Chapter 6 - We Found Gabriel In Boston—But He Was The One Man Who Wanted The Mercer Family Dead
Gabriel Mercer lived under the name Gabriel Cross.
He owned a small bookstore in Boston.
No bodyguards.
No weapons.
No visible connection to organized crime.
He looked nothing like me.
Nothing like Ethan.
He had dark hair, tired eyes, and a quiet smile.
When we entered the bookstore, he looked at Ethan first.
Then me.
Then Emily.
He understood immediately.
“No.”
I stopped.
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“You know who we are.”
“I know exactly who you are.”
He closed the store's front door.
“You're Daniel Mercer.”
“Yes.”
“The man everyone fears.”
“Yes.”
“You're Ethan.”
Ethan nodded.
“And she's Emily.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel laughed softly.
“I wondered when you would come.”
I frowned.
“You knew?”
“My entire life.”
He pulled out a box.
Inside were letters.
From our father.
From Michael.
From our mother.
Letters never delivered.
“I was told my brothers were dead.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“Because Michael wanted us separated.”
Gabriel had known pieces of the truth for decades.
But he hated the Mercer name.
His adoptive parents had died because of a conflict connected to Michael.
He blamed our family.
He blamed our father.
He blamed me.
“I don't want your empire,” he said.
“You won't have to.”
“I don't want the money.”
“Fine.”
“I don't want revenge.”
I looked at him.
“Then what do you want?”
“A normal life.”
Emily stepped forward.
“You deserve one.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You were hurt because of us.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I was hurt because men made terrible choices.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Then something softened.
We stayed in Boston for two days.
Slowly, the three brothers talked.
Different childhoods.
Different memories.
Different wounds.
But the same father.
The same mother.
The same enemy.
Then Gabriel revealed the final secret.
Our father's real goal was never to preserve the criminal empire.
It was to destroy it.
He had established legal companies around the country.
Shipping.
Construction.
Security.
Real estate.
He planned to convert the criminal network into legitimate businesses.
The trust was meant to fund that transition.
Michael had stopped him.
Then killed him.
I stared at the documents.
“So my entire empire…”
“Was built from the infrastructure your father intended to legitimize.”
Gabriel nodded.
“You have a choice.”
“What choice?”
“Destroy it.”
Ethan looked at me.
Emily did too.
I understood.
For years, I'd believed power was protection.
But power had brought danger to everyone I loved.
Maybe my father had been right.
Maybe the only way to protect my family was to stop being the man everyone feared.
Then the bookstore windows shattered.
Gunfire erupted.
Gabriel dropped.
I pulled him behind a shelf.
Ethan dragged Emily into another room.
Cole's team returned fire.
The attackers fled.
One left a message.
A photograph of Michael.
The words beneath it:
LAST WARNING.
Gabriel stared at me.
“He knows we're together.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
I looked at my brothers.
“We finish this.”
Not with a war.
With evidence.
Michael had spent decades hiding.
We would drag everything into the light.
But before we could leave, Gabriel found a sealed letter.
From our father.
It said:
“My sons, if you ever stand together, Michael has failed.”
Gabriel read aloud.
“Your greatest weapon isn't the empire.”
He paused.
“It's the truth.”
I smiled.
For the first time, I believed we could win without becoming the monsters Michael wanted us to be.
We returned to Baltimore.
And we brought Gabriel with us.
Michael responded immediately.
He released documents accusing me of crimes.
Financial records.
Photographs.
Weapons transfers.
Every dirty thing my organization had ever done.
The media exploded.
Federal investigators surrounded my businesses.
My legitimate companies were frozen.
My men panicked.
Cole looked at me.
“They're coming.”
I nodded.
“Let them.”
Ethan stared at me.
“You're not fighting back?”
“Not the way Michael expects.”
I called every lawyer.
Every auditor.
Every legitimate business partner.
And I made the most dangerous move of my life.
I opened the books.
Everything.
Every account.
Every property.
Every transaction.
No secrets.
No hidden money.
No protected identities.
If I was going down, the truth would go down with me.
Gabriel looked surprised.
“You're serious.”
“Yes.”
Emily smiled.
“That's the first time I've seen you look free.”
I laughed.
“Don't get used to it.”
But deep down, I knew.
This was the beginning of the end.
Not Michael's end.
Mine.
May you like
The end of Daniel Mercer, feared king of the East Coast.
And perhaps the beginning of something better.
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