Chapter 4
The black card had never left Sabrina’s possession.
That narrowed the leak.
Someone did not steal it.
Someone accessed the reserve ledger.
Three people could do that.
Me.
Sabrina.
And my reserve keeper, Vincent Calder.
Vincent had served my father for twenty-three years.
He taught me how to read internal loyalty before I was old enough to sit at the council table.
He also knew every emergency structure the Mercer family maintained.
I called him.
He answered immediately.
“Boss.”
“Where are you?”
“North house.”
“Stay there.”
Pause.
“Problem?”
“Yes.”
I disconnected.
Sabrina watched me.
“You think Vincent told Ellis.”
“I think Ellis wants me to think that.”
“Difference?”
“Big one.”
Ellis was intelligent enough to plant suspicion but arrogant enough to reveal when he believed he had control. If Vincent truly sold us, Ellis would not give me the name this easily.
So I looked somewhere else.
Noah’s smartwatch.
Kids’ devices are built to tell adults where children are.
For two years, apparently, adults had been using Noah to locate Sabrina.
My security team pulled the connected accounts.
Primary parent: Sabrina.
Secondary parent: Ellis.
Hidden shared access: Vanessa.
And one unidentified administrative account.
I stared at it.
“When was this added?”
“Eighteen months ago.”
Sabrina looked sick.
“That’s when Noah started private academy.”
Of course.
Someone gained device access during enrollment setup.
I looked at the academy bags.
Four boys.
Matching uniforms.
Travel organized through the school.
A perfect channel.
“Who recommended the academy?”
Sabrina answered immediately.
“Marcus Vale.”
Not my brother.
One of my senior Mercer associates.
Forty-seven.
Trusted.
Married.
Children grown.
The kind of man no one watches because he is already embedded everywhere.
I called him next.
No answer.
That was answer enough to start moving.
Thomas entered the lounge.
“Boss. Marcus Vale left his house twenty minutes ago.”
“Direction?”
“Private Mercer reserve property.”
My jaw tightened.
The Red Room.
The black card in my hand was only one half of access.
The second half was biometric confirmation from a Mercer blood member.
Sabrina.
Or—
I looked at Noah.
Blood member.
A three-year-old child.
That was why Ellis needed him on the plane.
Not only leverage.
Access.
Sabrina saw my face.
“What?”
I looked at my nephew.
“He wasn’t taking Noah away from the reserve.”
May you like
I stood.
“He was taking Noah to it.”
