Chapter 9 - REBECCA
They found her in Maine.
Rebecca Hale had spent twenty-seven years under another name.
When she walked into the interview room, I knew before anyone introduced her.
My eyes.
She had my eyes.
She stopped six feet away from me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then she looked at Noah.
Her mouth trembled.
“That’s him?”
I nodded.
“That’s Noah.”
She covered her face and started crying.
I didn’t know what to feel.
Anger.
Relief.
Grief.
All of it.
“You’re alive.”
Rebecca lowered her hands.
“Yes.”
“You left me.”
“No.”
“You were gone for almost thirty years.”
“I was forced out.”
“By Margaret?”
Rebecca nodded.
“She threatened you?”
“She threatened you.”
That shut me up.
Rebecca sat.
“After your father died, Margaret already had control over most of the household. Charles suspected her, but he couldn’t prove anything.”
“My father died in a car accident.”
Rebecca looked at Benjamin.
Benjamin looked away.
My stomach sank.
“Not him too.”
Rebecca’s voice cracked.
“I don’t know.”
I stood.
“I am so tired of hearing that sentence.”
“Daniel—”
“I have a dead wife, a missing uncle, a possibly murdered father, a woman pretending to be my mother, and a toddler she tried to throw down the stairs.”
Rebecca flinched.
I lowered my voice.
“Tell me everything.”
So she did.
Margaret had been obsessed with Thomas Mercer long before he married Rebecca.
After I was born, Margaret began working inside Mercer Development.
Then Thomas died.
Within weeks, Margaret produced documents claiming Rebecca was mentally unstable.
Custody petitions appeared.
Police reports Rebecca had never seen.
Bank records showing money she never spent.
“She built a case against you.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t Grandfather stop her?”
“He tried.”
“What happened?”
“Margaret showed me photographs of you sleeping.”
I frowned.
Rebecca’s eyes filled with tears.
“She told me if I fought for you, one night you simply wouldn’t wake up.”
I felt sick.
“So you disappeared.”
“I thought leaving would keep you alive.”
For twenty-eight years, I had thought I was abandoned.
Now I understood I had been protected.
Badly.
Painfully.
But protected.
Then Rebecca took my hand.
“Daniel, Margaret didn’t hate Noah because he inherited the trust.”
“What else?”
“She hates him because he proves something.”
“What?”
Rebecca glanced at Noah.
“Charles’s trust can only pass through a biological Mercer bloodline.”
I frowned.
“So?”
Rebecca looked directly into my eyes.
“Margaret has a son.”
My throat tightened.
“Who?”
“A man you’ve known your entire life.”
Then the interview room door opened.
Benjamin stepped in.
“Daniel.”
His face was pale.
“Victor Kane just turned himself in.”
I stared at him.
Rebecca whispered,
“Victor isn’t Margaret’s employee.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“He’s her son.”
