CHAPTER 15 — THE LEGACY TEST
“LILY! RUN TO THE SAFE ROOM!”
Michael shouted into the security feed, but the audio had been disabled.
He raced toward the car while Reed contacted the mansion security team.
Evelyn stopped him.
“If you rush through the front gate, they’ll kill the power and lock you outside.”
Michael turned furiously.
“My daughter is in there.”
“I know exactly what that feels like.”
Those words stopped him.
Evelyn revealed a service tunnel beneath the mansion that Richard himself had forgotten. She had discovered it decades earlier and intentionally kept it out of every North Crown record.
They entered through the woods.
Inside the mansion, Lily backed away from the masked intruder.
Richard positioned himself between them.
“Whatever you came for, she has nothing to do with it.”
The intruder laughed.
“She has everything to do with it.”
He placed a tablet on the table.
Across the screen appeared Lily’s entire life: school records, medical files, photographs, psychological evaluations, even private recordings from inside the mansion.
Richard stared in horror.
“You watched my granddaughter?”
“No,” the man replied.
“We studied her.”
Michael entered through the hidden corridor seconds later.
He saw the tablet.
Saw Lily.
Saw the weapon.
His anger became terrifyingly calm.
“Step away from my daughter.”
The masked man turned.
Evelyn entered behind Michael.
The intruder froze.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Evelyn answered:
“So was Richard.”
Then she removed the man’s mask.
Claire gasped.
Michael recognized him.
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It was Jonathan Mercer’s former attorney.
And according to federal records, he had died nine years earlier.
