Chapter 9 - The BetrayalMarcus smiled.
Daniel raised his weapon.
Marcus didn't flinch.
“You always were predictable.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
“You kidnapped my wife.”
“No.”
“You murdered my mother.”
Marcus glanced toward her.
“No.”
Daniel's finger tightened around the trigger.
“Then what did you do?”
Marcus smiled.
“I cleaned up their mistakes.”
He held up the silver key.
“This belonged to your father.”
Daniel said nothing.
Marcus stepped forward.
“The original ledger isn't here.”
“Where is it?”
“In your house.”
Daniel frowned.
“My house was searched.”
“By amateurs.”
Marcus looked at Chloe.
“She knows where it is.”
Chloe shook her head.
“I don't.”
Marcus's expression changed.
“You will.”
He pressed a button.
A screen activated.
Daniel saw the Mercer mansion.
Then his blood ran cold.
Fire was spreading through the library.
His home was burning.
“My God.”
Marcus smiled.
“The ledger is being destroyed.”
Daniel ran.
Carter followed.
Vanessa shouted:
“Don't go!”
Daniel ignored her.
They reached the elevator.
Marcus didn't follow.
He simply watched them disappear.
The elevator rose.
Daniel called the mansion.
No answer.
He called the police.
Nothing.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message.
YOU HAVE 18 MINUTES.
He stared.
“What?”
Carter looked over.
“What's wrong?”
Daniel showed him.
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
They were inside the Mercer mansion.
Smoke filled the hallway.
Daniel ran toward the library.
The fire was already consuming the walls.
His father's portrait fell from above.
Daniel kicked open the library door.
The bottom drawer was burning.
He rushed toward it.
Carter grabbed him.
“It's too hot!”
“My father's journal is inside!”
Daniel pulled a fire blanket from the wall.
He wrapped his arm.
Then reached into the flames.
His fingers touched leather.
He pulled.
The black journal emerged.
Burned.
But intact.
Daniel opened it.
Most pages were blank.
Then one page turned by itself.
A message had been written in fresh ink.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, I FAILED.
Daniel's breath caught.
His father's handwriting.
THE FOUR FAMILIES WILL TELL YOU THEY CONTROL THE WORLD.
Next line:
THEY DON'T.
Daniel turned the page.
THERE IS A FIFTH.
Carter stared.
“Fifth family?”
Daniel nodded.
Another page.
A symbol.
The same circle.
But beneath it was a name.
MERCER.
Daniel looked at his own family crest.
His father had not merely founded the organization.
He had belonged to something larger.
Something older.
A hidden photograph fell from the journal.
Daniel picked it up.
It showed five men and women standing together.
One face had been scratched out.
Daniel turned it over.
Three words.
THE ORIGINAL FIVE.
Then another line:
ONE SURVIVED.
The mansion shook.
A beam collapsed.
Carter dragged Daniel toward the door.
“We have to go!”
Daniel grabbed the journal.
They escaped into the hallway.
Then Chloe's voice came through Daniel's phone.
“Daniel.”
He stopped.
“Chloe?”
“Don't trust Carter.”
Daniel looked at the federal agent beside him.
Carter stared back.
“What's happening?”
Chloe's voice trembled.
“Your father warned me.”
Daniel whispered:
“About what?”
“That one of the agents would betray you.”
The call ended.
Daniel slowly raised his weapon.
Carter lifted his hands.
“Daniel…”
“Step away from me.”
“I didn't do anything.”
Daniel looked at the journal.
Then at Carter.
“Which one are you?”
Carter's expression changed.
And for the first time, Daniel noticed something.
A small tattoo behind Carter's wrist.
The symbol.
The four families.
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“You're one of them.”
Carter reached for his weapon.
Daniel fired first.
Carter collapsed.
Ruiz appeared behind him.
“Jesus.”
Daniel looked down.
Carter was alive.
Barely.
Ruiz knelt.
“Why would he infiltrate the federal investigation?”
Daniel answered:
“Because the investigation was never ours.”
He opened the journal again.
A final sentence appeared.
TRUST NO ONE EXCEPT THE WOMAN WHO REMEMBERS.
May you like
Daniel looked toward Chloe.
Then the mansion exploded.
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