Chapter 2 - Serena Knew
I called Serena at 5:06.
She answered immediately.
“Finally.”
No hello.
Behind her I could hear voices, glassware, music.
My family conservatory.
The engagement party that no longer had an engagement.
“Nathan, your mother is telling everyone there’s been a scheduling issue.”
My name was Nathan Mercer.
Apparently I had spent the previous six years letting other people schedule my life.
“Did you meet Elena Marquez six years ago?”
Silence.
Not long.
Long enough.
“Nathan—”
“Yes or no?”
“This is not a conversation for the phone.”
“Then it’s yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
Another silence.
Then Serena lowered voice.
“Your mother told me.”
I closed my eyes.
Elena stood ten feet away.
Listening.
The boys were in bedroom arguing over pajamas.
“When?”
“Before your father died.”
“Did Elena come to my office?”
“Yes.”
“And you stopped her?”
“That isn’t what happened.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Serena exhaled.
“Your mother said Elena was trying to force you into marriage because she knew your father was dying and you were about to inherit control of Mercer Development.”
“That doesn’t answer question.”
“She came to building.”
“And?”
“Your mother asked me to speak to her.”
“You were twenty-seven.”
“I was your family’s outside counsel liaison.”
“You were a junior attorney.”
“I was helping.”
“With what?”
“Containing a crisis.”
I looked at Elena.
Her face remained still.
Mine did not.
“What did you tell her?”
Serena hesitated.
“I told her you had instructed us to handle the matter.”
“I never did.”
“I know.”
There.
“You know now?”
“No.”
My hand tightened around phone.
“I knew then.”
Elena looked away.
I almost dropped the phone.
“You knew my mother was lying?”
“I knew you hadn’t given the instruction personally.”
“That is not the same answer.”
“Nathan, your father was dying. Your mother said this woman had shown up claiming to be pregnant with your child. Your company was in succession talks. Your family trust was being restructured. Everyone was terrified of scandal.”
“So you helped her.”
“I helped your mother protect Mercer.”
“From four unborn children?”
“We didn’t know there were four.”
“So one would have been acceptable?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“What did you tell Elena?”
Serena finally said:
“That you didn’t want contact.”
I closed my eyes.
Elena whispered:
“She told me you called me opportunistic.”
Serena heard.
“You’re with her.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Not relevant.”
“Do you know what she wants?”
I laughed once.
Exactly like my mother.
Not:
What did we do?
What does she want?
“I’m ending engagement.”
“Nathan—”
“There is no engagement.”
“You cannot make a decision like this because a woman from six years ago appeared with children.”
“I’m making it because the woman I intended to marry admitted she knowingly lied to someone pregnant with children who may be mine.”
“Nathan, wait.”
I hung up.
Elena stared.
“That was faster than I expected.”
“Should it have taken longer?”
“You spent six years believing I abandoned you.”
“I spent six years believing a story built by people who benefited from it.”
“That does not make us anything.”
“I know.”
She looked almost irritated that I kept agreeing.
Good.
Maybe I was learning.
Then my phone rang.
Mother.
I answered.
“Nathan.”
Her voice could have frozen champagne.
“Your guests are here.”
“Send them home.”
“Serena says you are with Elena.”
“Serena talks quickly.”
My mother went silent.
Then:
“Where are the children?”
Not:
What children?
Where.
I felt something inside me settle.
“You know about them.”
“Nathan—”
“How long?”
“We need to discuss this privately.”
“We are.”
“Elena is manipulating you.”
“She kept the check.”
“What?”
“The seventy-five-thousand-dollar check you told me she cashed.”
Silence.
“She never cashed it.”
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves you lied.”
“I was protecting you.”
There it was.
The family prayer.
Protecting you.
“Did you forge my signature?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Do not accuse me of fraud because you’re emotional.”
I almost smiled.
Now she sounded nervous.
Then she changed tactics.
“Nathan, have you considered that the boys may not be yours?”
“Yes.”
Elena flinched.
I continued.
“That’s why there will be a proper paternity test, with Elena’s consent and counsel if she wants it.”
My mother’s voice sharpened.
“Do nothing until family attorneys are present.”
“That is not your decision.”
“It absolutely is if those children are attempting to claim Mercer assets.”
“They are six.”
“Children have representatives.”
I looked at Elena.
Her expression said:
This is what I ran from.
I finally understood.
Then my mother said:
“There is something Elena never told you.”
“What?”
“She accepted money.”
“No.”
“Not the check.”
My stomach tightened.
“What money?”
“Ask her about Mercer Educational Trust.”
I looked at Elena.
Her face changed.
Small.
But visible.
Mother continued:
“Ask why four accounts were opened before those boys were born.”
Then she hung up.
I looked at Elena.
“What accounts?”
She sat down slowly.
“I don’t know.”
“You reacted.”
“Because I know the name.”
“Mercer Educational Trust?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
She looked at me.
May you like
“Your father called me before he died.”
Cliffhanger: My dying father had known Elena was pregnant—and had secretly arranged something my mother never told me about.
