Chapter 4 - The Brother Dominic Lost
Julian Mercer was the subject Dominic rarely discussed.
His older brother had disappeared twelve years earlier.
A boating accident, everyone said.
No body was found.
No explanation.
Yet the family held a funeral.
Dominic had been twenty-six.
He had inherited the company after their father died eighteen months later.
Mara watched him staring at the photograph.
“That's your brother.”
“Yes.”
“He's alive?”
Dominic shook his head.
“I don't know.”
She took the photograph.
Walter stood beside Pike.
Julian stood beside Walter.
The date was six months before Ellen's death.
Mara felt sick.
“My father knew him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Dominic didn't answer.
They went to see Walter.
He looked exhausted.
When he saw the photograph, his face collapsed.
“You know him,” Mara said.
Walter nodded.
“Julian.”
“Why was he here?”
“Because your mother asked him to come.”
Mara stared.
“Why?”
Walter looked at Dominic.
“Because she didn't trust you.”
Mara's heart tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“She thought Dominic was in danger.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“From whom?”
Walter shook his head.
“Julian didn't say.”
“Did you know he was alive?”
“No.”
Walter rubbed his face.
“I thought he died.”
“Then why is this photograph from twelve years ago?”
“I don't know.”
Mara looked at Dominic.
He was silent.
Later, in the yard office, he told her about Julian.
“He was supposed to take over the company.”
“Why didn't he?”
“He refused.”
“Why?”
“He hated what our father had built.”
“What did your father build?”
“Shipping.”
“That isn't the whole answer.”
“No.”
Dominic looked at the harbor.
“My father used private contracts to move goods that shouldn't have been moved.”
Mara went still.
“Drugs?”
“Sometimes.”
“Weapons?”
“Sometimes.”
“People?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
Her stomach turned.
“And Julian found out.”
“Yes.”
“And he tried to stop it.”
“Yes.”
Mara looked at the photograph again.
“So why was he with my father?”
“I don't know.”
She looked at him.
“Maybe your families were working together.”
Dominic frowned.
“Against my father?”
“Maybe.”
A call came in.
Security had found another hidden cache beneath the yard.
They followed a map.
The entrance was behind the old fuel shed.
They opened it.
A narrow staircase descended beneath Costa Marine.
The air was cold.
Damp.
Mara followed Dominic.
At the bottom, they found an old room.
Crates.
Documents.
Photographs.
And one large ledger.
Dominic picked it up.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“This is my father's handwriting.”
Mara looked at the pages.
Names.
Payments.
Shipping routes.
Codes.
One phrase appeared repeatedly.
Bluebird.
Dominic turned pages.
At the back was a list of properties.
Costa Marine.
Mercer Terminal One.
Mercer Terminal Two.
Harbor Crest.
Then a final entry.
Control requires the Costa heir.
Mara stared.
“That's me.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Yes.”
Another document was tucked inside.
A legal agreement dated twenty-two years earlier.
The Costa family had retained ownership rights to certain waterfront properties.
Rights that had never legally expired.
That meant Mara was not merely trying to save the yard.
She was potentially the legal owner of valuable properties currently controlled by Mercer Maritime.
Dominic read the final clause.
“If the Costa heir refuses consolidation, access to the Bluebird network will remain restricted.”
He stared.
“What is Bluebird?”
Mara whispered:
“A criminal network?”
“Maybe.”
A sound echoed above.
Footsteps.
Both looked up.
Someone had entered the shed.
Dominic took Mara's hand.
They moved deeper into the tunnel.
A voice echoed.
“Find them.”
Mara's heartbeat exploded.
Dominic pulled her behind a support column.
Three men entered.
Graham Pike was among them.
The third man stepped forward.
Dominic froze.
It was Julian.
Alive.
Mara stared.
Julian looked directly toward their hiding place.
Then he whispered:
“Run.”
May you like
Dominic couldn't move.
His dead brother had just saved them.
