Chapter 4: The Man Julian Buried
Julian descended the hidden staircase with Marcus close behind him.
Celeste followed, still wearing her wedding dress. The hem dragged across the dusty stone steps, collecting cobwebs and streaks of dirt.
“Stay back,” Julian whispered.
“I know these tunnels better than you do.”
“You also knew there was a prisoner beneath the house.”
Celeste recoiled but said nothing.
The staircase ended in a narrow underground corridor lined with old brick. Bare bulbs flickered overhead. Rusted pipes ran along the ceiling, and water dripped somewhere in the distance.
Julian heard the man’s voice again.
“Come along, son.”
A door stood open at the end of the corridor.
Warm yellow light spilled across the floor.
Julian’s father, Richard Mercer, had died eight years earlier.
Julian had identified his body after a private plane crashed in the Appalachian Mountains. The remains had been burned beyond recognition, but Richard’s wedding ring, watch, and dental records had confirmed his identity.
Julian had stood beside the closed casket while hundreds of mourners praised Richard as a brilliant businessman and devoted father.
But Julian remembered another man.
A father who disappeared for weeks without explanation.
A father who locked his office and burned documents in the fireplace.
A father who once told Julian that morality was a luxury for people without ambition.
Julian reached the doorway.
Inside was a furnished room with rugs, bookshelves, a desk, and a surveillance wall displaying camera feeds from across the mansion.
A man sat in a leather chair.
His hair had turned almost completely gray, and deep lines framed his mouth. But Julian recognized him instantly.
Richard Mercer smiled.
“You’ve grown into your mother’s face.”
Julian could not move.
Marcus whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Richard lifted a glass of whiskey.
“Most useful things are.”
Julian entered the room.
Every part of him felt numb.
“You’re dead.”
“Legally.”
“I buried you.”
“You buried a body.”
“Whose?”
Richard’s smile faded.
“A pilot who made an unfortunate choice.”
Celeste gasped.
Richard glanced at her.
“And there she is. The replacement bride.”
“Where is Mara?” Julian demanded.
“Safe for the moment.”
“You shot her?”
“No. Conrad’s security chief fired the weapon. Clumsy man.”
“Bring her here.”
“You’re in no position to give instructions.”
Julian crossed the room and seized his father by the shirt.
Richard did not resist.
Up close, Julian could see a thin scar running from his father’s ear to his collarbone.
“You abandoned us,” Julian said. “Mom spent five years believing you were dead.”
“Your mother spent five years enjoying the insurance payment.”
“She died believing your lie.”
For the first time, Richard’s expression shifted.
Julian saw something like regret.
Then it vanished.
“She was never supposed to get sick.”
“You don’t get to speak about her.”
Richard calmly removed Julian’s hands.
“I returned because tonight changes everything.”
“What does my wedding have to do with you?”
Richard looked at Celeste.
“Ask your bride why she chose you.”
Julian turned.
Celeste shook her head.
“I chose him because I love him.”
Richard laughed.
“No, child. You chose him because Margaret told you to.”
Julian looked between them.
Celeste’s silence was answer enough.
“When?” he asked.
She stared at the floor.
“When I first approached you at the museum gala.”
The memory cut through him.
She had stood beside a painting of a stormy coastline, wearing a red dress. She had laughed when he spilled champagne on his cuff. She had asked about his architectural restoration company.
Julian had believed the meeting was chance.
“Your mother arranged it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Richard answered.
“Because you inherited something from me.”
“I inherited debt, lawsuits, and a last name everyone distrusted.”
“You inherited controlling shares in Mercer Biotech.”
Julian frowned.
“Those shares were worthless.”
“Publicly.”
Richard touched a keyboard.
One of the surveillance monitors changed to display company records.
Mercer Biotech had once developed medical imaging equipment. After Richard’s supposed death, the company collapsed under fraud investigations. Julian had refused to sell his inherited shares because they carried no value.
Richard enlarged a document.
“The company still owns patents worth nearly four billion dollars,” he said. “Patents concealed through shell companies and offshore trusts.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“You faked your death to hide assets.”
“I faked my death because several partners planned to kill me.”
“Partners from the Vale family?” Julian asked.
Richard raised his glass toward Celeste.
“Her father helped build the network. My company moved money. His foundations cleaned it.”
Julian’s stomach twisted.
The wedding was not about love.
It was a merger.
“Marriage to a Vale heir would combine control of both trusts,” Richard explained. “Once Julian signed the postnuptial documents Margaret prepared, the patents could be transferred without triggering an audit.”
Julian remembered a folder Elena—Celeste—had given him two weeks earlier.
Routine estate planning documents, she had called them.
He had not signed.
“Why today?” he asked.
“Because the documents become enforceable upon marriage.”
Celeste stepped forward.
“I never planned to make him sign.”
Richard smiled sadly.
“You planned to run away afterward. That was adorable.”
Her face drained of color.
Julian turned to her.
“You were going to leave?”
“With you.”
“You never told me.”
“I was trying to find Mara first.”
Richard leaned back.
“Love makes people believe secrecy is sacrifice.”
Julian wanted to hit him.
Instead, he looked at the surveillance feeds.
Guests were trapped in the ballroom. Armed men now stood near the exits, dressed as catering staff.
Margaret appeared on one camera, speaking urgently to Conrad.
On another screen, two men dragged Mara through a tunnel.
“She’s alive,” Julian said.
“For now,” Richard replied.
“Why are you keeping her?”
“Because Mara knows where Elena hid the master ledger.”
“The evidence?”
Richard nodded.
“The ledger contains names, accounts, payments, murder orders, and enough political corruption to collapse half the state government.”
“Then help us expose it.”
Richard laughed.
“I did not survive eight years underground to become a witness for the prosecution.”
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“And then?”
“I disappear permanently.”
Julian studied his father.
“You could have taken it years ago.”
“Elena designed the archive herself. The final vault requires three biometric confirmations from Edmund Vale’s daughters.”
Celeste went still.
“Mara, Elena, and me.”
“Elena is dead,” Julian said.
Richard’s eyes sharpened.
“That is what Margaret wants everyone to believe.”
The room fell silent.
Celeste gripped the back of a chair.
“You said Elena died.”
“I said a body was buried.”
A door opened behind the surveillance wall.
Mara stumbled into the room, supported by a woman in black medical scrubs. A white bandage wrapped her shoulder.
Julian rushed to her.
Mara lifted one hand.
“I’m all right.”
“Where did they take you?”
“Richard’s people pulled me into the tunnel before Conrad’s men could.”
Julian looked at his father.
“You saved her?”
“I preserved an asset.”
Mara’s face hardened.
“You haven’t changed.”
Richard ignored her.
Celeste approached slowly.
“Mara, is Elena alive?”
Mara began to cry.
“I don’t know.”
“You told us she died.”
“I saw her fall from the north tower.”
Celeste covered her mouth.
“But I never saw her body,” Mara continued. “Mother locked me away before dawn.”
Richard pressed another key.
A grainy surveillance recording filled the largest monitor.
The date in the corner was eleven years old.
A young woman ran through the mansion’s garden at night.
Elena.
Her white nightgown was stained with blood.
She looked directly into the security camera.
Then she spoke.
The recording had no sound, but Julian could read her lips.
Find my sisters.
A dark vehicle entered the frame.
The rear door opened.
Elena climbed inside.
The car drove away.
Celeste began sobbing.
“She escaped.”
“Possibly,” Richard said.
“Where did the car go?” Julian demanded.
“The plate belonged to a federal government fleet.”
Marcus stared at the screen.
“Witness protection?”
“Or abduction,” Mara said.
Richard stood.
“Either way, the archive can still be opened.”
“How?” Julian asked.
Richard smiled.
“Because someone used Elena’s biometric signature three days ago.”
A new image appeared.
It showed a woman entering Blackthorn Manor through a side gate.
She wore sunglasses and a dark coat.
But her face was unmistakable.
May you like
Elena Vale had returned for the wedding.
And according to the camera timestamp, she was still inside the mansion.
