Chapter 9 - the first missing Mercer)
Thomas Mercer had never officially been a Mercer.
His birth certificate named him Thomas Reed.
Evelyn gave birth to him at nineteen.
She married Arthur Mercer three years later.
According to Laura, Thomas lived with relatives until he was ten, then returned to Evelyn's household.
Daniel remembered none of it because Thomas left before Daniel was old enough to form clear memories.
Laura remembered everything.
"Mom hated that he existed," she said.
"Why?" Rachel asked.
"Because he reminded people she had a life before Arthur."
"That doesn't explain hiding him."
"Thomas caused problems."
Rachel hated the phrase.
It was the same phrase Daniel had used about Laura.
"What kind of problems?"
"He asked questions."
Laura explained that Thomas was unusually intelligent and stubborn.
As a teenager, he discovered Evelyn had been moving money from Arthur's companies.
When he confronted her, Evelyn told everyone Thomas was unstable.
Rachel almost laughed.
"Of course she did."
At seventeen, Thomas disappeared.
The official family story said he ran away.
No missing person report was ever filed.
Arthur believed Thomas had left voluntarily.
Laura did not.
"How old would he be now?" Rachel asked.
"Fifty five."
Rachel looked at Daniel.
"Could he be Oliver's biological father?"
Daniel shook his head.
"That would mean someone had stored his genetic material for decades."
Laura's face became serious.
"That is exactly the kind of thing my mother would do if there was money attached."
Rachel stood.
"What money?"
Laura looked at her.
"The trust."
The bloodline trust did not simply include property.
It included a controlling share in Mercer Development Holdings.
Current estimated value: one hundred eighty million dollars.
If Oliver qualified as Arthur Mercer's first male biological grandson, control of the trust would eventually pass to him.
But if Daniel was not genetically related to Oliver, the claim depended on whose biological child Oliver actually was.
Rachel felt physically ill.
"They used my fertility treatment to create an heir."
Daniel shook his head.
"We don't know that."
"Stop saying we don't know."
Rachel's voice rose.
"Every time you say that, another locked room appears."
Daniel looked away.
Detective Cole joined them later that morning.
Rachel told him everything.
For once, he did not look skeptical.
He had found something too.
Sabrina Holt was alive.
She had been attacked in her apartment but escaped through a stairwell.
Police had moved her to a protected location.
She agreed to speak.
They met that afternoon.
Sabrina looked nothing like the confident woman in the photograph.
There was bruising along her jaw.
Her hands trembled.
Rachel sat across from her.
"Why were you helping Daniel?"
Sabrina glanced at him.
"Because my father ruined my mother's life."
Doctor Marcus Vale had treated Sabrina's mother for depression.
When Sabrina was twelve, her mother was institutionalized.
She died four years later.
Sabrina eventually discovered that Vale had falsified parts of her medical history.
"When I confronted him, he told me some people are safer when no one believes them."
Rachel felt a chill.
The same philosophy had been used against Laura.
Against Rachel.
Sabrina stole files from her father's private archive.
Hundreds of files.
Some concerned wealthy families.
Some involved guardianship disputes.
Some involved estates.
Some involved unexplained deaths.
"Your father was helping people steal inheritances," Cole said.
Sabrina nodded.
"For decades."
"With Evelyn?"
"She was one of his oldest clients."
Rachel asked, "Do you have records from the fertility clinic?"
Sabrina looked at her.
"I found references."
"To Oliver?"
"Not by name."
She opened a laptop.
A scanned document appeared.
PROJECT A17.
Recipient: Rachel Mercer.
Source material: Restricted donor.
Authorization: E. Mercer.
Rachel stared at the screen.
"Restricted donor."
Sabrina nodded.
"There should be another page identifying the source."
"Where is it?"
"My father kept original biological records at another property."
Cole leaned forward.
"Where?"
Sabrina hesitated.
"His private medical retreat."
Daniel frowned.
"Vale owns a retreat?"
"It's registered through a company."
"Location?"
Sabrina looked at Rachel.
"Near Lake Hollow."
Laura inhaled sharply.
Rachel turned.
"What?"
Laura looked terrified.
"I know that place."
"How?"
Laura whispered.
"That's where they took me before I escaped."
The room went silent.
Rachel looked at Cole.
"We go."
Cole shook his head.
"We get a warrant."
"How long?"
"As fast as possible."
Rachel hated the answer.
That evening, the warrant was approved.
By midnight, officers entered the Lake Hollow property.
The building looked like an expensive wellness center.
Inside were examination rooms.
Private bedrooms.
Medical storage.
A locked archive.
Cole opened it with a warrant team.
They found thousands of records.
Rachel's fertility file was there.
So was Oliver's.
And inside a refrigerated evidence unit, investigators found labeled biological samples.
One label contained a name.
Thomas Reed.
Rachel stared through the glass.
"He's the donor."
Sabrina shook her head.
"Not necessarily. We need the procedure record."
They searched.
At two forty in the morning, an officer found the missing page.
Rachel read it twice.
Then a third time.
Embryo source.
Patient ovum: Rachel Mercer.
Donor: Thomas Reed.
Rachel sat down.
Oliver was her biological son.
But Daniel was not his biological father.
Evelyn had secretly used genetic material from her missing first child.
Rachel looked at Daniel.
His face was broken.
"I'm sorry."
Rachel turned away.
Cole asked the question none of them wanted to ask.
"Why?"
Laura answered.
"The trust."
But Sabrina shook her head.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
Sabrina pointed to a date.
"The trust would not accept Thomas Reed's bloodline."
Laura frowned.
"Why?"
"Because Arthur Mercer wasn't Thomas's father."
Exactly.
Rachel stared at the document.
"If Oliver couldn't inherit through Thomas, why create him?"
Sabrina looked disturbed.
"I don't know."
Then an officer called from the archive.
"Detective."
Cole walked over.
The officer held a second folder.
Thomas Reed.
Inside was a recent photograph.
Not decades old.
Recent.
Thomas stood outside a grocery store.
The date was six months earlier.
Rachel looked at Laura.
"He's alive."
Laura stared at the image.
After thirty eight years, the first missing Mercer had been found.
May you like
But the words written beneath the photograph were even more disturbing.
Subject remains unaware of grandson.
