Chapter 9 - The Father Everyone Feared
Dante did not speak for ten minutes.
That was how Nora knew he was furious.
Men like him did not need to shout.
They became quieter.
Victor Mercer arrived under police escort shortly after midnight.
Dante watched through the interview-room glass.
Victor was six years younger, leaner, polished in the way wealthy men became polished when they spent their lives believing consequences were negotiable.
The black stone ring was gone.
Walsh noticed immediately.
“Where’s your ring?”
Victor looked at his hand.
“Lost it.”
“When?”
“A few days ago.”
Nora muttered, “Convenient.”
Dante heard.
He said nothing.
Walsh showed Victor a photograph of Teresa’s damaged car.
Victor leaned back.
“Never seen it.”
“Witness says the driver pursuing her wore your ring.”
“Half of Chicago wears rings.”
“Not custom Mercer signet rings.”
Victor’s expression tightened.
Dante’s father had apparently commissioned three.
One for himself.
One for Dante.
One for Victor when he turned twenty-one.
Dante never wore his.
Victor wore his constantly.
Until now.
Walsh placed another photograph on the table.
Traffic camera.
Black SUV.
License plate unreadable.
But the vehicle model matched one owned by a Mercer construction subsidiary.
Victor laughed.
“We own eighty vehicles like that.”
“Your division owns seven.”
“You think I personally track SUVs?”
Walsh leaned forward.
“I think your nephew was poisoned, escaped, and someone in a vehicle belonging to your division followed him.”
Victor’s confidence cracked.
Only slightly.
“I didn’t poison Eli.”
Walsh waited.
“I love that kid.”
“Then help us.”
Victor looked toward the mirrored glass.
He knew Dante was there.
“I want to talk to my brother.”
Walsh refused.
Victor insisted.
Finally Dante entered.
Nora watched from the other side.
Victor stood.
“Dante.”
Dante remained near the door.
“You lied to me.”
“I met Reed. That’s all.”
“You gave him money.”
“He said you were going to destroy him.”
“He tried to kill my son.”
“I didn’t know.”
“The SUV.”
Victor rubbed his face.
“I lent it.”
“To Reed?”
“To someone working for him.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know his real name.”
Dante’s control finally slipped.
He crossed the room and slammed both hands onto the table.
Victor flinched.
“You gave a vehicle to a man whose name you didn’t know?”
“He said it was for company security.”
“My son was inside that car’s path.”
“I didn’t know!”
Dante stared at him.
Victor’s eyes filled.
“I swear to you.”
Dante stepped back.
Nora watched something painful move between the brothers.
Years of resentment.
Competition.
Love buried beneath both.
“Why did Reed message you about Friday?” Dante asked.
Victor looked down.
“Because I thought you were going to be removed as CEO.”
Dante frowned.
“What?”
“He told me the board was ready.”
“There is no vote.”
“I know that now.”
Victor’s laugh was bitter.
“He said you’d finally screwed up badly enough that the trust would intervene.”
Dante stared.
“Eli’s trust.”
Victor closed his eyes.
And suddenly understood.
“Oh, God.”
“You idiot.”
“I thought he meant a legal challenge.”
“He was talking about my son’s death.”
Victor’s face collapsed.
“I didn’t know.”
For once Dante believed him.
Not because Victor deserved blind trust.
Because horror like that was difficult to fake when it arrived all at once.
Victor covered his face.
“I wanted your chair.”
Dante said nothing.
“I hated living behind you. Dad chose you for everything.”
His voice broke.
“But I would never—”
“I know.”
Victor looked up.
Two brothers stared at each other through decades of damage.
Then Victor said something unexpected.
“Reed wasn’t working for me.”
“Who then?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you know something.”
Victor hesitated.
Dante stepped closer.
“Enough.”
Victor exhaled.
“Halcyon.”
Dante went still.
“What about them?”
“They approached me last year.”
“For what?”
“To convince you to sell.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I thought I could use them to pressure you.”
Nora closed her eyes.
Rich men, she thought, had astonishing ways of making bad decisions.
Victor continued.
“They wanted access to the South Harbor terminals.”
“Why?”
“They said expansion.”
“Lie.”
“I know.”
“When did you know?”
“When Reed told me to prepare for Friday.”
Dante stared.
“You still met him.”
“I wanted proof.”
“Did you get any?”
Victor reached into his jacket slowly.
Walsh moved.
Victor raised both hands.
“Phone.”
He pulled out a second phone.
Cheap prepaid device.
“I recorded him.”
Dante’s eyes sharpened.
Victor unlocked it.
The recording began.
Reed’s voice was unmistakable.
“You wanted your chance, Victor. Friday gives it to you.”
Victor’s voice:
“What happens Friday?”
A pause.
Then Reed:
“Your brother learns what loss does to a man.”
Victor:
“What the hell does that mean?”
Reed laughed.
“You don’t need details.”
Victor:
“If Eli is involved, I’m out.”
Long silence.
Then Reed:
“You were always too sentimental.”
The recording ended.
Walsh looked at Dante.
“That helps.”
“Not enough.”
“No.”
Victor spoke.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Reed mentioned a place.”
“Where?”
“South Harbor Warehouse Seventeen.”
Dante knew it.
One of the oldest Mercer properties.
Mostly unused.
Victor continued.
“He said everything started there with Sofia.”
Dante looked as if someone had struck him.
Nora had heard enough from the observation room.
She entered despite Marco’s protest.
“What happened at Warehouse Seventeen?”
Dante looked at her.
“Nothing.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Tell her.”
Dante’s expression warned him.
Victor ignored it.
“Sofia found financial records there six years ago.”
Nora looked between them.
“What kind of records?”
Victor answered.
“Money moving through Mercer shipments for people Dante never agreed to work with.”
“Halcyon?”
“Yes.”
“And Reed?”
Victor nodded.
“She discovered Reed had been approving manifests behind Dante’s back.”
Nora turned to Dante.
“You knew?”
“Not until later.”
“What did Sofia do?”
“She confronted Reed.”
“And?”
Dante’s voice became distant.
“He convinced her it was a bookkeeping mistake.”
“You believed him?”
“She did.”
The room fell silent.
Then Victor said quietly:
“Not for long.”
Dante’s head turned.
“What?”
Victor looked almost afraid.
“Sofia came to me two weeks before her final hospitalization.”
“Why?”
“She gave me something.”
Dante stepped closer.
“What?”
“A flash drive.”
Nora’s pulse jumped.
Victor continued.
“She told me if anything happened to her, I should give it to you.”
Dante stared at his brother.
“Where is it?”
Victor looked ashamed.
“I never did.”
“Why?”
“I was twenty-nine and angry at you. She died. Then Dad’s estate fight started. I put it away.”
“Where?”
Victor swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
Dante’s control shattered.
“You lost the last evidence my wife left me?”
“I didn’t know what was on it.”
“You had six years!”
Walsh stepped between them.
Victor raised his voice.
“I said I’m sorry!”
“That doesn’t bring her back.”
Silence.
Those words stopped everyone.
Nora stared at Dante.
This was no longer only about Eli.
Sofia had discovered Reed’s betrayal years earlier.
She left evidence.
Reed had apparently spent six years making sure no one connected the pieces.
And now Nora understood why he had taken Sofia’s sealed letter from the vault.
Maybe Sofia had written the truth twice.
Once to Victor.
Once to her son.
Dante turned to leave.
Victor called after him.
“Dante.”
He stopped.
“I remember one thing.”
Dante looked back.
“Sofia said the drive wasn’t the only copy.”
“Where was the other?”
Victor shook his head.
“She said she hid it somewhere Reed would never look.”
“Where?”
Victor met his brother’s eyes.
“With the person he underestimated most.”
Dante frowned.
Nora thought about the phrase.
Then she looked toward Eli’s hospital bracelet still resting on a nearby evidence bag.
The person Reed underestimated most.
Not Dante.
Not Victor.
Not Sofia.
A child.
Nora whispered:
“Eli.”
May you like
And suddenly the search for Sofia’s evidence had a new direction.
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