Chapter 12 - The Traitor Inside the House
My mother pressed several keys.
A security image appeared on the monitor.
The footage had been recorded less than an hour earlier.
A man entered Harrison’s private office during the gala.
He opened the archive.
He removed folders.
He disabled cameras.
Then he looked directly toward the lens.
I recognized him.
Marcus did too.
His face hardened.
“David.”
David Sloan was my father’s chief operating officer.
He had worked beside us for twelve years.
He attended birthdays.
He sat beside my father at Thanksgiving.
He knew the Mercer security architecture better than almost anyone alive.
And twenty minutes earlier, his credentials had opened the service passages.
“He works for Gavin?”
I asked.
My mother shook her head.
“Gavin barely understands what his own family is involved in.”
“Then who?”
“David works for whoever pays him.”
Anna stepped closer to the monitor.
“What was he looking for?”
Caroline opened another folder.
“A master ledger.”
“Of the Harbor House operation?”
“Of everything.”
She looked at me.
“Your grandfather’s surveillance contracts.”
“Political payments.”
“Harrison’s settlements.”
“Police corruption.”
“Corporate blackmail.”
“Every person who purchased information through the network.”
I stared at the shelves.
“And you kept it?”
“For insurance.”
I turned toward her.
“For seventeen years?”
“For survival.”
A new security alert flashed.
ACCESS ATTEMPT - SUBLEVEL EXIT.
Marcus touched his radio.
“All teams, intercept David Sloan.”
Static.
He cursed.
My mother did not look surprised.
“He has already compromised your radios.”
Eleanor closed the vault door.
“Then we use the hard line.”
Caroline reached for an old telephone.
Before she touched it, every monitor changed.
David Sloan’s face appeared.
Live.
He was somewhere inside the estate.
“Hello, Caroline.”
My mother froze.
David smiled.
“And hello, Evelyn.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Where are you?”
“Close enough.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
David sighed.
“I expected that.”
Another camera feed appeared.
My father sat in the back of a black SUV.
His hands were bound.
Blood marked his forehead.
I stopped breathing.
“Dad.”
Richard Mercer looked toward the camera.
“Evelyn, don’t give him anything.”
Someone struck him from outside the frame.
I moved forward instinctively.
“Stop.”
David smiled.
“Now we understand each other.”
My mother gripped the edge of the desk.
“You said Richard was dead to the operation.”
“He became useful again.”
“Let him go.”
“Give me the original ledger.”
“No.”
David looked almost disappointed.
“Then I suppose Evelyn will lose both parents tonight.”
I stared at my father on the monitor.
Seventeen years of lies.
A mother I had mourned.
A father who had protected me badly but loved me fiercely.
And now a man who believed he could force me into choosing between family and truth.
I leaned toward the camera.
“You made the same mistake Gavin did.”
David smiled.
“Which mistake?”
“You think locking someone down means you control them.”
Then I looked at Marcus.
“Cut power to the estate.”
Caroline stared at me.
“What are you doing?”
May you like
I answered without taking my eyes from David.
“Making him move.”
