Chapter 2 - THE NAME MY BROTHER FEARED
Julian stayed for eleven minutes.
I counted every one.
He talked about doctors, security, the board, and the inconvenience of the press learning I had survived. He performed concern so smoothly that anyone else would have believed him.
I had known him since we were boys.
I knew every version of his smile.
This one belonged to a liar.
When he finally left, Tomas locked the door.
“Tell me what you saw.”
“My brother recognized the kid.”
“You're sure?”
“I've been shot in the dark and identified the shooter by his shoes.”
Tomas sighed.
“You're impossible.”
“And alive.”
He opened his tablet.
“Caleb Mercer. Nine years old. Lives with his grandfather, Walter Mercer, in Hollow Falls. His mother is Rebecca Mercer. No father listed on the current school records.”
“Current?”
Tomas looked at me.
“That's what bothered me.”
He turned the tablet.
“Rebecca Mercer used to be Rebecca Cross.”
My blood went cold.
“No.”
“Yes.”
I stared at the screen.
Rebecca Cross.
My father's youngest daughter.
My sister.
I had not seen her in eleven years.
The official story was that she had left Chicago after an argument with Julian and me. She had taken a job in Boston, changed her name, and disappeared from the family orbit.
My father had forbidden us from contacting her.
He claimed she had betrayed the family.
I had believed him.
Until now.
“Caleb is her son?”
Tomas nodded.
“According to the records.”
I closed my eyes.
Rebecca had a child.
My nephew.
And somehow my brother knew him.
“Find Rebecca.”
“We already did.”
I opened my eyes.
Tomas hesitated.
“She died nine months ago.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“How?”
“Officially? Cancer.”
“Officially?”
“Her death certificate was filed by a small clinic in West Virginia. But there are irregularities.”
“What kind?”
“She was diagnosed with advanced cancer six months before she died.”
“Six months?”
“That's the problem. Her medical records are almost nonexistent.”
I looked toward the window.
A dead sister.
A living nephew.
A brother who had tried to kill me.
Nothing about this was coincidence.
“Where is Caleb now?”
“With his grandfather.”
“Bring them here.”
Tomas frowned.
“Hospital?”
“Private floor. No cameras. No staff without clearance.”
He understood.
Within an hour, Walter Mercer arrived with Caleb.
The old man walked with a cane, but his eyes were sharp.
He looked at me as if measuring a dangerous animal.
“You saved my grandson,” I said.
“Caleb saved you.”
“Why didn't you tell me Rebecca was my sister?”
Walter went still.
Caleb looked between us.
“I didn't know you were family,” the old man said.
“Did Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
My jaw tightened.
“Why didn't she contact me?”
Walter's eyes hardened.
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
He looked toward the closed door.
“Of your brother.”
Tomas and I exchanged a glance.
Walter sat.
“Rebecca came to Hollow Falls eleven years ago. She was pregnant.”
My throat tightened.
“Caleb.”
Walter nodded.
“She told me Julian had threatened her.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew something.”
“What?”
Walter stared at me.
“She discovered that your father had been laundering money through charities and hospitals.”
That wasn't news.
My father had built his fortune on legitimate businesses that hid darker operations.
“What was different?”
“Rebecca found records.”
“What records?”
“The kind that could destroy the family.”
I leaned forward.
“Where are they?”
“She never told me.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Walter's expression hardened.
“You're the first Cross man I've ever trusted enough to speak to.”
I stopped.
He continued.
“Rebecca believed your father wasn't the worst of it.”
“Who was?”
“Julian.”
The name hung between us.
Caleb suddenly spoke.
“Mom said Uncle Julian was dangerous.”
My heart stopped.
“Did she ever meet him?”
Caleb nodded.
“When I was little.”
“Where?”
“She said he came to our house once.”
Walter looked at him.
“Caleb.”
“He asked about a box.”
“What box?”
Caleb shrugged.
“Mom wouldn't tell him.”
“What did the box look like?”
“Black.”
“Anything else?”
“It had a silver bird on it.”
Tomas looked at me.
I knew the symbol.
My father's private archives had used a silver raven seal.
A box like that hadn't been seen in years.
“Where is it?”
Caleb shook his head.
“Mom hid it.”
“Where?”
“She told me not to tell anyone.”
I sat back.
“Even me?”
Caleb nodded.
“She said especially people who ask nicely.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Rebecca had raised him well.
Then the hospital lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Tomas immediately drew his weapon.
Walter grabbed Caleb.
The door opened.
A nurse stood outside.
“Power issue,” she said.
Tomas checked the hallway.
“No one move.”
The nurse looked frightened.
Then she reached into her pocket.
My body tensed.
But she pulled out a folded note.
“This was left at the front desk.”
She handed it to Tomas.
He opened it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He passed it to me.
Four words were written across the paper.
THE BOY IS NEXT.
Underneath was a silver raven.
I looked at Caleb.
He was pale.
I looked at Walter.
He had gone rigid.
Then I looked at Tomas.
“Lock down the hospital.”
He was already moving.
“Boss?”
“Get Caleb out.”
“And you?”
I smiled without humor.
“I'm going to find out who sent the message.”
Tomas shook his head.
“You can't walk.”
“Then I'll crawl.”
Because someone had threatened my nephew.
And there was one thing the people hunting me still didn't understand.
I could forgive an attempt on my life.
I could not forgive an attempt on a child.
I didn't sleep after the message arrived.
At four in the morning, I asked Tomas to bring me every file on Rebecca.
The first report was almost empty.
The second was worse.
Someone had deleted pages.
The third contained a handwritten note from my mother.
Rebecca is not to be trusted with family matters.
I read it twice.
My mother had never written anything like that.
The handwriting was similar, but the pressure was wrong.
I called an old family archivist who had worked for us before I took control.
He answered on the fifth ring.
“Mr. Cross?”
“Did my mother write this?”
There was a long pause.
“No.”
I sat up.
“Who did?”
“Your father.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
Another pause.
“Because Rebecca found something.”
“What?”
“The family wasn't losing money.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Your father told everyone the company was struggling. It wasn't. Money was being moved into private accounts.”
“Whose?”
“I never saw the names.”
I looked at Tomas.
He was already typing.
“Where are the original ledgers?”
“Your father kept them.”
“Where?”
“I was never told.”
The line went dead.
I stared at the phone.
Tomas said, “Boss, there's something else.”
He turned his tablet toward me.
A school photograph of Caleb.
His face was circled in red.
The file had been accessed that morning.
From inside our hospital network.
Someone had looked at his records.
Someone knew exactly where he was.
I stood despite the pain.
“Lock the floor.”
“Already done.”
“No visitors. No doctors without verification. Nobody.”
Tomas nodded.
Then Caleb entered carrying a drawing.
He had drawn a forest.
A dog.
A man beneath the snow.
And three stick figures standing at the edge.
“Who's that?” I asked.
He pointed.
“Mom.”
“And the other two?”
He hesitated.
“Uncle Julian.”
My stomach tightened.
“And the third?”
Caleb lowered his voice.
“Grandpa.”
I stared at the drawing.
“Did you see them together?”
“No.”
“Then why did you draw them?”
“Mom used to say they were the three people who knew why she had to hide me.”
I looked at Tomas.
The room suddenly felt too small.
Rebecca had never been hiding from one man.
She had been hiding from three.
And one of them was still alive.
My father.
I asked Caleb to stay in the room while Tomas checked the corridors.
He sat on the edge of the visitor's chair, swinging his feet.
“Are you really rich?”
“Yes.”
“Like movie rich?”
“Probably.”
“Do you have a swimming pool?”
“Three.”
His eyes widened.
“Why three?”
“I don't know.”
He laughed.
For a few minutes, we talked about ordinary things.
His favorite food.
His favorite book.
The fact that he hated carrots.
Then he looked at me.
“Are you going to find my mom?”
“Yes.”
“What if she's gone forever?”
I paused.
“Then I'll make sure you know the truth.”
He nodded.
It was a small promise.
But I understood that promises mattered more to children than money ever could.
Before he left, he placed his drawing on my bedside table.
“That's you.”
I looked at the picture.
It showed a man beneath snow.
A dog above him.
And a boy holding a flashlight.
“Why did you draw me like that?”
“Because you were in the dark.”
I looked at him.
“And you found me.”
He smiled.
“Goliath did.”
For the first time that day, I laughed without forcing it.
Then Tomas returned.
His face was grim.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“The hospital cameras show Julian arrived twelve minutes before he officially checked in.”
I stared at him.
“What was he doing?”
“He was standing outside Caleb's room.”
My smile disappeared.
“He wasn't visiting you.”
May you like
He looked toward the hallway.
“He was watching the boy.”
