Chapter 5 - Emma Mercer
Julian couldn’t answer.
Because he didn’t know.
Emma stepped into the corridor.
She looked at Chloe.
Then at me.
Then Victoria.
Nothing.
But when she looked at Julian, her expression softened.
“Dad.”
Victoria whispered:
“He is not your father.”
Emma frowned.
“He is.”
“How do you know?”
“The doctor showed me pictures.”
“What doctor?”
“The one with Dad’s face.”
Julian went pale.
Nicholas.
A brother close enough in appearance that an isolated child might confuse photographs.
Or someone had taught Emma to.
Julian knelt.
“My name is Julian.”
Emma stared.
“Julian Mercer?”
“Yes.”
She backed away.
“You’re not Dad.”
“Who told you I was?”
“Dr. Vale said someday you’d come.”
Again.
Dr. Vale.
Nicholas?
Then Emma said:
“Dad’s name is Nicholas.”
Victoria made a broken sound.
Her daughter’s biological father had been Nicholas Mercer.
Julian’s missing brother.
No one moved.
Victoria whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
Then she remembered.
At nineteen, Victoria dated a man who called himself Nick Vale.
Brief relationship.
Secretive.
Older by only a year or two.
Then he disappeared when she became pregnant.
She never knew his real surname.
Nick Vale.
Nicholas Mercer.
Julian’s brother.
Emma was not simply Victoria’s missing daughter.
She was Julian’s niece.
And Chloe’s cousin.
Not sister by blood.
But Victoria raised Chloe to think of the hidden girl as one.
Julian stared at Victoria.
“You had a child with my brother.”
“I didn’t know.”
For once, he believed her immediately.
Then everything about Raymond’s involvement made sense.
He knew Emma was his granddaughter.
He knew Nicholas was her father.
He knew Victoria.
He brought Victoria into Julian’s life to control what she might uncover.
Sick.
Calculated.
Almost elegant in its cruelty.
I asked Emma:
“Where is Nicholas?”
Her eyes moved toward the ceiling.
“He comes at night.”
Victoria whispered:
“Here?”
Emma nodded.
“He says Chloe ruins the plan.”
My blood went cold.
“What plan?”
Emma looked at Julian.
“To make Dad come home.”
Julian whispered:
“Why does Nicholas need Chloe?”
Emma answered:
“Because Grandpa said only one Mercer child can inherit everything.”
Julian stared.
His father’s estate.
The family trust.
If Nicholas was alive, inheritance changed.
If Emma was recognized as Nicholas’s daughter, it changed again.
If Chloe existed—
another branch.
Raymond had built a succession trap.
Then one of the hidden children started crying.
“He’s coming.”
I looked around.
“Who?”
The boy whispered:
“Dr. Vale.”
Upstairs, a door slammed.
Heavy footsteps crossed the funeral room.
Julian looked toward the staircase.
May you like
Then Emma whispered:
“He knows Chloe woke up.”
