Chapter 10 - THE MOTHER OF THE ENEMY
The federal field office occupied six floors of a gray government building.
Evelyn hated the fluorescent lights immediately.
They reminded her of hospitals.
Interrogation rooms.
Waiting for news no one wanted to deliver.
She sat beside Adrian in a private conference room.
Marcus paced.
Julian stood near the door.
No one had seen Rebecca yet.
Federal agents had separated the witnesses.
An assistant U.S. attorney named Grace Kim entered.
She carried three folders.
She looked exhausted.
She also looked like someone who had stopped being surprised by terrible people.
“Mrs. Hart.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Ms. Kim.”
“Mr. Cole.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Where is Rebecca?”
“She is safe.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Grace held his gaze.
“She asked for ten minutes before seeing you.”
Evelyn’s eyes lowered.
Adrian softened slightly.
“Fine.”
Grace sat.
“Samuel Rourke is also safe.”
Julian asked.
“And Elena Cross?”
“Same.”
Marcus stopped pacing.
“Does Elena confirm the ledger?”
Grace opened one folder.
“She confirms she gave birth to a boy in 1967.”
“She confirms Silas and Margaret Vane arranged what she was told would be temporary foster placement.”
“She confirms she never consented to adoption.”
Evelyn whispered.
“Richard.”
Grace nodded.
“Birth name Matthew Cross.”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“Does Richard know?”
Grace’s expression became complicated.
“Apparently.”
Marcus leaned closer.
“How long?”
“According to Ms. Cross, Silas told him when Richard was twenty-one.”
Julian frowned.
“Why?”
“Control.”
Evelyn understood immediately.
Silas Vane had weaponized the truth even against his own son.
Grace continued.
“Silas told Richard that Elena abandoned him.”
“He told him Mercer House saved him.”
“He told him any attack on the Vane family would send Richard back to being ‘nothing.’”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“So Richard spent his life protecting the people who stole him.”
Grace nodded.
“Trauma does not always produce good choices.”
Evelyn stared at the table.
“No.”
Grace looked at her.
“Mrs. Hart, there is another issue.”
Evelyn already knew from the tone.
“What?”
“Your signature appears on multiple Mercer House forms.”
“I know.”
“Federal investigators will need to question you formally.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“She is cooperating.”
“I understand.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“I am representing her.”
Grace looked at him.
“You may want separate counsel.”
“Why?”
“Because your former firm represented Vane Urban Development.”
Marcus went still.
Adrian looked at him.
Grace continued.
“You may be called as a witness.”
Marcus exhaled.
“Understood.”
Evelyn touched his arm.
“I’ll get another lawyer.”
Marcus looked guilty.
She gave him a faint smile.
“You’re still family.”
His eyes softened.
The door opened.
A federal agent whispered something to Grace.
Grace nodded.
Then she looked at Evelyn.
“Rebecca is ready.”
Evelyn stood.
Her knees shook.
Adrian rose too.
Grace lifted a hand.
“She asked to see Mrs. Hart alone first.”
Adrian stopped.
The old hurt crossed his face.
Evelyn touched his cheek.
“She has waited thirty-four years.”
He nodded.
“So have you.”
Evelyn walked down the hall.
Every step felt too loud.
Grace opened a small interview room.
Rebecca stood by the window.
Older.
Thinner.
Silver in her hair.
But still Rebecca.
Evelyn stopped inside the doorway.
Her daughter did not turn immediately.
Neither spoke.
Then Rebecca whispered.
“You still wear that cardigan style.”
Evelyn looked down.
A strange laugh escaped her.
“You always hated them.”
“I still do.”
Evelyn’s tears came instantly.
Rebecca finally turned.
Her face was wet.
For thirty-four years, each had imagined this moment.
Neither had imagined what to do with their hands.
Evelyn took one step.
Rebecca flinched.
Evelyn stopped.
The movement nearly destroyed her.
Rebecca saw it.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“You don’t apologize for being afraid.”
Rebecca looked down.
“They told me you signed me away.”
“I know.”
“They showed me papers.”
“I know.”
“I hated you.”
Evelyn swallowed.
“I know.”
“I wanted to hate you.”
“I understand.”
“I used to imagine you regretting it.”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“I regretted every minute I did not find you.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“I know that now.”
Evelyn began crying harder.
Rebecca did too.
Another step.
Then another.
They reached each other in the middle of the room.
Rebecca collapsed into her mother’s arms.
Evelyn held her as if she could compress thirty-four lost years into one embrace.
“My baby.”
Rebecca sobbed.
“Mom.”
Evelyn pressed her cheek against Rebecca’s hair.
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
“No.”
“I should have come back.”
“You were scared.”
“I saw you twice.”
“I know.”
“I sat in my car.”
Evelyn held her tighter.
“You came close enough.”
Rebecca shook her head against her shoulder.
“No.”
“I wasted years.”
“We both did.”
They stayed like that until the grief became quieter.
Eventually, Rebecca sat.
Evelyn sat opposite her.
Rebecca looked toward the door.
“He’s here?”
“Adrian.”
Her eyes filled.
“You named him?”
“No.”
“They changed it.”
Rebecca looked down.
“I named him Elias.”
“I know.”
“You heard the tape.”
“Yes.”
Rebecca pressed her hands together.
“I looked for him for years.”
Evelyn whispered.
“He looked for you too.”
Rebecca shut her eyes.
“What is he like?”
Evelyn smiled through tears.
“Bossy.”
Rebecca laughed.
“Then he’s ours.”
“Very.”
“Kind?”
Evelyn looked toward the door.
“Yes.”
“Angry?”
“Yes.”
“He deserves to be.”
“He does.”
Rebecca took a breath.
“Does he hate me?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the first thing he asked after finding out you were alive was where you were.”
Rebecca began crying again.
Evelyn reached across the table.
“See him.”
Rebecca looked terrified.
“What do I say?”
“The truth.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“It has to be.”
Rebecca stared at her mother.
Then nodded.
Evelyn opened the door.
Adrian stood twenty feet away.
He had clearly been pretending not to stare at it.
Rebecca stepped into the hall.
He froze.
No one moved.
Evelyn stepped aside.
Mother and son looked at each other.
Adrian’s jaw trembled.
Rebecca lifted one hand toward her mouth.
“Elias.”
Adrian’s face broke.
No one had called him that with love in his living memory.
Rebecca stepped forward.
Then stopped.
“May I?”
Adrian stared.
“May you what?”
“Touch you.”
His eyes filled.
He nodded.
Rebecca approached.
She placed one trembling hand against his cheek.
Adrian closed his eyes.
She whispered.
“I knew your face would change.”
He opened his eyes.
“What?”
“You had this little crease beside your left eye when you were born.”
She touched it.
“It’s still there.”
Adrian made a sound that was almost a laugh.
Then Rebecca pulled him into her arms.
He went rigid.
Only for a second.
Then his arms wrapped around her.
Evelyn turned away and cried.
Marcus stared at the floor.
Julian wiped his face before anyone could notice.
Even Grace Kim stepped back.
When Adrian finally released Rebecca, he asked the question that had waited forty-four years.
“Why didn’t you find me?”
Rebecca flinched.
Evelyn moved forward.
Adrian raised a hand.
“No.”
His voice was not cruel.
But it was firm.
“I need her answer.”
Rebecca nodded.
“You deserve it.”
She looked at him.
“I tried.”
“How long?”
“Eleven years.”
“What happened?”
“Every record led somewhere false.”
“Then?”
“Silas found out.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“He threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“With me?”
“With you.”
Rebecca looked toward Marcus and Julian.
“And them.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why them?”
“Because he knew you had stayed together.”
Adrian froze.
“How?”
“Someone watched you from childhood.”
Julian stepped closer from the hall.
“Who?”
Rebecca looked toward him.
“Gideon Rourke.”
Julian’s face hardened.
Rebecca continued.
“He placed people near your foster homes.”
“Schools.”
“Later jobs.”
Marcus stared.
“We were monitored for decades?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s voice became low.
“Why keep us alive?”
Rebecca looked toward Grace.
Grace answered.
“Because dead children attract investigations when they become successful adults with paper trails.”
Rebecca added.
“And because Richard Vane convinced his father not to kill you.”
Everyone turned.
Adrian stared.
“Richard saved us?”
Rebecca nodded.
“When Richard was thirty, he found part of the ledger.”
“He realized who he was.”
“He also realized why you three had been targeted.”
“He told Silas that killing you would create too many questions.”
Julian looked skeptical.
“That makes no sense.”
Rebecca’s expression sharpened.
“Richard is not simple.”
“He is not his father.”
“Do not mistake that for saying he is good.”
Evelyn asked.
“What is he?”
Rebecca looked toward the window.
“A man who became exactly what his father needed him to become so no one could ever take his name away.”
Marcus whispered.
“Dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“Compromised.”
“Yes.”
“Redeemable?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
Grace opened the door.
“We have a problem.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
She held up her phone.
The original Mercer ledger had disappeared from the federal evidence transport van.
Julian’s face changed.
“That’s impossible.”
Grace’s voice was flat.
“The van was intercepted.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“By whom?”
Grace looked at Rebecca.
“One of our agents was injured.”
“The driver is missing.”
“And surveillance shows the person who authorized the route change used credentials belonging to Samuel Rourke.”
Rebecca went pale.
“No.”
Julian stared.
Samuel had disappeared from the building.
So had Elena Cross.
Then Adrian’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Samuel’s voice came through.
“Adrian.”
His breathing was ragged.
“You have ten minutes.”
Adrian stood.
“Where are you?”
“They took Elena.”
“Who?”
Samuel’s voice cracked.
“Richard.”
A pause.
May you like
“And he wants his birth record traded for your mother.”
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