Chapter 3 - HIS FATHER’S FORTY-FIRST FLOORCharles Mercer had always frightened me more than Victoria.
Victoria insulted people.
Charles studied them.
At family dinners, he rarely raised his voice. He didn’t need to.
If a waiter made a mistake, Victoria complained.
Charles remembered the waiter’s name.
Two weeks later, that person somehow no longer worked at the restaurant.
When Daniel told Detective Brooks that the threatening call appeared to originate from Charles’s private floor at Mercer Tower, Brooks didn’t celebrate the break in the case.
He became cautious.
“Caller identification can be manipulated.”
Daniel nodded.
“But our corporate phones route through internal authentication.”
“Meaning?”
“If it identified floor forty-one, the call either originated there or someone used credentials assigned there.”
Brooks stood.
“Then we obtain a warrant.”
Daniel was already reaching for his jacket.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“That’s my father.”
“Exactly.”
Brooks stepped toward him.
“You are emotionally involved, you’ve just received a death threat, and your wife is hospitalized after a kidnapping. You stay here.”
Daniel didn’t like it.
But he stayed.
For forty minutes, we said almost nothing.
Then Daniel’s younger sister, Elise, arrived.
She entered my room crying.
Unlike her mother, Elise had always been kind to me.
Not openly, perhaps, because she had spent her entire life terrified of disappointing Victoria and Charles.
But she remembered birthdays.
She sent flowers when I lost my first pregnancy.
And when I became pregnant again, she bought our daughter a tiny yellow blanket without telling her parents.
Now she hugged me carefully.
“I heard.”
Daniel stared at her.
“From who?”
“Mom called me.”
“What did she say?”
Elise wiped her face.
“That Clara is accusing the family of kidnapping her.”
“I am not accusing them,” I said. “Two men kidnapped me. Their attorney just brought me the same custody agreement.”
Elise’s face went white.
“What agreement?”
Daniel showed her a photograph.
She read the first page.
Then she sat down.
“Oh my God.”
“You’ve seen it?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
But she was lying.
I saw it immediately.
So did Daniel.
“Elise.”
She shook her head.
“I can’t.”
“You can’t what?”
“I shouldn’t be here.”
She stood.
Daniel blocked the door.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing.”
“Elise.”
“Move.”
“Our baby is in danger.”
She looked at my stomach.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Then she whispered something so quietly I almost didn’t hear.
“There was another baby.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
Elise covered her mouth.
She seemed horrified that the words had escaped.
Daniel grabbed her shoulders.
“What other baby?”
“Daniel, please.”
“What other baby?”
She looked toward the door.
Then toward the camera.
Finally, she sat back down.
“Grandfather’s trust wasn’t written the way you think.”
Daniel frowned.
“Our lawyers explained it to me.”
“Our family lawyers.”
“What does that mean?”
“It doesn’t simply transfer voting control to the first grandchild.”
She swallowed.
“It transfers control to the first living direct descendant registered under the family succession agreement.”
I had no idea what that meant.
Daniel did.
His expression darkened.
“Registered how?”
“Through the Mercer Family Trust.”
“And?”
Elise looked at me.
“Mom and Dad tried to register another child seventeen years ago.”
Silence.
Daniel stared at her.
“Whose child?”
Elise started crying.
“Ours.”
Daniel stepped backward.
“What?”
“I was sixteen.”
My heart stopped.
Daniel looked like someone had punched him.
“You had a baby?”
Elise nodded.
“Mom sent me to Switzerland during my junior year. Everyone thought I was studying abroad.”
Daniel sat down.
“You were pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They told me the baby died.”
I saw the answer on Daniel’s face before he asked.
“You don’t believe them.”
Elise shook her head.
“I did for years.”
“What changed?”
“Last month I found a payment.”
“To who?”
“A woman named Dr. Helen Ward. She handled the delivery.”
Daniel frowned.
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“The payments continued every year.”
“For seventeen years?”
“Yes.”
My pulse accelerated.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked at me.
Then back at his sister.
“When did you tell Mom you found this?”
Elise looked down.
“Six weeks ago.”
Exactly when I started being followed.
Daniel stood.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Dad said if I caused problems, he would destroy Marcus.”
“Who’s Marcus?” I asked.
“The baby’s father.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You’re still in contact with him?”
“He’s my husband.”
Daniel looked confused.
Elise gave a bitter laugh.
“Not legally. We’ve been together in secret for twelve years.”
This family had more locked rooms than a mansion.
Before Daniel could process any of it, Detective Brooks called.
Daniel answered on speaker.
“We searched floor forty-one.”
“And?”
“Charles Mercer wasn’t there.”
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“What did you find?”
Brooks hesitated.
“A secure communications room.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“This might.”
We heard papers moving.
“There was a printed hospital schedule on his desk.”
My fingers tightened around the blanket.
“What schedule?”
“Your wife’s prenatal appointments.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Brooks continued.
“And there was a document authorizing Lakefront Protective Solutions to conduct ‘family recovery operations.’”
“What does that mean?”
“We’re trying to determine that.”
“Who signed it?”
“Charles Mercer.”
Elise started trembling.
Then Brooks said, “There’s something else.”
Nobody moved.
“We found a locked drawer.”
Daniel waited.
“Inside was a birth certificate.”
Elise stopped breathing.
Brooks continued.
“Seventeen years old. Female child.”
“Oh my God,” Elise whispered.
“The mother is listed as Elise Mercer.”
Daniel gripped the phone.
“And the father?”
“Blank.”
“What’s the child’s name?”
Brooks paused.
“Grace Victoria Mercer.”
Elise began sobbing.
“My daughter.”
Brooks wasn’t finished.
“There’s a second document attached.”
“What?”
“An adoption certificate.”
My stomach turned.
“Who adopted her?”
The detective’s voice grew colder.
“Nobody.”
Daniel frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“She was transferred into the legal guardianship of the Mercer Family Trust.”
Daniel looked horrified.
“You can’t put a child into guardianship of a financial entity.”
“I know.”
“So it’s fraudulent.”
“Very.”
Elise pressed both hands over her mouth.
Then Daniel’s phone buzzed again.
A text message.
This time from his father.
STOP THE INVESTIGATION.
Another message appeared.
ELISE SHOULD HAVE KEPT HER MOUTH SHUT.
Then a photograph.
Elise screamed.
It showed a teenage girl sitting inside the back seat of a car.
Alive.
Terrified.
May you like
Below it, Charles Mercer had written five words.
WE STILL HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER.
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