Chapter 2 - Graham Learned His Father Had Lied About His Death—and Elena Had Been Running From the Same Man for Nearly Two YearsThe message changed the plan.
Graham took Elena and the twins to a secured residence in Connecticut.
He refused to bring them to his Manhattan penthouse.
Too many people knew about it.
Too many employees had access.
Too many cameras.
The house in Connecticut belonged to a holding company nobody connected to him.
Elena carried June inside.
Graham carried Caleb.
The boy fell asleep against his shoulder.
Graham stopped halfway up the stairs.
He stared at his son.
The tiny hand around his collar.
The lashes resting against round cheeks.
The little crease between his brows.
His son.
Graham's throat tightened.
“You're okay,” he whispered.
Caleb slept.
Elena stood behind him.
“You don't have to pretend you aren't overwhelmed.”
“I am.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
He looked at her.
“I'm going to fix it.”
She looked tired.
“You can't fix two years.”
“No.”
He held Caleb more securely.
“But I can stop wasting the next two.”
She said nothing.
That night, Graham did not sleep.
He sat in his office reviewing every piece of information he could find.
His father, Charles Mercer, had died in a plane crash five years earlier.
Or so the records said.
The crash had occurred in Canada.
There were no survivors.
No body had been recovered.
The family had held a private memorial.
Graham remembered the funeral.
He remembered the casket being closed.
He remembered his mother crying.
He remembered his uncle telling him,
“Your father would want you to move on.”
Now he wondered whether the entire funeral had been theater.
At 3:18 a.m., Diane arrived.
She looked terrified.
Graham stood.
“Tell me everything.”
She placed a folder on the desk.
“I should have told you years ago.”
“Yes.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of my father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He had people everywhere.”
“What did he tell you?”
“That Elena was dangerous.”
Graham frowned.
“Why?”
“He said she was trying to access the Mercer trust.”
Graham laughed bitterly.
“Elena knew nothing about my trust.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
Diane lowered her head.
“Because your father needed you to believe she wanted your money.”
Graham stared.
The truth became clearer.
His father had manipulated him.
His breakup with Elena had not been accidental.
It had been engineered.
He opened another file.
Inside was Elena's name.
A surveillance report.
Photographs.
Her workplace.
Her apartment.
Her mother.
Even her prenatal appointments.
Graham's stomach turned.
“You monitored her.”
Diane nodded.
“Your father did.”
“Why?”
“Because she had evidence.”
“Of what?”
Diane hesitated.
“Project Atlas.”
Graham knew the name.
His father had mentioned it once.
A private infrastructure investment.
A project worth billions.
But that was not what Project Atlas really was.
It was a system.
A network of companies.
Ports.
Data.
Real estate.
Contracts.
Political connections.
Everything his father had secretly controlled.
Graham looked at Diane.
“And Elena?”
“She discovered the books.”
“Her father's books?”
“No.”
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
Silence.
Graham's face went cold.
“My company.”
“Yes.”
He sat down.
“Why did she leave?”
“Because she was threatened.”
“By my father?”
“By someone working for him.”
“Who?”
Diane opened a final file.
Graham recognized the man.
Victor Hale.
His father's former chief financial officer.
Officially dead.
One of the architects of Project Atlas.
Graham stared.
“He was supposed to be dead.”
Diane nodded.
“He isn't.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Then the lights went out.
A crash sounded downstairs.
Graham grabbed the weapon from the drawer.
He moved toward the hallway.
Elena appeared with June.
“What's happening?”
“Lock yourself in the bedroom.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“I've spent two years running.”
She shook her head.
“I'm not running again.”
A security alarm began screaming.
Footsteps.
Three men entered the house.
Graham fired warning shots.
The attackers fled.
One dropped a bag.
Inside was a photograph.
Elena.
Holding newborn twins.
Taken eighteen months earlier.
Written across the bottom:
THE MOTHER IS NOT THE TARGET.
Graham stared.
“Then who is?”
Elena whispered,
“The babies.”
May you like
He looked at Caleb and June.
His entire body went cold.
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