Chapter 11 - The Mistress Arrived at the Funeral
Nobody died in the warehouse explosion.
That felt like a miracle.
Two agents suffered burns.
One security contractor broke his leg.
The blast destroyed the storage wing where my grandfather's belongings had been kept.
S-17 appeared lost.
Again.
But one thing bothered me.
If Mercer believed S-17 was inside, why destroy it?
The answer came from Lucas.
It wasn't there.
The explosion wasn't designed to destroy the evidence.
It was designed to convince us the evidence had been destroyed.
Which meant someone else had already taken it.
We searched my grandfather's estate records.
One item had been removed from storage three years earlier.
An antique writing desk.
Authorized by my mother.
Except Mom had never authorized it.
Signature forged.
Delivery address?
A charity auction house in New York.
Purchaser?
Anonymous.
Then the trail disappeared.
While investigators chased the desk, the public story became even more bizarre.
Authorities still had not officially confirmed I survived.
Search operations had ended.
Media outlets began reporting that I was presumed dead.
Lucas's attorneys demanded privacy.
Flowers appeared outside our family office.
People posted tributes.
Old classmates wrote about me.
Strangers created videos discussing my marriage.
My wedding photographs went viral.
Lucas's crying courthouse interview surpassed twenty million views.
The world believed I was dead.
So Dad proposed something extreme.
“Stay dead.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“For now.”
Agent Kim actually agreed.
“If Mercer believes you're alive, you're leverage. If Mercer believes you're dead, their strategy changes.”
“They know I survived.”
“Lucas does. Roderick does. Gertrude does. Vanessa does.”
“That's everyone.”
“Not necessarily everyone in the network.”
Dad leaned forward.
“We control the narrative.”
My memorial was scheduled.
Not a funeral with a body.
A private celebration of life.
The press would see guests arrive.
Mercer might reveal itself.
I hated the idea.
Mom hated it more.
But we agreed.
Then Sabrina Vale appeared.
Lucas's mistress.
She arrived at the memorial wearing black.
Cameras went insane.
She stood outside the church crying.
“I loved her too,” she told reporters.
I nearly threw the television remote through the screen.
Loved me?
Sabrina had never met me.
At least I thought she hadn't.
Then she said something strange.
“She deserved better than Lucas.”
Reporters shouted questions.
Sabrina ignored them.
She handed an envelope to one of our security guards.
“For her mother.”
Then left.
Mom received it.
Inside was a hotel key card.
Room 811.
Grand Pacific Hotel.
And a handwritten note.
I KNOW SHE'S ALIVE.
No signature.
Dad wanted Sabrina arrested immediately.
Agent Kim stopped him.
“She may be trying to cooperate.”
“Or lure us.”
“Both possible.”
I said, “I'll meet her.”
Everyone said no.
I went anyway.
Not alone.
Elena came disguised as hotel staff.
Federal agents covered exits.
Room 811 was empty when I entered.
Then the adjoining door opened.
Sabrina stepped inside.
She looked different without makeup.
Younger.
Terrified.
She stared at me.
“Oh my God.”
“You knew.”
“I hoped.”
“You slept with my husband.”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
The answer hurt even though Lucas meant nothing to me now.
Three years.
Our entire engagement.
Most of our relationship.
“You knew he married me for money?”
“No.”
I laughed.
“Please.”
“I knew he didn't love you.”
That was cruel.
Maybe true.
“I thought he wanted the lifestyle.”
“And you were fine with that?”
She looked down.
“I wasn't a good person.”
Past tense.
Interesting.
“When did you discover the murder plan?”
“Two weeks before the wedding.”
My blood chilled.
“You knew?”
“I heard him arguing with Roderick.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I confronted him.”
“What happened?”
“He threatened my brother.”
Silence.
“My brother has gambling debts. Lucas knew where he lived.”
Sabrina began crying.
“He said if I warned you, my brother would disappear.”
I wanted to hate her.
Part of me did.
“Why help now?”
“Because Lucas abandoned me.”
There it was.
Not morality.
Betrayal.
“He promised we'd leave after you died.”
“Romantic.”
“He told me we'd go to Switzerland.”
“But?”
“Three days before the cruise, I found messages between him and another woman.”
Of course.
Lucas had a mistress for his mistress.
“Who?”
Sabrina opened her phone.
Photograph.
A woman entering Lucas's hotel room.
Blonde.
Vanessa.
My stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Four days before the wedding.”
Vanessa had been meeting Lucas secretly.
Undercover?
Or something else?
“What did they say?”
“I couldn't hear.”
“Did they sleep together?”
“I don't know.”
“What do you know?”
Sabrina took out a small recorder.
“Lucas kept one hotel suite year-round. I installed this after I suspected he was cheating.”
Irony almost made me laugh.
The mistress spying on the husband.
She handed it to me.
“There's one recording you need.”
I played it.
Lucas's voice.
Then Vanessa.
Lucas: “After she's gone, Sterling comes apart.”
Vanessa: “Only if the girl dies.”
Lucas: “That's the plan.”
Vanessa: “No. The plan is for everyone to think she dies.”
I stopped breathing.
Recording continued.
Lucas: “Roderick said—”
Vanessa: “Roderick doesn't know the actual plan.”
Lucas: “What does Mercer want with her alive?”
Vanessa: “Access.”
Lucas: “And after?”
Pause.
Vanessa's voice:
“Then you can kill her.”
I stared at Sabrina.
Vanessa had known.
Not merely infiltrated.
She had shaped the plan.
“Why give me this?”
“Because Lucas has another recording.”
“What recording?”
Sabrina swallowed.
“One of your father.”
“Doing what?”
“I don't know.”
“But Lucas said if everything went wrong, it would destroy Daniel Sterling.”
My phone buzzed.
Agent Kim.
Emergency.
Gertrude had agreed to cooperate.
She wanted immunity.
And she had finally identified the person who recruited Roderick into Mercer.
Not Charles.
Not Vanessa.
Not Adrian Mercer.
Someone much closer.
When Kim said the name, I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
May you like
My grandfather.
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