CHAPTER 30 THE BROTHER IN THE BALCONY
Julian Mercer looked down at them.
Adrian stood beneath the balcony, unable to speak.
Elena held Grace tighter.
“You burned Samuel’s car,” she said.
Julian smiled faintly.
“Is that what the camera showed?”
“I watched you do it.”
“You watched a recording created by the program Samuel built.”
Maya’s face changed.
“The footage was altered?”
“Every recording can be altered.”
Rebecca raised her weapon.
“Come down.”
Julian rested his hands on the railing.
“You have become exactly like your father, Rebecca. Always pointing a weapon before understanding the target.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Alive.”
Robert Hale had said nothing about her location.
Julian continued.
“She has spent twenty-eight years protecting the only person Samuel feared more than Thomas Whitmore.”
“Who?” Elena asked.
“His first wife.”
Elena stared at him.
Samuel had never spoken of another wife.
“My mother was his only wife.”
“No. Your mother was the woman he married after he changed his name.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Our family records go back generations.”
“Records are stories powerful people pay governments to preserve.”
Julian descended the ballroom stairs.
He wore a dark suit identical to the one Adrian often wore in court.
Grace looked between the brothers.
“Two Uncle Adrians.”
Julian stopped several feet from her.
“Hello, Grace.”
Elena moved back.
“You do not speak to her.”
“She is not the child I came for.”
“Then release the center.”
“I cannot.”
“You control the locks.”
“No. I only entered before they closed.”
Rebecca looked toward the cameras.
“Who closed them?”
Julian glanced toward Maya.
“The woman she serves.”
Maya raised her hands.
“I do not serve anyone.”
Julian smiled.
“You have served Iris since the courthouse.”
Claire Rowan entered from the east corridor.
Her sleeve was torn.
“I am not Iris.”
Julian looked at her.
“I know.”
Claire stopped.
The center’s speakers activated again.
A woman’s voice filled the ballroom.
“Enough.”
Julian’s confident expression disappeared.
Elena recognized the voice from Maya’s courthouse recording.
The veiled woman.
The person who had ordered Grant to take Grace at the hospital.
The ballroom doors locked.
Metal shutters covered the windows.
The woman continued:
“Samuel’s descendants have spent years fighting over a trust they do not understand.”
Elena searched the balcony.
“Show yourself.”
“You already saw me.”
“When?”
“The day Grace was born.”
A screen descended from the ballroom ceiling.
Hospital security footage began playing.
Elena lay unconscious after the emergency delivery.
Nurses moved around her bed.
A woman wearing surgical clothing entered the nursery.
She lifted Grace from the crib.
Another woman followed, carrying a second newborn.
For thirty-two seconds, both infants disappeared from camera view.
Then one child was returned to Grace’s crib.
Elena stopped breathing.
The woman on the speaker said:
“You gave birth to a daughter, Elena.”
Elena looked at Grace.
The voice continued.
“But no one has proven this child is her.”
“No,” Elena whispered.
Julian looked toward the screen.
“This was not part of the plan.”
The lights shut off.
Children screamed from the east wing.
Elena dropped to her knees and wrapped both arms around Grace.
In the darkness, someone struck Adrian.
Rebecca fired toward the ceiling.
A door opened somewhere behind them.
Grace’s fingers slipped from Elena’s neck.
“Mommy!”
Elena grabbed for her.
Her hands found only empty air.
The emergency lights came on.
Adrian lay unconscious near the staircase.
Julian had disappeared.
The ballroom doors stood open.
Grace was gone.
On the marble floor lay her small courthouse toy.
The hidden compartment beneath it was open again.
Inside was a new note.
Elena unfolded it with shaking hands.
May you like
The message contained seven words:
BRING DANIEL, OR YOU WILL NEVER FIND HER.
