Chapter 3 - THE SECRET UNDER THE STAIRS
The first bullet shattered a portrait.
The second struck marble.
The mansion erupted.
Men in suits moved through the corridors with weapons drawn. Doors slammed. Alarms screamed. Somewhere downstairs, glass exploded.
Laya ducked instinctively.
Gabriel tried to stand.
She shoved him back onto the bed.
“You are not going anywhere.”
“Doctor—”
“You just had abdominal surgery.”
“People are shooting at us.”
“And you're still not going anywhere.”
For half a second, Gabriel looked almost amused.
Then Dominic grabbed the doorframe.
“Boss, we have to move.”
“Where?”
“Safe room.”
Gabriel looked at Laya.
“Take her.”
Dominic nodded.
Laya opened her mouth to protest.
Gabriel cut her off.
“Unless you'd prefer to stay here and explain your medical history to the people shooting through the walls.”
That ended it.
Dominic led them into the corridor.
Laya stayed close to Gabriel, supporting more of his weight than she expected. He was taller and heavier than her, but he moved with stubborn determination.
They reached the staircase.
A man appeared at the far end of the hall.
Dominic raised his gun.
The man raised his.
Everything happened at once.
Dominic fired.
The stranger fell.
Laya froze.
She had seen violence in hospitals.
This was different.
There was no trauma team.
No monitor.
No fluorescent safety.
Only a body hitting the floor.
Gabriel noticed her expression.
“Don't look.”
“I've already looked.”
“Then keep moving.”
They descended a narrow staircase hidden behind the library.
Laya hadn't known it existed.
At the bottom was a steel door.
Dominic entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was a room lined with concrete.
No windows.
No decoration.
Just emergency supplies, communication equipment, medical kits, and several locked cabinets.
Gabriel sat against the wall.
Laya immediately checked his dressing.
“You're bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
“Lie down.”
He obeyed.
That frightened her more than anything else.
Gabriel Mercer did not obey people.
Not even when he was dying.
But now he lay down without argument.
Laya checked his pulse.
Fast.
His wound had begun to seep.
“You shouldn't have moved.”
“I didn't have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
He looked at her.
“Not tonight.”
Outside, gunfire continued.
Dominic spoke quietly into a radio.
“We've lost the west corridor.”
Another voice answered.
“Two men inside.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Find Elias.”
Dominic hesitated.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Boss—”
“Find my brother.”
Laya looked between them.
“You said you don't have a brother.”
Gabriel opened his eyes.
“I said I don't have one officially.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Elias Mercer.”
“Who is he?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Dominic did.
“Your boss's younger half-brother.”
“Where is he?”
“Supposedly dead.”
Laya stared.
“Supposedly?”
Gabriel sat up.
“He disappeared eleven years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I told him to.”
Laya felt the pieces shifting.
“Why would you do that?”
Gabriel's eyes darkened.
“Because our father ordered me to kill him.”
Silence.
Even Dominic looked away.
Laya whispered, “And you didn't.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I helped him disappear.”
“Then why would he want you dead?”
Gabriel stared at the floor.
“That's the question.”
A noise came from the wall.
Three knocks.
Dominic raised his weapon.
Gabriel didn't move.
Three more knocks.
Laya looked around.
“What's that?”
Gabriel said nothing.
Dominic opened a concealed panel.
A narrow passage appeared.
A man stepped through.
He was younger than Gabriel by perhaps six years.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
Same sharp cheekbones.
Same unmistakable Mercer face.
Laya's breath caught.
The man looked at Gabriel.
Then at her.
Then at the blood on Gabriel's shirt.
“You brought a doctor.”
Gabriel stared.
“Elias.”
The younger man smiled.
“Hello, brother.”
Dominic's gun rose.
Gabriel lifted one hand.
“Lower it.”
Dominic hesitated.
“Now.”
The weapon lowered.
Elias walked farther into the room.
Laya studied him.
He didn't look like a killer.
That was the problem.
He looked ordinary.
Expensive coat.
Rain on his shoulders.
Calm expression.
A faint scar beside his mouth.
Gabriel watched him.
“You're alive.”
“So are you.”
“Barely.”
Elias glanced at Laya.
“I heard.”
“You arranged the shooting?”
“No.”
Gabriel laughed weakly.
“I taught you better than that.”
“You taught me many things.”
Elias moved closer.
“Mostly how not to become you.”
The words cut deeper than a bullet.
Laya watched Gabriel's face.
For the first time, his confidence cracked.
“Why are you here?”
“Because someone is trying to take your empire.”
“Who?”
Elias smiled.
“You already know.”
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
“Miriam?”
Elias shook his head.
“Closer.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Who?”
Elias looked at him.
“You.”
The room went silent.
Dominic's face hardened.
Laya felt the air change.
“That doesn't make sense,” she said.
Elias looked at her.
“You're the doctor.”
“Yes.”
“You're the reason Gabriel is still alive.”
“Yes.”
“You don't understand this family.”
“No.”
“Good.”
He turned toward Gabriel.
“Because the moment you understand it, you'll realize he didn't bring you here to protect you.”
Gabriel's voice was quiet.
“Enough.”
Elias ignored him.
“He brought you here because you are leverage.”
Laya looked at Gabriel.
“Is that true?”
Gabriel didn't answer immediately.
That was enough.
Laya stepped backward.
“You said I was useful.”
“I said I trusted you.”
“You said you needed me.”
“I do.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
Gabriel reached for her.
She pulled away.
Outside, gunfire stopped.
The silence was worse.
Elias looked toward the ceiling.
“They're gone.”
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
“The attackers.”
Gabriel's face changed.
“That's impossible.”
Elias nodded.
“Exactly.”
A phone began ringing.
Not Gabriel's.
Not Dominic's.
Laya reached into her medical bag.
The sound came from inside it.
She opened the front pocket.
A black phone lay inside.
She had never seen it before.
The screen displayed one message.
YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO DECIDE WHICH MERCER BROTHER LIVES.
Laya looked up.
Gabriel and Elias were staring at her.
And somewhere above them, a slow clap echoed through the hidden corridor.
The attack lasted less than four minutes.
It felt like an hour.
Dominic moved through the house with brutal efficiency, directing the remaining guards while Elias—still a stranger to Laya—watched every corridor from the shadows.
Laya stayed with Gabriel.
“You're bleeding again.”
“I know.”
“You need to sit.”
“I don't have time.”
“You will have time when I say you do.”
He looked at her.
“You really don't fear me.”
“I fear what happens when I let myself fear you.”
That answer stopped him.
He sat.
Laya changed his dressing while the house shook around them.
She found a fresh line of blood beneath the bandage.
“Your wound is reopening.”
“Can you close it?”
“Yes.”
“Then do it.”
She worked quickly.
Gabriel watched her hands.
“You've done this before.”
“Many times.”
“Not like this.”
“No.”
“Why did you become a doctor?”
She glanced at him.
“Because my mother wanted me to.”
“Nothing else?”
“My mother died when I was nine.”
Gabriel went very still.
“I didn't know.”
“You didn't ask.”
He accepted that.
Then Elias entered.
“It's over.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Casualties?”
“Three guards wounded. Two attackers dead.”
“Who were they?”
“Private security.”
“From where?”
Elias placed a badge on the table.
Mercer Security.
Gabriel stared.
“They wore my colors.”
Elias nodded.
“Exactly.”
Laya understood.
“The attackers were your own men.”
“Yes.”
“And they were trying to get the card.”
“Yes.”
She looked at the memory card.
“What's on it?”
Elias shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Play it.”
The laptop opened.
Security footage appeared.
A hospital corridor.
Laya saw herself leaving an examination room.
Then another clip.
Her apartment.
Another.
Her car.
Another.
Gabriel's face appeared.
Then a timestamp.
Three days before the shooting.
A man entered the hospital records department.
Laya recognized him.
Pendleton.
He wasn't alone.
The second person wore a Mercer Security uniform.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Pause.”
Elias did.
Gabriel stared at the man's face.
“That's my cousin.”
Laya looked at him.
“Is he alive?”
“He was supposed to be.”
The next clip showed the cousin handing a folder to Pendleton.
The folder was labeled:
HASTINGS, LAYA — BIRTH RECORD.
Laya felt the room disappear around her.
“Why would my birth record matter?”
Gabriel didn't answer.
Elias did.
“Because your mother worked for the Mercers.”
Laya looked at him.
“Doing what?”
“Saving people your family couldn't.”
She swallowed.
“What family?”
Elias stared at Gabriel.
“Your father never told you?”
Gabriel shook his head.
Elias sighed.
“Then we're going to have to open the room under the stairs.”
Laya frowned.
“What room?”
Gabriel stood.
The color had drained from his face.
“There is a room in this house my father sealed.”
“Why?”
“Because Helena Hastings was the last person who entered it.”
Laya stared.
“My mother was here?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
“And you knew?”
“I knew she had been here.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
Laya stepped back.
The mystery was no longer about Gabriel.
It was about her.
Then the memory card displayed one final file.
Its title was simple.
PROJECT LAYA.
The file opened by itself.
May you like
And a woman's voice whispered:
“If you're hearing this, my daughter, they finally found you.”
