Chapter 13 - THOMAS’S GRANDSON
The carriage house was locked.
Victoria opened it herself.
Inside lived a seventeen-year-old boy.
Thin.
Quiet.
Dark hair.
Sterling eyes.
His name was Owen Mercer.
Julian’s son.
Alexander stared at Victoria.
“You hid Thomas’s grandson here.”
“For three months.”
“Why?”
Victoria looked toward Owen.
The boy answered.
“Because my dad disappeared.”
Julian vanished shortly after Rebecca died.
Not eight months later.
Not this week.
Victoria had lied again.
The man working inside the estate under the name Julian Mercer was not the same Julian who first met Rebecca.
Alexander felt cold.
“What?”
Owen looked confused.
“My father left eight months ago.”
Victoria sat.
She had finally reached the secret she feared most.
The man Alexander knew as Julian was Julian’s younger half-brother.
Nathan Mercer.
Thomas had two sons.
Julian.
Nathan.
Julian met Rebecca.
Helped her investigate.
Then disappeared the week after her death.
Nathan came looking for him.
Victoria brought Nathan into the estate under Julian’s identity because she feared Alexander would reject Thomas’s family if he learned there were two brothers circling the house.
Alexander laughed once.
Nothing about it was funny.
“Why does everyone think lying makes the next truth easier?”
Victoria had no answer.
Nathan had been trying to find Julian.
He believed Raymond took him.
That was why he stayed.
That was why he watched Sophia.
That was why he brought her food.
Owen had arrived three months earlier after receiving a message from his father.
Come to the Sterling estate if I don’t return.
Victoria hid him in the carriage house because Raymond was still moving through family events.
She did not want him discovered.
Alexander looked at Sophia.
“You fed him.”
Victoria nodded.
“And withheld food from her.”
Victoria’s face broke.
“I know how it looks.”
Alexander stared.
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You know what it was.”
There was no explanation that made it less ugly.
Victoria could protect one frightened child while punishing another.
Love was selective when fear decided who mattered.
Then Owen pulled something from beneath his mattress.
A phone.
Old.
Cracked.
“My dad’s.”
Alexander took it.
There was one saved video.
Julian Mercer.
The real Julian.
He looked exhausted.
“If you’re watching this, Raymond knows who I am.”
Alexander pressed the volume higher.
Julian explained.
Rebecca had trusted him with one final task.
Find proof Raymond ordered the ambush.
He found it.
Not documents.
A witness.
One of Raymond’s own men.
Julian arranged to meet him near the river.
Then someone followed.
“If I don’t come back, Nathan needs to take Owen somewhere Victoria can hide him.”
Alexander frowned.
Julian trusted Victoria.
Despite everything.
The video continued.
“She lies when she’s afraid.”
“But she protects children when she remembers they are children.”
Alexander looked toward his mother.
Victoria started crying.
Then Julian’s final words came.
“Rebecca knew Raymond would come after me.”
“She also knew Raymond would never hurt Owen if he understood who Owen’s mother was.”
Alexander looked at the boy.
“Who was your mother?”
Owen hesitated.
Then answered.
“Claire Raymond.”
Alexander went still.
Raymond’s daughter.
Dead fifteen years earlier.
Owen was Raymond’s grandson.
Thomas Sterling’s grandson.
Two family lines joined inside one boy.
Victoria had hidden him because if Raymond discovered the truth, his entire war against Thomas’s blood would collapse into his own family.
Then Daniel entered.
His face was grim.
“Sir.”
Alexander looked over.
“Raymond is asking for you.”
“From custody?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked toward Owen.
“He says he knows where Julian is.”
Owen stood immediately.
Alexander’s expression hardened.
“Alive?”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
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Then added:
“And Raymond says Victoria is the reason he stayed alive.”
