Garrett’s face changed.
“They’re dead.”
Victor leaned forward.
“Dead does not equal useful.”
Penelope rubbed her stomach.
“Stop blaming him.”
Victor looked at her.
“You’re emotional.”
She went silent.
Garrett poured a drink.
“The trust will move.”
Victor shook his head.
“Tobias complicated everything.”
Garrett laughed.
“Tobias was a cripple.”
My brother’s face went still beside me.
Victor answered.
“He was still a Mercer.”
Then Garrett said something that shocked even Tobias.
“Not anymore.”
Victor looked at him.
“The car is gone.”
“The river took everything.”
Victor smiled slightly.
“You sound confident.”
“I watched it sink.”
That was our confirmation.
Not enough alone.
But combined with everything else, it mattered.
Samuel recorded all of it.
Three days later, federal investigators entered the picture.
Quietly.
Agent Lena Brooks met us at the safehouse.
She was forty-five.
Calm.
Direct.
She looked at Tobias first.
“You’ve maintained this deception for thirteen years?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to have several questions about that later.”
“I expected that.”
Then she looked at me.
“Mrs. Vale.”
I flinched at the name.
She noticed.
“Rosalind is fine.”
“Rosalind.”
She placed a recorder on the table.
“I need your complete account.”
I gave it.
The road.
The crash.
The wire.
Garrett leaving.
Penelope waiting.
Tobias standing.
The escape.
The milk.
Everything.
When I finished, Agent Brooks did not offer comfort.
I appreciated that.
