Chapter 10 - Daniel’s Final Choice
Daniel had not escaped alone.
Someone inside Elias’s organization had helped him.
That discovery changed everything.
Elias’s penthouse was secure.
His vehicles were monitored.
His guards were personally selected.
Yet Daniel disappeared during a transfer between buildings.
No forced entry.
No attack.
Someone opened the door.
When we returned to Manhattan, Elias separated his security teams and began reviewing every access record.
My mother reunited with the twins in a guarded apartment.
Watching her hold them nearly broke me again.
She kissed each tiny forehead.
“Your grandfather would have loved them.”
I sat beside her.
“Daniel called them a curse.”
My mother’s expression hardened.
“Daniel was a fool.”
That was the gentlest description available.
Elias entered.
“We know where he went.”
I stood.
“Mercer?”
“No.”
He placed a map on the table.
“Terminal Three.”
The vault.
Daniel had given me the key.
“He wants the records.”
Elias nodded.
“Or he wants to destroy them.”
My mother looked alarmed.
“There’s more than blackmail material inside that vault.”
“What?”
She exchanged a glance with Elias.
“Thomas kept his own records.”
“About Mercer?”
“About everyone.”
We left the twins with my mother and traveled to the abandoned terminal.
The waterfront warehouses looked enormous in the darkness.
Snow moved across the pavement.
Daniel’s car was parked near a side entrance.
We entered quietly.
The key opened an old freight elevator.
Below us was a concrete chamber.
A vault door stood at the end.
It was already open.
Daniel stood inside surrounded by file boxes.
When he saw me, he raised both hands.
“I’m not destroying anything.”
Elias kept his weapon lowered but ready.
“Then what are you doing?”
Daniel looked exhausted.
“Taking insurance.”
“From Mercer?”
“From everyone.”
I almost laughed.
Even now, Daniel was thinking about himself.
“You escaped Elias so you could blackmail Mercer?”
Daniel looked at me.
“I escaped because Mercer contacted me.”
My heart stopped.
“He has Lucy.”
Caleb’s daughter.
“And he offered a trade.”
Daniel pointed at the records.
“These for the girl.”
Elias studied him.
“You care about Lucy?”
“She’s my niece.”
I stared.
“You didn’t care about your own daughters.”
Pain crossed Daniel’s face.
“I know.”
For once, he did not defend himself.
He picked up a hard drive.
“Mercer told me to bring this to Pier Nine.”
Elias reached for it.
Daniel pulled away.
“If we don’t show, he kills Lucy.”
I looked at Elias.
“We go.”
“No.”
“We are not letting a child pay for Daniel’s crimes.”
Daniel stared at me.
After everything he had done, I was still protecting someone in his family.
Maybe that finally showed him what he had become.
He lowered his head.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
Daniel looked at Elias.
“The person who helped me escape works for you.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“Name.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Marco DeLuca.”
The name struck Elias like a bullet.
His closest lieutenant.
His oldest friend.
And at that exact moment, the warehouse lights switched off.
May you like
Marco’s voice came from the darkness.
“Daniel should have kept that to himself.”
