Chapter 13 - David Mercer
David Mercer lived in Boston.
I called the company.
His assistant denied knowing anyone named Caroline Hayes.
Then I sent the photograph.
Ten minutes later, David called me personally.
“Claire?”
His voice broke when he said my name.
I could not answer.
“I’ve waited twenty-three years to hear your voice.”
My hands shook.
“You’re my father.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know about me?”
“Yes.”
“Then where were you?”
Silence.
“I was afraid.”
I almost laughed.
Everyone was always afraid.
“Of who?”
“Victor.”
That surprised me.
Not Harris.
Not Dad.
Victor.
David explained.
Twenty-four years earlier, he discovered Victor had been using company trucks to move illegal cash for political clients.
Victor’s network included Harris.
David threatened to expose them.
His car was forced off a bridge.
He survived.
Then someone visited the hospital.
Victor.
“He told me Caroline was pregnant.”
My chest tightened.
“He said if I came back, she would die.”
“So you stayed gone?”
“I was twenty-five.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“It’s an excuse.”
David built a new identity through contacts overseas.
Years later, he returned under his real name after Victor supposedly stopped searching.
He secretly watched me grow from a distance.
That made me furious.
“You watched?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever think I deserved the truth?”
“Every day.”
“But you did nothing.”
“I know.”
Then David explained Noah.
Noah had found him seven years ago.
“He wanted money.”
“For what?”
“To expose Victor?”
“No.”
David paused.
“To join him.”
I frowned.
“Join who?”
“Noah had built his own network.”
The same corruption had spread into the next generation.
Noah resented Dad for hiding him.
He hated Victor for abandoning him.
He despised Rachel for disappearing.
He wanted control over Hayes Development.
Dad refused.
Noah threatened him.
“So Noah had motive.”
“Yes.”
“Did he kill Dad?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he kill Harris?”
Another pause.
“I think so.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where is Noah?”
“I haven’t seen him in months.”
“Would he come after Ethan?”
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly.
“Why?”
“Because Ethan inherits Michael’s remaining shares.”
Everything connected again.
Dad’s company had survived under Victor.
If Mom’s conviction was overturned and Victor was implicated, Ethan’s ownership could become significant.
Noah wanted leverage.
Then David said something worse.
“Claire, Ethan was not kidnapped because he remembered the knife.”
I froze.
“Then why?”
“Because Noah believes Ethan has something Michael hid.”
“What?”
“The original company ledger.”
I stared at the stuffed bear.
Empty now.
Then remembered Ethan’s blue sweater.
He had clutched its sleeve at the prison.
The sweater had belonged to Dad.
Mom had kept it after his death.
Years later, she sent it to Ethan from prison.
May you like
I grabbed the sweater.
Something hard was sewn inside the cuff.
