Chapter 5: Before Claire
I stared at Rachel.
“You knew me?””
She looked away.
“Not exactly.””
“That isn’t an answer.””
Lily was still in my arms, listening to every word.
I couldn’t let her hear more.
Officer Morales seemed to understand.
“Mr. Mercer, we can have another officer take your daughter downstairs.””
“No strangers,” Lily whispered.
My chest tightened.
Rachel spoke softly.
“There’s someone she trusts.””
I looked at her.
“Who?””
“Maria.””
My housekeeper.
Maria had worked for my family since Lily was two. She had been off that evening, but she lived only ten minutes away.
I called her.
She arrived while officers were taking Evelyn and Vanessa into separate rooms for questioning.
The moment Lily saw Maria, she ran into her arms.
“Stay with her,” I said.
Maria looked at the broken wall.
“What happened?””
“I’ll explain later.””
“Daniel—”
“Please.””
She saw my face and stopped asking.
“I’ve got her.””
I kissed Lily’s forehead.
“Daddy’s right downstairs.””
“Promise?””
“Promise.””
After Maria carried her away, I returned to the hidden room.
Rachel had been moved upstairs to a sitting room while paramedics treated dehydration and bruising.
I sat opposite her.
“Now tell me.””
Rachel rubbed the red marks around her wrists.
“I knew your name before Claire contacted me.””
“How?””
“My brother.””
I frowned.
“Who is your brother?””
“Thomas Bennett.””
The name meant nothing at first.
Then something surfaced.
College.
A rainy football field.
A skinny kid with glasses who used to sit two rows behind me in economics.
“Tom Bennett?””
Rachel nodded.
“He was your roommate sophomore year.””
“For one semester.””
“He talked about you constantly.””
I leaned back.
“That doesn’t mean you knew me.””
“I met you twice.””
I searched my memory.
Nothing.
“The first time was at graduation,” she said.
“The second was at Thomas’s funeral.””
That hit me.
Thomas had died in a motorcycle accident when we were twenty-four.
I remembered his funeral.
Barely.
Claire had been with me.
Rachel continued.
“Claire spoke to me there.””
“What did she want?””
“Nothing then.””
Rachel paused.
“Three years later, she contacted me.””
“Why?””
“She remembered me.””
“For surrogacy?””
Rachel nodded.
“Claire had learned she couldn’t safely carry a child. She was terrified you’d stop trying for a family.””
“I would never have left her.””
“I know that now.””
“You didn’t know me.””
“No. But Claire convinced me.””
“How?””
Rachel’s eyes lowered.
“She paid me.””
I exhaled.
“How much?””
“Two hundred thousand dollars.””
I stared at her.
“That money never appeared in our accounts.””
“It didn’t come from Claire.””
A terrible feeling crawled up my spine.
“Who paid?””
“Evelyn.””
Of course.
Rachel continued.
“She controlled a family trust after their father died. Claire didn’t want you seeing the payment.””
“And Vanessa created the paperwork.””
“Yes.””
“Without my consent.””
“Yes.””
I stood and walked toward the window.
My entire marriage had been constructed around secrets.
“Why forge my signature?””
“Because the clinic required spousal consent.””
I turned.
“What clinic knowingly accepted forged documents?””
Rachel hesitated.
“It wasn’t a normal clinic.””
“What does that mean?””
“It was private. Extremely private.””
My stomach tightened.
“Whose embryo?””
Rachel went still.
That silence was louder than any answer.
“Rachel.””
She began crying.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that yet.””
“Whose embryo?””
“Claire told me it was yours.””
“Told you?””
“Yes.””
“You didn’t know?””
“No.””
I stepped closer.
“And now?””
Rachel looked toward the black case.
“There’s another document.””
I searched through it.
Receipts.
Medical records.
A sealed envelope.
Then I found a laboratory report.
PATERNITY ANALYSIS.
My hands started shaking before I even read it.
“Why is there a paternity test?””
Rachel wiped her face.
“Because after Lily was born, Claire became paranoid.””
“About what?””
“That Evelyn had changed the sample.””
I looked at her.
“What sample?””
“Yours.””
My heart slammed.
“She thought Evelyn substituted someone else’s genetic material.””
“Why?””
“I don’t know.””
I tore open the folded report.
The test had been conducted six months after Lily’s birth.
Alleged father: Daniel Mercer.
Child: Lily Mercer.
Probability of paternity—
99.99%.
My knees nearly gave way.
“She’s mine.””
Rachel nodded.
“Yes.””
Relief hit me so hard I had to sit.
Whatever else had been stolen from me, Lily was my daughter.
Biologically.
Legally.
Emotionally.
Mine.
But another question remained.
“If Claire confirmed I was Lily’s father, what was she afraid of?””
Rachel looked at me.
“Read the second page.””
I turned it over.
There was another DNA comparison.
Maternal relationship analysis.
Rachel Bennett.
Probability of maternity—
0%.
I stared at the number.
Then at Rachel.
“You said you gave birth to her.””
“I did.””
“But you’re not her biological mother.””
“No.””
“Then whose egg was used?””
Rachel whispered, “That’s what Claire discovered the week she died.””
The door opened.
Officer Morales entered carrying an evidence bag.
“Mr. Mercer?””
“What?””
“We found something in Evelyn’s car.””
He placed the bag on the table.
Inside was an old photograph.
Claire.
Evelyn.
Vanessa.
And a fourth woman.
Young.
Blonde.
Pregnant.
On the back, someone had written:
SUMMER 2019 — OUR SECOND CHANCE.
I stared at the fourth woman.
I knew her.
Not well.
But I knew exactly who she was.
“Impossible.””
Rachel leaned forward.
Her face went white.
“You recognize her?””
I nodded.
The woman in the photograph was Natalie Shaw.
Claire’s best friend.
May you like
And according to everything I had been told—
Natalie had died eight years ago.
