Chapter 6 - THE SUCCESSOR
My father didn't want my companies.
He wanted the network.
He wanted me.
He believed I was his successor.
For years, I had dismantled pieces of his empire.
I had redirected money.
Protected witnesses.
Removed corrupt officials.
Destroyed criminal alliances.
But I had never destroyed the network completely.
Because too many innocent people depended on it.
My father knew that.
He had waited for me to become powerful enough to inherit everything.
Clara had discovered the truth.
She had threatened to expose him.
So he ordered Thomas to scare her.
The attack went too far.
Our baby died.
Clara nearly died.
Now my father wanted me angry.
He wanted revenge to transform me.
He wanted me to become exactly what he had been.
I returned to the hospital.
Clara was awake.
I sat beside her.
She looked at me.
“Did you find her?”
“Yes.”
“My mother?”
“No.”
She looked confused.
“Your mother.”
Her eyes widened.
“She’s alive.”
Clara cried.
“I knew it.”
“How?”
“She told me.”
I stared at her.
“What else did she tell you?”
Clara looked away.
“The ledger isn't the real weapon.”
“Then what is?”
She whispered:
“The names are only part of it.”
I waited.
“There are recordings.”
“Of what?”
“Your father ordering every operation.”
I felt a chill.
“Where?”
Clara looked at the ceiling.
“In a vault.”
“What vault?”
“Under the Mercer estate.”
I stood.
“Clara, you can't go anywhere.”
She grabbed my hand.
“Andrew.”
I looked down.
“Be careful.”
“Why?”
“Because my father is afraid of the vault too.”
Her father.
Thomas.
If Thomas feared it, then it contained something even worse.
I kissed her forehead.
“I'll come back.”
She whispered:
“Bring me home.”
I promised.
Then I left with Marcus.
May you like
We were going to the Mercer estate.
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