Chapter 8 - THE RAILWAY DEPOT“IF YOU CAME ALONE, WHY ARE THERE POLICE OUTSIDE?”
Vanessa’s voice echoed through the abandoned railway depot.
Daniel stopped beneath a rusted overhead light.
Rain hammered the broken roof. Empty train cars stretched into darkness on both sides of him.
“I didn’t bring them.”
Vanessa stepped from behind an old passenger carriage.
Her wedding dress was gone.
She wore black clothing now.
And she was holding a gun.
“Where’s Michael?”
Vanessa smiled bitterly.
“You still think I’m the villain.”
“You planned my brother’s death.”
“No.”
“You said the boat accident would solve everything.”
“I said what Richard needed to hear.”
Daniel stared at her.
Vanessa lowered the weapon slightly.
“Richard wasn’t working for me. I was working my way toward him.”
She revealed that Richard had spent years laundering money for a hidden network created long before Henry Mercer’s death. Vanessa had entered Richard’s life to discover who controlled it.
Marrying Michael had been part of her cover.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“And Lily?”
“I never intended to hurt her.”
“She heard you say she’d be dealt with.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“Because Richard was standing beside me. If I protected Lily openly, he would have killed her immediately.”
Daniel didn’t know whether to believe her.
Then a train door slammed behind them.
Michael stumbled from the darkness.
His wrists were bound.
Daniel rushed toward him.
But Vanessa raised her weapon.
“STOP!”
Michael looked at his brother.
“Daniel, listen to her.”
Daniel froze.
Michael had seen Catherine—or Rebecca—after being taken from the mansion.
She had shown him the truth.
Someone had manipulated both sisters for decades.
Someone connected to Henry Mercer.
Someone who had ordered Thomas and Robert hidden.
Someone who had arranged Catherine’s disappearance.
And someone who had recently discovered Lily possessed evidence.
“Who?” Daniel demanded.
Michael looked toward the darkness.
“Dad wasn’t protecting his fortune.”
A familiar voice answered from behind Daniel.
“He was protecting his sons.”
Daniel turned.
Thomas stepped into the depot.
Beside him stood another elderly man.
Eleanor’s missing husband.
Robert Grant.
Michael stared.
“Robert?”
The old man nodded.
Then every light in the depot switched on.
Armed men appeared along the upper walkway.
Vanessa whispered one word.
“Down.”
Gunfire shattered the windows.
Everyone dropped behind the train carriage.
Daniel dragged Michael into cover while Thomas pulled Robert behind a steel pillar.
Vanessa fired upward.
“WHO ARE THEY?” Daniel shouted.
Robert looked at him.
His face was pale.
“The people your father spent thirty years hiding you from.”
Then a voice boomed through the depot speakers.
“Enough.”
The shooting stopped.
Daniel slowly looked upward.
A figure stood behind the glass control room.
Robert whispered the name.
“Charles Mercer.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
Charles was Henry Mercer’s older brother.
Their uncle.
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And according to family history—
Charles Mercer had been dead for twenty-seven years.
