Chapter 13 - the bargain margaret never admitted)
Margaret finally asked for a private conversation.
Daniel refused to be alone with her.
Claire stayed.
So did Hart.
Margaret sat in Claire's dining room beneath the watch of two officers.
Her perfect cream suit from two days earlier had been replaced by plain dark trousers and a gray cardigan.
She looked smaller.
"Jonathan contacted me six weeks ago."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"What did he want?"
"The trust."
"How?"
"He said the original Mercer bloodline records could invalidate several beneficiaries."
Claire frowned.
"Including Daniel?"
Margaret nodded.
"He claimed he had proof Robert was not Daniel's biological father and that Michael's relationship would remove Daniel from certain founder restricted assets."
Michael spoke from the doorway.
"That's not how the trust works."
Margaret looked at him.
"I know that now."
Daniel stared at her.
"You believed him?"
"I panicked."
"So you started accusing Claire of adultery?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Jonathan said if there was uncertainty around Lily's lineage before your thirty fifth birthday, the descendant provisions could be frozen."
"You tried to protect my inheritance by destroying my marriage."
"I was trying to buy time."
Claire laughed quietly.
Margaret looked at her.
"There is nothing funny about this."
"No. I'm thinking about the impressive variety of ways you describe cruelty without calling it cruelty."
Margaret looked down.
Daniel asked.
"Why the DNA test?"
"Jonathan demanded it."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"He wanted your DNA."
Margaret's silence answered.
Daniel stood.
"You gave him access?"
"No."
"Did he see the results?"
"No."
"Then what was he looking for?"
Margaret hesitated.
"He wanted confirmation of whether you were Robert's biological son."
Michael looked toward Hart.
"Because if Robert was Daniel's father, Jonathan's position changes."
Claire frowned.
"Position in what?"
Michael answered.
"The founder lineage."
William Mercer had two sons.
Jonathan and Robert.
If Robert's biological line continued through Daniel, Jonathan was not the sole surviving direct male branch.
If Daniel was Michael's son, Jonathan could claim unique standing under older sections of the family trust.
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"So everyone cared who my father was because of money."
Evelyn whispered.
"Not everyone."
Daniel looked at her.
Evelyn wiped her eyes.
"I cared because I lost you."
Then she looked at Rebecca.
"And her."
Rebecca reached for Evelyn's hand for the first time.
It was a small movement.
But Claire saw Evelyn stop breathing.
Their fingers remained together.
Margaret watched.
Something unreadable crossed her face.
Regret, perhaps.
Hart turned back toward Margaret.
"Did Jonathan threaten Lily?"
Margaret shook her head.
"Not directly."
"What did he say?"
"He said children create leverage."
Claire's chair scraped against the floor.
Daniel caught her arm.
Margaret looked ashamed.
"That was when I stopped cooperating."
Claire stared.
"You stopped after you chained her?"
Margaret's eyes filled.
"Yes."
"That isn't the defense you think it is."
"I know."
And for once, Margaret truly sounded as though she did.
Hart asked.
"Did Jonathan tell you where he was staying?"
"No."
"How did he contact you?"
"Burner phones."
"Did you ever meet?"
"Once."
"Where?"
Margaret looked at Daniel.
"The old Mercer factory."
Daniel frowned.
The original textile factory had been abandoned for fifteen years.
Hart immediately dispatched officers.
They found no Jonathan.
But they found something else.
A locked office.
Inside were copies of every page from the maternity ledger.
Photographs of Daniel.
Rebecca.
Lily.
Evelyn.
Michael.
Claire.
And a wall covered with trust diagrams.
Jonathan had been studying them.
On a table sat a portable DNA analyzer.
Several sample envelopes were labeled.
DANIEL.
REBECCA.
MARGARET.
MICHAEL.
ROBERT.
Claire stared at the last name.
"Robert has been dead seventeen years."
Hart nodded.
"Hair or preserved biological material could still exist."
Daniel looked at Margaret.
"Did Jonathan get Dad's DNA?"
Margaret whispered.
"His watch."
"What?"
"When Robert died, I kept his watch. There were hairs caught inside the band."
Claire felt disturbed by the precision.
Hart asked.
"Did Jonathan steal it?"
Margaret nodded.
"Six weeks ago."
Daniel's face hardened.
"So he may already know who my biological father is."
Michael stepped closer.
"And if he knows, he has not told us because the answer helps him."
Hart searched the desk.
In a locked drawer they found a laboratory receipt.
Private kinship analysis.
Completed three weeks earlier.
The result pages were missing.
Only the cover sheet remained.
Daniel stared at the case number.
"Can the lab release it?"
Hart shook her head.
"Not without legal process."
Margaret looked at the receipt.
She became very quiet.
Claire noticed.
"You know the laboratory."
Margaret said nothing.
"Margaret."
Finally she whispered.
"It isn't a laboratory."
Hart frowned.
"What is it?"
"A shell company."
"Owned by who?"
Margaret looked at Daniel.
"Jonathan."
The paternity rumor.
The family testing.
The trust pressure.
Robert's stolen DNA.
The threats.
Jonathan had not returned merely to expose old crimes.
He had returned to finish something.
Hart's phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
"Where?"
Everyone watched her.
"When?"
She hung up.
"Peter Lang is missing."
Daniel stared.
"From the nursing facility?"
Hart nodded.
"His bed was empty twenty minutes ago."
"Security footage?"
"Disabled."
Claire felt cold.
Hart's phone rang again.
This time it was a video message.
Unknown sender.
She opened it.
Peter sat in a chair.
Alive.
Behind him stood Jonathan Mercer.
For the first time, they saw his face clearly.
He looked like an older, harder version of Robert.
Jonathan stared into the camera.
"Daniel."
Peter looked terrified.
Jonathan continued.
"You have spent your entire life benefiting from a name that may not belong to you."
Daniel stepped closer.
Jonathan smiled.
"Bring me the original maternity ledger."
Hart muttered, "He's asking for evidence."
Jonathan continued.
"And bring the woman who found it."
Claire's blood went cold.
Daniel looked at her.
Jonathan smiled directly at the camera.
May you like
"Claire and I need to talk about Lily."
The video ended.
