Chapter 10 - MATTHEW’S REAL FATHER
Nobody spoke.
Matthew stared at Richard as if the floor had disappeared beneath him.
I knew the feeling.
He laughed once.
Sharp.
Disbelieving.
“So we’re doing this now?”
Richard looked tired.
“You asked.”
“Who is my father?”
“I don’t know.”
“Lie.”
“I truly don’t.”
Matthew stepped closer.
“You put your name on my birth certificate.”
“Yes.”
“You raised me.”
“Yes.”
“You beat me when I disobeyed you.”
Richard’s expression did not change.
“Yes.”
“You made me work for you.”
“Yes.”
“And now you don’t know who my father is?”
“Your mother never told me.”
Matthew froze.
“Mother?”
A new word.
A new mystery.
I had never remembered another woman in the house.
“Who was she?” I asked.
Richard looked at me.
“A woman named Catherine Vale.”
Matthew whispered, “Vale.”
Something about the name frightened him.
Richard nodded.
“She worked for the Circle.”
My mother came closer.
“You told me she died in childbirth.”
“She did.”
“No.”
Daniel’s voice came from the stairs.
Weak but clear.
“She didn’t.”
We turned.
He stood with Dr. Cho supporting him.
My mother rushed toward him.
“You should be in bed.”
“I spent eighteen years in one room. I’m done being told where to sit.”
He lowered himself into a chair.
Matthew stared.
“You knew Catherine Vale?”
Daniel nodded.
“She was an intelligence officer.”
“For the government?”
“For everyone.”
That sounded ominous.
Daniel continued.
“She infiltrated Richard’s organization while also feeding information to the Circle.”
Richard said, “She was a liar.”
Daniel smiled.
“You were sleeping with her.”
“Both can be true.”
Matthew looked sick.
“What happened to her?”
Daniel hesitated.
The day seemed to be built entirely from dangerous pauses.
“She disappeared after you were born.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I investigated for years.”
Matthew pulled out his phone.
Brennan moved slightly.
Matthew did not raise the weapon.
He just stared at Daniel.
“What does this have to do with the Circle claiming I belong to them?”
Daniel looked toward Richard.
“Tell him.”
Richard sat back.
“When Catherine left you with me, she also left instructions.”
“What instructions?”
“To raise you inside the organization.”
“Why?”
“So one day you could inherit it.”
Matthew’s face emptied.
“The Circle placed me with you.”
“Yes.”
“You weren’t my father.”
“No.”
“You were my handler.”
Richard looked offended.
“I raised you as a son.”
Matthew walked across the room and hit him.
Hard.
Richard fell against the chair.
Nobody stopped Matthew.
He hit him again.
Then I stepped between them.
Matthew’s fist stopped inches from my face.
We stared at each other.
“Enough,” I said.
His hand shook.
“He built my entire life.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
I almost laughed.
“Matthew, I found out yesterday that my father is my grandfather and my father isn’t dead. I understand the general theme.”
For one second, he stared.
Then laughed.
Real laughter.
Broken laughter.
He lowered his fist.
Richard touched blood at the corner of his mouth.
“Ungrateful.”
Matthew looked at him.
“You should be thankful she stopped me.”
We shifted focus to Navy Pier.
Carla remained in custody.
The Circle wanted the drive.
We had eleven hours.
I opened Daniel’s red drive on an isolated laptop.
Encrypted.
Of course.
“What’s the password?” I asked.
Daniel smiled.
“The person who comes back.”
It opened.
Folders appeared.
Hundreds.
One labeled VALE.
Matthew stopped breathing.
We opened it.
Photographs of Catherine.
Young.
Dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
Matthew had her mouth.
Documents.
Payments.
Field reports.
Then a recent photograph.
Timestamp: three weeks ago.
Catherine Vale was alive.
Matthew stared.
“My mother.”
The photograph showed Catherine entering a glass office tower in Washington, D.C.
Daniel whispered, “That building belongs to the Department of Justice.”
I looked at him.
“She works for the government?”
“Or the Circle.”
Matthew scrolled.
One audio file.
He pressed play.
A woman’s voice.
“Richard has become unstable. Matthew still believes he is a Valentine. Keep it that way until succession.”
Matthew paused the recording.
He looked physically ill.
The file date was six months ago.
His mother knew.
Alive.
Watching him.
Using him.
Richard said quietly, “Now you understand.”
Matthew turned.
“You knew she was alive?”
“No.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Neither do I,” my mother said.
Richard looked at her.
“I did not.”
For once, he may have been telling the truth.
We listened further.
Catherine’s voice continued.
“If Evelyn Mercer is alive, succession changes.”
I leaned closer.
“Why?”
Another male voice answered.
“She has Mercer blood.”
Catherine said:
“Then she has claim.”
Matthew looked at me.
“Claim to what?”
Daniel went pale.
I looked at him.
“You know.”
He closed his eyes.
“The Circle was not originally criminal.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Here comes the history lesson.”
Daniel continued.
“It began after World War II as a private network connecting prosecutors, industrialists, intelligence officers, bankers.”
“To fight organized crime?” I asked.
“At first.”
“And then?”
“They realized controlling crime was more profitable than eliminating it.”
Classic.
“Mercer family was involved?”
“My father helped found the original network.”
My stomach dropped.
“So I have claim because my grandfather started it.”
“Your great-grandfather.”
Matthew rubbed his forehead.
“I need a whiteboard for this family.”
Despite everything, Brennan nodded.
“Agreed.”
Daniel continued.
“The Circle’s charter includes succession rules.”
“You’re telling me a secret criminal organization has bylaws.”
“Rich criminals love paperwork.”
Richard muttered, “True.”
I looked at the screen.
“If I have a claim, they can’t just kill me.”
“They can,” Daniel said. “But some factions would object.”
“Factions?”
“Nothing powerful stays united forever.”
Now it made sense.
The Circle had not killed me.
They wanted the drive.
They wanted leverage.
Maybe they wanted control of me.
“Who is leading them now?”
Daniel looked at the Catherine file.
“I don’t know.”
I scrolled farther.
There was a document called SUCCESSION CANDIDATES.
Three names.
MATTHEW VALE.
EVELYN MERCER.
A third name was redacted.
I opened metadata.
Nothing.
Matthew leaned over my shoulder.
“Someone else.”
“Yes.”
Richard stared.
“The Circle has never allowed competing heirs.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Which means tonight is not just about the drive.”
I understood.
“They want us together.”
“To decide which one survives.”
Matthew looked at me.
“Comforting.”
At 10:50 p.m., Navy Pier glittered beneath cold wind.
Tourists were mostly gone.
We had a plan.
Plans in our family had a poor survival rate.
Still.
I carried a decoy drive.
The real one stayed with Daniel under Brennan’s guard.
Matthew walked beside me.
No visible weapon.
He had three hidden.
We reached the end of the pier.
Commissioner Reeves waited.
Carla stood beside him in handcuffs.
Ten officers surrounded them.
All Chicago PD.
Maybe all Circle.
Reeves smiled.
“Evelyn.”
“You burned my house.”
“Technically Richard did.”
“You changed the order.”
His smile vanished slightly.
“So you watched the recording.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know Richard failed.”
Matthew said, “Where’s Catherine Vale?”
Reeves looked at him.
Interesting.
He knew.
“Your mother sends her regards.”
Matthew’s jaw clenched.
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“From whom?”
Reeves smiled.
“You.”
Then he looked at me.
“The drive.”
“Carla first.”
He released her cuffs.
She walked toward me.
Halfway across, an officer raised his gun.
Matthew moved.
Too late.
A shot cracked.
Carla fell.
I screamed.
But the bullet hadn’t hit her.
The officer who raised his gun collapsed.
Shot from behind.
Everyone turned.
A woman stood on the upper deck of a closed restaurant.
Silver hair.
Long black coat.
Rifle in hand.
Matthew stared.
Catherine Vale.
His mother.
She lowered the rifle.
Looked directly at him.
Then shouted:
May you like
“Matthew! Evelyn! Get down!”
The pier erupted in gunfire.
