Chapter 3 - The First Child
Frank denied remembering the photograph.
He denied knowing Jonathan before Daniel and Hannah became engaged. He denied having any connection to the Mercer family, the Marlowe Center, or Halcyon Eighteen.
But he could not stop staring at the handwritten sentence.
Frank knows where the first child went.
Daniel closed the archive door and ordered the guards to remain outside. Victoria protested until Hannah looked at her and said, “One more lie, and I call the police.”
Victoria went silent.
They searched the boxes.
Most were labeled with dates and initials. Some contained financial records. Others held medical forms with entire paragraphs blacked out. Daniel found folders bearing the names of women who had attended the Marlowe Center over three decades. Several had later married into powerful families.
Hannah found her own file.
Inside were photographs taken without her knowledge, copies of her college records, fertility tests, and an evaluation describing her as intelligent, emotionally resilient, physically healthy, and economically vulnerable.
Daniel read the last phrase twice.
Economically vulnerable.
“They chose you because you needed money,” he said.
Hannah’s hands shook. “Chose me for what?”
Rose pulled her close.
Frank remained near the door as though waiting for an opportunity to escape.
Daniel opened the ledger. Payments from Mercer Biological Holdings had been routed through clinics, private adoption agencies, and charitable foundations. Each transaction carried a code. H18 appeared repeatedly.
Then Daniel found a page dated twenty-eight years earlier.
Subject A: viable.
Subject B: viable.
Subject C: retained under family directive.
Next to Subject C was a handwritten note in Jonathan’s writing.
Not ours to keep.
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
Victoria reached for the ledger. He pulled it away.
“Who were the subjects?”
“They were embryos,” she said.
Hannah covered her mouth.
Daniel stared at his mother. “Whose embryos?”
Victoria looked at Frank.
His shoulders collapsed.
“My sister Elena worked at the clinic,” Frank said. “She was a nurse. Jonathan found out records were being changed. Children were being placed with families who had not legally adopted them.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“Elena came to me one night with a baby.”
The dehumidifier hummed. Somewhere above them, pipes groaned in the old walls.
“She said the child had been marked Subject C,” Frank continued. “She said a Mercer directive ordered the baby retained.”
Daniel’s mouth went dry. “Retained where?”
“In this house.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Hannah whispered, “Who was the baby?”
Frank looked at Daniel.
“You.”
No one moved.
Daniel heard the word but could not make it attach to reality.
“That’s impossible.”
Frank’s eyes filled with tears. “Jonathan was not your biological father.”
Daniel laughed once, a harsh sound. “And you expect me to believe you smuggled me out of a clinic?”
“I helped Elena. We planned to take you to the police. Jonathan stopped us. He said he had discovered the same scheme, but he begged us not to expose it until he could identify everyone involved. He promised to protect you.”
“And then?”
“Then Elena disappeared.”
Rose stared at her husband. “You told me she left the country.”
“That was the story I was ordered to tell.”
Victoria’s voice was barely audible. “Jonathan brought Daniel home. He said his mother had died in childbirth and asked me to raise him.”
Daniel turned toward her. “You knew?”
“I knew you were not mine.”
“But you raised me as yours.”
“I raised you as a Mercer.”
There it was again. Not love. Not son. A name.
Hannah took Daniel’s hand. He could not feel her fingers.
“Who were my biological parents?” he asked.
Frank shook his head. “Elena never told me.”
Daniel searched the shelves more violently. He opened boxes, scattered files, and pulled drawers until one jammed. When he forced it open, he found a cassette labeled SUBJECT C TRANSFER.
The reel-to-reel recorder was old but functional. He threaded the tape with hands that would not stay steady.
Static filled the archive.
Then Jonathan’s voice emerged.
“If you are hearing this, Victoria has failed to destroy the room.”
Victoria stepped back.
Jonathan continued.
“Daniel, I am sorry. I believed I could dismantle Halcyon from inside. Instead, I gave it a home.”
A pause. A breath.
“Frank is not telling you everything. He did not merely help remove you from the clinic. He chose which child to take.”
Daniel looked at Frank.
Frank began to tremble.
On the tape, Jonathan said, “There were twins.”
The recorder clicked as the tape ended.
Before anyone could speak, the lights went out.
A crash sounded behind them.
The archive door slammed shut.
In the darkness, Rose screamed.
May you like
Then a man’s voice whispered from the other side of the steel door.
“One Mercer child was enough.”
