Chapter 5 - MARISSA’S STORY
Marissa had been committed under Daniel’s signature.
The records claimed she suffered delusions after losing a child.
They described violent behavior.
Paranoia.
False accusations.
The same words Daniel used against me.
Officer Holloway visited the facility the next morning.
She returned with a video recording.
Marissa sat in a small interview room wearing a gray sweater.
Her dark hair had turned silver at the temples.
She looked older than thirty-five.
When the officer mentioned Daniel’s name, Marissa gripped the table.
“He found another one.”
The officer asked what she meant.
“Another wife.”
“He always finds another one.”
Marissa told them about the Mercer family land.
Daniel’s grandfather had owned thousands of acres near the Texas-Mexico border.
Oil companies wanted drilling rights.
The land was controlled by an old family trust.
According to the trust, Daniel could gain full control only after producing a male heir.
Lorraine believed daughters weakened the family line.
She believed wives who gave birth to daughters were defective.
It did not matter that biology made Daniel responsible for the child’s sex.
Facts had never mattered inside that family.
Marissa became pregnant twice.
Both babies were girls.
The first died shortly after birth.
The second was taken away.
Lorraine told Marissa the baby had also died.
Marissa did not believe her.
She tried to contact police.
Daniel told doctors she was psychotic.
Lorraine paid a private psychiatrist to support the claim.
Marissa spent eleven years locked away.
Officer Holloway paused the video.
“There is more.”
Marissa described other pregnant women Daniel dated after her.
Some disappeared.
Some were paid to leave.
Some were threatened.
Lorraine recorded every pregnancy in the ledger.
Daniel married me using false documents that showed his first marriage had been dissolved.
I looked at my daughters asleep beside each other in the hospital chair.
“Where is Marissa’s second daughter?”
“We do not know.”
“Does Marissa?”
“She believes Lorraine sold the child through an illegal adoption.”
The room seemed to narrow around me.
My son was gone.
My daughters had almost been taken.
Another woman had lost eleven years of her life.
And Daniel had stood in the hospital hallway laughing.
Officer Holloway placed a photograph on my blanket.
It showed a teenage girl at a Texas youth shelter.
She had been abandoned as an infant.
DNA records connected her to Marissa.
Her name was Lily Cole.
“She is fourteen.”
Officer Holloway watched my face.
“We believe she may be Marissa’s daughter.”
“Does she know?”
“Not yet.”
A knock sounded at the door.
A man in a dark suit entered.
He introduced himself as Assistant District Attorney Paul Grayson.
His smile was polite.
His eyes were not.
“I’m taking control of the case.”
Officer Holloway stood.
“This is not your case.”
“It is now.”
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He placed a release order on the table.
“Daniel Mercer is being released pending further review.”
