Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN MALCOLM CALLED MOTHER
Ava descended the hidden staircase in darkness.
Above her, voices moved through the house.
She recognized Eleanor Hayes instantly.
Eleanor had been the elegant force at the center of Malcolm's family for decades. She chaired charity galas, funded political campaigns, and treated every conversation as though she already knew how it would end.
Ava had endured nine years of criticism from her.
Too ambitious.
Too cold.
Too focused on work.
Not feminine enough.
Not devoted enough to Malcolm.
Eleanor had even suggested Ava's fertility problems were psychological.
Now Thomas Mercer had claimed Eleanor wasn't Malcolm's mother.
Ava reached the basement.
Her mind could not absorb another revelation.
She crossed toward the garage.
A shadow appeared ahead.
Ava nearly screamed.
Thomas grabbed her arm.
"Quiet."
"How did you get down here?"
"Second stairwell."
"Normal houses have doors."
"This isn't a normal house."
They reached the garage.
Ava's SUV sat inside.
Thomas shook his head.
"They'll recognize it."
"So what?"
"We use Malcolm's."
They entered Malcolm's black Range Rover.
Thomas found a spare key hidden above a ceiling cabinet.
Ava stared.
"You've been inside this house before."
"Once."
"When?"
"Three years ago."
Her anger returned.
"While I was sleeping upstairs?"
"Yes."
"Did you ever consider how deeply disturbing that sounds?"
"Frequently."
They drove out through a secondary gate.
No one followed.
Twenty minutes later Thomas directed Ava to an abandoned office building near an industrial district east of downtown.
They entered through a loading bay.
The second floor contained a makeshift operations room.
Maps.
Photographs.
Files.
Monitors.
Ava walked toward one wall.
Her life covered it.
Photographs of Malcolm.
Eleanor.
Claire.
Ryan.
Ava herself.
Her former company, Halcyon Dynamics.
The fertility clinic.
St. Catherine Medical Center.
Several physicians.
One photograph made Ava stop.
Dr. Marcus Vale.
He had been Ava's gynecological surgeon six years earlier.
The man who performed the procedure she never authorized.
Red string connected Vale's photograph to Malcolm.
Then to Eleanor.
Then to a company called Northstar Biomedical Holdings.
Ava remembered Northstar.
It had attempted a hostile acquisition of Halcyon three years earlier.
She had personally blocked the deal.
"You knew."
Thomas stood behind her.
"I suspected."
"What is Northstar?"
"A holding company that isn't really a holding company."
"That sentence means nothing."
Thomas pulled a file.
"Thirty-two years ago, a reproductive genetics program operated through three private clinics in Colorado and Utah. Officially, it studied inherited diseases. Unofficially, wealthy clients paid for embryo selection, surrogate arrangements, and identity concealment."
Ava stared at him.
"Illegal fertility work?"
"More than that."
Thomas opened the file.
Birth certificates.
Medical charts.
Photographs.
"Children were moved between families."
Ava felt sick.
"Moved?"
"Some adoptions were hidden. Some pregnancies were falsified. Some biological parents never knew children survived."
"Why?"
"Money. Inheritance. Political families. People who needed heirs. People who needed inconvenient children erased."
Ava looked again at Evelyn's passport.
"My sister."
Thomas nodded.
"Evelyn's mother was connected to the program."
"What happened to her?"
"She died after childbirth."
"And you thought Evelyn died too."
"I was told she did."
"When did you learn she survived?"
"Sixteen years ago."
Two years before Thomas supposedly died.
Ava understood.
"That's why you disappeared."
"I started asking questions."
"And someone tried to kill you."
"The boat explosion wasn't staged by me."
Ava stared.
"What?"
"I was supposed to die."
Thomas rolled up his sleeve.
Burn scars crossed his forearm.
"I survived. Someone else didn't."
"Who?"
"A federal investigator named Daniel Ward."
Ava looked at Evelyn's passport again.
"Ward."
"He was helping me. After the explosion, I used part of his identity network. His family believed he died somewhere else. Mine believed I died on the lake."
Ava sat heavily.
She wanted to hate him.
But the scale of what he described left no room for simple emotions.
"How does Malcolm fit?"
"I don't know exactly. That's the problem."
Thomas pointed at Malcolm's photograph.
"Malcolm became involved with Northstar about ten years ago."
"Before we married."
"Yes."
"Did he marry me because of this?"
Thomas didn't answer.
Ava stood.
"Say it."
"I don't know."
"You think he did."
"I think your name mattered to someone."
"My name?"
"Mercer."
Thomas opened another folder.
Inside was an old photograph.
Three men stood outside a clinic.
Ava recognized one.
Her grandfather.
Samuel Mercer.
Thomas's father.
"My grandfather was involved?"
"He helped finance the original program."
Ava stared at the photograph.
Samuel Mercer had died when Ava was eleven.
She remembered him as warm, quiet, obsessed with gardening.
"This is insane."
"Most family history is. Wealth just gives insanity better lawyers."
Ava's phone vibrated.
Ryan.
Twelve missed calls.
She answered.
"Ava, where the hell are you?"
"I'm safe."
"Malcolm woke up."
Her body tightened.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing useful. But Claire's missing."
"What?"
"I went downstairs to speak with a detective. When I came back, she was gone."
"Did she leave voluntarily?"
"I don't know."
Ryan's voice broke.
"There was blood in the bathroom."
Thomas heard.
He immediately began gathering equipment.
Ava stood.
"How much?"
"Not much. A few drops. Her hospital bracelet was on the floor."
Ava closed her eyes.
"Ryan, don't leave the hospital."
"The hell I won't."
"Listen to me. Something bigger is happening."
"You think?"
"I need you to trust me."
Ryan went silent.
He and Ava had always been close, but trust had limits.
Especially tonight.
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because Dad is alive."
Silence.
Ava heard Ryan breathe.
Then:
"That's not funny."
"I know."
"Ava."
"He's standing beside me."
Another silence.
Longer.
Then Ryan whispered:
"What the fuck is happening?"
Before Ava could answer, Thomas grabbed her shoulder.
One of the monitors had activated.
Security camera footage.
St. Catherine Medical Center.
Room 614.
Malcolm sat alone in his hospital bed.
A man dressed as an orderly entered.
Malcolm looked directly at him.
The orderly handed Malcolm a phone.
Malcolm dialed.
Thomas increased the audio.
The line connected.
Malcolm spoke only five words.
"She found Ava's medical file."
A voice answered.
A woman's voice.
Eleanor.
"Then bring Evelyn home."
Ava stared at the monitor.
"Bring Evelyn home?"
Thomas looked sick.
Ryan shouted through the phone.
"Who the hell is Evelyn?"
Ava didn't answer.
Because on another security feed, a wheelchair was being pushed through the hospital's underground parking garage.
A blonde woman sat in it.
Claire.
Behind her walked the orderly.
And beside him was a woman in a hooded coat.
She turned slightly toward the camera.
Ava saw her face.
It was the woman from the passport.
Evelyn Ward.
Her secret sister.
May you like
Alive.
And apparently working with Malcolm.
