Chapter 10 - The Enemy With My Face
We found Celia Mercer in Prague.
At least, we found evidence that she had been there six months earlier.
Hotel registration records showed she occupied a suite during a Northstar investment conference.
Security footage captured a woman leaving the hotel at midnight.
She moved like the attacker from Ryan’s hospital room.
Same height.
Same build.
Same controlled stride.
The camera never captured her face directly.
But on her left wrist was a crescent-shaped birthmark.
My sister had tried to kill Ryan.
Or someone wanted us to believe she had.
Agent Reed warned against assumptions.
“Identity can be manufactured.”
“The birthmark can’t.”
“Makeup can.”
“You think Northstar created a false twin?”
“I think Northstar has spent decades manipulating records. We verify everything.”
Verification became difficult when Elias Voss disappeared.
His private jet left the country hours after Judge Voss’s murder.
The flight plan listed Switzerland.
The aircraft changed direction over the Atlantic and landed at a private airfield in Iceland.
By the time authorities arrived, Voss was gone.
His attorney released a statement claiming he was receiving medical treatment and had no knowledge of illegal Northstar activity.
Meanwhile, Hartwell Properties collapsed.
Banks froze its accounts.
Contractors filed claims.
Employees discovered retirement funds had been borrowed against without authorization.
My father blamed me publicly.
From the steps of the courthouse, he told reporters that an emotionally unstable daughter was using wealth to punish her family.
The story might have succeeded years earlier.
This time, Benjamin released portions of the audit.
Public opinion shifted overnight.
Former employees came forward.
Investors reported missing money.
Families described homes built with dangerous materials by Hartwell subsidiaries.
My father’s empire had been hollow long before I touched it.
I only turned on the lights.
He was arrested on charges of fraud, obstruction, and conspiracy.
My mother received conditional release in exchange for cooperation.
Ryan remained under protection while his shoulder healed.
Yet the largest mystery remained untouched.
The Meridian Reserve.
Financial records indicated it had been created thirty years earlier with an initial value of nine million dollars.
Grandma Evelyn and several medical investors intended it to fund hospitals, affordable housing, and public technology.
Instead, Northstar diverted its growth into secret acquisitions.
The current value was unknown.
Benjamin estimated hundreds of millions.
Possibly more.
Access required a dual biometric authorization linked to Grandma’s granddaughters.
That explained why Northstar monitored me.
It also explained why they preserved Celeste.
They needed both heirs alive.
The assassination attempt through my parents’ window had never been intended to kill me.
The hospital attacker could have killed Ryan in several simpler ways.
Every act was designed to direct us toward the truth while maintaining fear.
Someone inside Northstar wanted the reserve opened.
The question was why.
Three weeks after Ryan’s rescue, a package arrived at Asteron’s former headquarters.
It was addressed to me in handwriting identical to Grandma Evelyn’s.
Inside was a small audio recorder.
Naomi and I listened inside a secure conference room.
A woman spoke.
Her voice sounded like mine, but lower.
“My name is Celeste Hart. You know me as the sister your parents buried.”
Naomi gripped my arm.
The recording continued.
“I did not attack Ryan. I did not shoot through the window. Meridian wants you to believe I am your enemy because fear makes people obedient.”
There was a pause.
“You are searching for the second key. Stop.”
I leaned closer.
“The key does not open the reserve. It activates the first stage of liquidation. Once both keys are used, every Northstar account will begin transferring to its legal beneficiaries.”
That sounded like victory.
Then her tone changed.
“Those transfers will expose every person who profited from the network. Judges. Ministers. Intelligence officials. Business leaders. Some of them will lose money. Others will lose freedom. A few will lose entire governments.”
Naomi whispered, “Governments?”
Celeste continued.
“They will kill thousands to prevent that ledger from becoming public.”
The recording ended with an address and a time.
An abandoned observatory outside Montreal.
Forty-eight hours.
Come alone if you want proof.
Agent Reed immediately rejected the meeting.
“It is an obvious trap.”
“It may be my only chance to find her.”
“It may be your only chance to be kidnapped.”
Benjamin agreed with him.
Naomi did not.
“She said come alone because she assumes Claire is monitored. We can build a security perimeter without approaching.”
Reed studied the address.
“We control transportation, surveillance, and extraction.”
The decision was technically his.
I made it mine.
Forty-eight hours later, I entered the abandoned observatory carrying the silver key.
May you like
A woman stood beneath the broken dome.
For the first time in my life, I saw my own face looking back at me.
