of Anthony Rivas on February seventh. I also heard him discuss payments to Judge Raymond Calder and his brother Victor.”
Liam looked at Catherine.
“Judge Calder?”
“Victor's older brother.”
Dad's voice continued.
“I've copied names, account numbers, and dates. If something happens to me, Catherine Mercer knows why.”
The recording ended.
I stared at Catherine.
“You knew.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you go to the police?”
“My husband owned police officers.”
“The FBI?”
“He had people there too.”
“So you did nothing.”
“I got you and your mother out of Chicago.”
I froze.
“What?”
“The insurance settlement wasn't insurance.”
My childhood rearranged itself in seconds.
The mysterious payout after Dad died.
The mortgage suddenly cleared.
Mom moving us to Wisconsin.
“It was you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Patrick had ordered someone to watch your family.”
Liam's voice was cold.
“My father.”
Catherine nodded.
“He believed Daniel might have given the evidence to his wife.”
“And did he?”
“No.”
“He gave it to his daughter without her knowing,” I whispered.
The paperback.
Dad had handed it to me days before he died.
He'd told me every nurse needed a book for long nights.
I had kept it for twelve years.
Liam looked sick.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
“My family killed your father.”
“Your father did.”
“My family protected him.”
He looked toward Catherine.
“And apparently we're still doing it.”
Catherine flinched.
I should have hated Liam.
Part of me wanted to.
But I remembered him throwing his wounded body over mine.
“You didn't know.”
“That doesn't erase it.”
“No.”
I looked at the blood on my hands.
“It doesn't.”
Leo interrupted.
“The memory card may contain hidden files.”
It did.
A technician recovered them two hours later.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Names.
And one document dated three weeks before my father's death.
A list of payments authorized by Patrick Mercer.
One recipient made Liam stand despite my protests.
DR. SAMUEL ELLIS.
Everyone looked at the physician.
Ellis went pale.
“I can explain.”
Leo raised his gun.
“Start.”
Ellis slowly lifted his hands.
“Patrick paid me.”
“For what?” Liam demanded.
“To falsify Daniel Bennett's autopsy.”
I stopped breathing.
Ellis looked at me.
“Your father didn't die instantly in the crash.”
“What?”
“He survived.”
My knees weakened.
“For how long?”
“Forty-three minutes.”
“Was he conscious?”
“Yes.”
“Could he have lived?”
Ellis didn't answer.
That was the answer.
I crossed the room and struck him.
Once.
Twice.
Leo caught me.
“You let him die!”
“I was threatened.”
“So was my father!”
“I had children.”
“So did he!”
Ellis began crying.
I hated him more for that.
Then he said, “I tried to make it right.”
“How?”
“Tommy.”
I froze.
“What about Tommy?”
“The trial.”
Ellis looked at Catherine.
“She didn't arrange it.”
Catherine frowned.
Ellis looked at me.
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I've watched your family for twelve years.”
“You watched my brother get cancer?”
“No. I watched from a distance. When his treatment failed, I used every contact I had.”
My anger didn't disappear.
But it became complicated.
“I don't forgive you.”
“I know.”
“Maybe I never will.”
“I know.”
Liam spoke.
“Who gave Calder information about Nora?”
Ellis wiped his face.
“I don't know.”
“Who knew she was coming?”
“Leo. Catherine. Me. You.”
The room went silent.
Four people.
Then Catherine said, “Five.”
Everyone turned.
“The staffing agency.”
Liam's expression changed.
“Who processed her application?”
Leo checked his tablet.
Then went still.
“Rachel Mercer.”
Liam whispered, “My sister.”
I looked at him.
“You have a sister?”
“She manages the family's legitimate companies.”
Catherine shook her head.
“Rachel would never help Calder.”
Leo turned the tablet around.
An email showed my full application.
My address.
Tommy's hospital.
Emergency contacts.
It had been forwarded from Rachel's account.
To an encrypted address.
Three weeks ago.
Liam's face became unreadable.
“Where is she?”
Leo answered quietly.
“She's downstairs.”
A woman's voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
We turned.
A beautiful brunette stood there with tears running down her cheeks.
Rachel Mercer looked at her brother.
“I'm right here.”
May you like
Then she raised both hands.
And in one of them was a detonator.
