Chapter 12 - THE OTHER SHAW
His name was Adrian Shaw.
Helen had never mentioned him.
Brennan had never mentioned a brother.
Apparently silence was hereditary.
Adrian stood beside Commissioner Reeves with the easy confidence of someone who had never been thrown onto a diner floor.
He looked at Brennan.
“Still pretending you’re one of them?”
Brennan’s face hardened.
“Still pretending he’s your father?”
Commissioner Reeves smiled.
“I raised him.”
Matthew and I had heard that line recently.
It never ended well.
Richard looked toward the laptop.
“The money.”
I stepped between him and it.
“Not yours.”
“It was built through my businesses.”
“And thousands of crimes.”
“Morality is expensive, Evelyn.”
“Good thing there’s thirty-eight billion dollars.”
Adrian laughed.
“I like her.”
Brennan said, “You won’t in five minutes.”
Adrian’s eyes moved to me.
“The Mercer heir.”
“Apparently.”
“You don’t look impressive.”
“Your brother thought that too.”
Brennan touched his neck.
“I’ve apologized.”
“You actually haven’t.”
“Then formally: sorry.”
Even now.
I almost smiled.
Reeves raised his gun.
“Enough.”
The room changed.
Richard looked at him.
“You won’t shoot her.”
“No.”
Reeves pointed at Brennan.
“But him?”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Father.”
Brennan laughed.
“There it is.”
Adrian glared.
“What?”
“You call him Father.”
“He is.”
“He bought you.”
“Better than being abandoned.”
That landed.
Brennan’s expression hardened.
Helen had raised him.
Who raised Adrian?
Reeves.
Two boys.
One family split between protector and predator.
Maybe we were not so different.
I looked at the transfer screen.
Four minutes remaining.
“What happens in four minutes?”
Brennan answered.
“System requires action after access. Otherwise funds return to Circle control and the key locks for twenty years.”
Richard moved toward the laptop.
I blocked him.
He looked almost amused.
“You think you understand money?”
“No.”
“Power?”
“Enough.”
“You are a waitress.”
“I was.”
That silenced him.
I continued.
“And maybe that’s why I understand something none of you do.”
Reeves scoffed.
“Enlighten us.”
“Seven dollars and fifty cents.”
They stared.
“That was your bill at the diner,” I told Richard’s son—my uncle—Matthew wasn’t there, but the point remained.
“People like you throw around millions and billions until numbers stop meaning anything. Seven dollars and fifty cents means an hour of work to someone. Six hundred dollars meant Carla’s cousin got his jaw broken. Thirty-eight billion dollars isn’t money.”
I looked at the screen.
“It’s millions of hours of people’s lives.”
Nobody mocked me.
Good.
Three minutes.
I selected Option A.
Federal seizure accounts.
Reeves laughed.
“You think federal accounts are clean?”
That stopped me.
Helen’s letter.
Trust none completely.
He continued.
“Half the officials with access are Circle.”
True.
I selected Option B.
Freeze and destroy access.
Richard smiled.
“Then the money remains trapped forever. Hospitals, pension funds, businesses tied to those accounts collapse.”
“What?”
Brennan nodded grimly.
“The Circle mixed legitimate assets with criminal reserves.”
Of course.
Nothing simple.
Option C.
Transfer ownership.
To me.
The most dangerous option.
Two minutes.
Adrian said, “Choose C.”
Reeves looked at him sharply.
“Quiet.”
Interesting.
“Why?” I asked Adrian.
“Because leadership must belong to someone.”
“You?”
“If you transfer to yourself, I can challenge succession.”
Richard muttered, “Ambitious little bastard.”
Adrian smiled.
“You taught the Circle well.”
Reeves looked at Richard.
“Do not mistake attendance for membership.”
Old hatred.
Layers.
One minute.
I thought of Helen.
Who gets hurt tomorrow?
If the government seized everything tonight, corrupt officials might steal it.
If I froze everything, ordinary workers could lose pensions, salaries, medical funding.
If I took ownership, I became the legal controller.
Not the moral owner.
Controller.
I selected Option C.
Every gun lifted.
Brennan stared.
“Evelyn.”
“Trust me.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“No.”
I entered my name.
EVELYN GRACE MERCER.
The system asked:
ACCEPT FIDUCIARY CONTROL OF CIRCLE RESERVES?
I clicked YES.
The screen changed.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Richard laughed.
“Finally.”
Reeves smiled.
Adrian looked hungry.
Brennan looked terrified.
Then I pulled the red drive.
The screen went black.
Reeves stepped closer.
“You now own thirty-eight billion dollars.”
“No.”
I reached into my jacket.
Pulled Helen’s letter.
“I control it.”
“Same thing.”
“Not even close.”
Police sirens appeared outside.
Reeves frowned.
Brennan smiled.
“I called them.”
Reeves laughed.
“You think police arrest me?”
“Not Chicago police.”
Doors opened.
Federal tactical teams entered.
Real FBI patches.
Maybe real.
Daniel had contacted an old colleague earlier.
A woman named Special Agent Dana Cross.
She entered behind them.
Gun raised.
“Alan Reeves, hands where I can see them.”
Reeves smiled.
Then his officers fired.
Chaos.
Adrian tackled me behind the counter.
Brennan shot one of Reeves’s men.
Richard crawled toward the exit.
Dana Cross returned fire.
The laptop shattered.
I hit Adrian in the ribs.
He grunted.
“Stop!”
“Get off me.”
“I’m saving you!”
“Family says that a lot!”
A bullet struck the counter.
Adrian covered my head.
Maybe he was.
Reeves ran toward the rear corridor.
Brennan followed.
“Alan!”
Reeves turned and fired.
The bullet hit Brennan in the stomach.
He fell.
I screamed.
Adrian froze.
“Brother.”
For the first time, his arrogance disappeared.
He crawled toward Brennan.
Reeves escaped.
Federal agents pursued.
Richard vanished in the confusion.
Again.
I reached Brennan.
Blood spread beneath him.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Bad day.”
“Stop talking.”
“Always bossy.”
Adrian pressed his hands to the wound.
“Brennan.”
Brennan stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Knew what?”
“Helen.”
Adrian’s eyes filled.
“Reeves said she abandoned us.”
Brennan laughed weakly.
“She spent sixteen years looking for you.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“She found you when you were twelve.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
“Reeves threatened to kill me if she took you.”
Tears appeared.
Reeves had repeated Richard’s strategy.
Control children through fear.
Brennan reached into his jacket.
Pulled out a small key.
Handed it to Adrian.
“Helen’s storage unit.”
Adrian took it.
Brennan looked at me.
“Did I do okay?”
My throat tightened.
“You grabbed my wrist.”
He smiled.
“Besides that.”
“Yes.”
His eyes closed.
“Tell Matthew…”
He stopped.
“Tell him yourself.”
No answer.
“Brennan.”
Dana Cross knelt beside us.
“Medic!”
They rushed him away.
Alive.
Barely.
I stood covered in his blood.
Adrian remained on the floor.
His hands shook.
He looked at me.
“What happens now?”
I thought about thirty-eight billion dollars.
The Circle.
Richard.
Reeves.
My family.
Then Matthew rushed through the front doors with Catherine behind him.
He saw the blood.
“Brennan?”
“Alive.”
He exhaled.
Then looked at Adrian.
Catherine stopped breathing.
“Adrian?”
He looked at her.
She whispered:
“My son.”
Adrian stood.
“You’re Catherine Vale.”
“Yes.”
“You left me.”
Her face shattered.
“I didn’t know Reeves took you.”
He raised his gun.
Matthew raised his.
Two brothers who had never known each other.
Two mothers.
Two fathers.
Too many lies.
Then Dana Cross shouted:
“Everyone lower your weapons!”
Nobody did.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Richard.
“Evelyn.”
“What?”
“You chose ownership.”
“Yes.”
“Then you triggered succession.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
He laughed softly.
“Every Circle member in the world just received your name and photograph.”
I closed my eyes.
He continued.
“Some will support you.”
May you like
“And the others?”
“They have forty-eight hours to kill you.”
