Chapter 12 - Return to Blackthorn
Blackthorn Manor looked dead when we returned.
Federal search tape still crossed several doors.
The shattered entrance had been covered with temporary boards.
The grand hall remained empty.
I stopped where I had knelt two nights earlier.
The whip was gone.
The champagne glass was gone.
Nathan was gone.
But memory remained.
Dad touched my shoulder.
“We can stop.”
“No.”
I walked toward the cellar.
Malcolm followed.
Federal agents moved quietly through the corridors.
Agent Torres stayed beside me.
We found the hidden server vault behind a wine rack.
Nathan’s fingerprint opened the first lock.
My fingerprint opened the second.
I stared at the scanner.
“Why me?”
Malcolm whispered.
“Because Victor planned for you to inherit everything.”
The vault door opened.
Rows of servers illuminated the darkness.
Thousands of green lights blinked.
Rachel connected a forensic device.
“This is enormous.”
Dad moved toward one terminal.
“Meridian.”
The system contained decades of intercepted financial communications.
Corporate bribery records.
Hidden ownership files.
Illegal shipping routes.
Political payoffs.
Private surveillance.
Enough information to destroy hundreds of people.
Then the lights shut off.
Torres raised her weapon.
“Movement.”
A voice echoed through the vault.
“Claire.”
Jonathan Mercer stepped from between the server racks.
He was not alone.
Four armed men surrounded us.
Federal agents raised their weapons.
Jonathan smiled.
“Everyone stay calm.”
Torres aimed at his chest.
“You’re under arrest.”
“No.”
Jonathan said.
“I’m negotiating.”
I held up the black drive.
“You want this?”
His eyes moved toward it.
“Yes.”
“For Victor?”
Jonathan laughed.
“Victor is dying.”
Dad went still.
“Cancer.”
Jonathan continued.
“Maybe six months.”
“Perhaps less.”
I finally understood.
Succession.
Celeste had said it from the beginning.
This had never been about revenge alone.
Victor needed someone to inherit Meridian.
“You?”
I asked.
Jonathan smiled.
“That was the plan.”
“Was?”
His expression hardened.
“Cassandra changed her mind.”
“Why?”
“Because she thinks you should take it.”
I almost laughed.
“Me?”
“She believes the daughter of Elias Vale is the only person capable of forcing Meridian and Vale Dominion together.”
Dad stepped forward.
“That will never happen.”
Jonathan looked at him.
“Then thousands of people burn when Victor releases the archive.”
“He wouldn’t.”
“He already prepared the release.”
Jonathan held up a small device.
“If Victor’s system does not receive a confirmation signal every twelve hours, portions of the archive publish automatically.”
Dead man’s switch.
Dad looked at me.
For the first time, I saw uncertainty in his eyes.
Jonathan extended his hand.
“Give me the Crown Archive.”
“And Ethan Reed?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Upstairs.”
Malcolm moved toward him.
Jonathan’s men raised their weapons.
“Stay.”
A gunshot exploded.
Not from Jonathan’s men.
One of the servers shattered.
Everyone ducked.
A woman stepped from the darkness behind the racks.
Celeste.
No handcuffs.
No prison uniform.
She held a pistol.
Jonathan stared at her.
“You.”
She smiled.
“You always were too slow.”
May you like
Then she looked directly at me.
“Claire, if you want your father to survive the night, don’t give Jonathan anything.”
