Everyone Laughed at the Single Father at the Reunion—Then a Billionaire Crossed the Room for Him
Chapter 12
They rode through the night.
The archives stood inside the county courthouse.
If Mercer destroyed the originals, the evidence would become difficult to prove.
They arrived before dawn.
The courthouse doors were locked.
Nathaniel knocked.
No answer.
Thomas found a side entrance.
Inside, the halls were empty.
They reached the archive room.
The door was open.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Someone had started a fire.
Thomas ran inside.
Shelves were burning.
Samuel shouted from behind him.
“Take the registers!”
Thomas grabbed as many as he could.
Nathaniel pulled down another shelf.
Then a beam collapsed.
Thomas pushed Nathaniel aside.
The beam struck Thomas’s shoulder.
He fell.
“Thomas!”
Nathaniel dragged him away.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Later.”
They escaped with three boxes.
Outside, the courthouse windows glowed orange.
By sunrise, half the county was watching the building burn.
Mercer arrived.
He looked at Thomas.
“You did this.”
Thomas stared.
“No.”
Mercer pointed.
“You were seen entering.”
Nathaniel stepped forward.
“And you were seen ordering the archives removed.”
Mercer’s face tightened.
“Careful, Blackwood.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“No.”
He looked at the crowd.
“I think it’s time we stop being careful.”
He raised one of the registers.
“This is proof.”
The crowd murmured.
Farmers came closer.
Families whose names appeared in the book.
Old men.
Widows.
Workers.
People who had spent decades believing they had simply been unlucky.
Thomas opened the register.
“This says your land was sold voluntarily.”
An elderly farmer stepped forward.
“It wasn’t.”
Another woman said:
“Neither was mine.”
More voices followed.
The crowd grew.
Mercer looked toward the sheriff.
The sheriff did not move.
Nathaniel stepped beside Thomas.
Then something unexpected happened.
Charles Whitcomb pushed through the crowd.
Thomas stared.
Charles held a leather ledger.
“I have something too.”
Vale’s former business partner had come forward.
Thomas could hardly believe it.
Charles looked ashamed.
“I laughed at you last night.”
Thomas said nothing.
“I thought you were beneath me.”
Charles swallowed.
“I was wrong.”
He handed over the ledger.
It contained payments from Vale to officials.
Including Mercer.
The crowd erupted.
Mercer turned to run.
The sheriff finally stepped forward.
“Judge Mercer.”
Mercer stopped.
“You are under arrest.”
