Chapter 9 - Serena's Fiancé
Serena removed her engagement ring.
Not slowly.
She threw it onto the table.
“You knew.”
Nathan shook his head.
“Not when we met.”
Every person in the room seemed cursed to use that phrase.
“When did you find out?”
“Six months ago.”
Serena laughed.
“And you still proposed?”
“I love you.”
“So did everyone else, apparently.”
Nathan’s father, Philip Crane, was Margaret’s only child.
Philip had spent years managing obscure property companies.
He died seven years earlier.
Nathan inherited files he barely understood.
Then, six months ago, he discovered Serena Vale appeared repeatedly in them.
Not because Margaret planned to harm her.
Because Margaret believed Serena was the only uncontested Mercer daughter.
Rebecca was missing.
Clara Mercer legally dead.
Serena remained.
That made my sister the key to recovering the Mercer trust.
Nathan claimed he approached Serena before knowing any of this.
They met at a legal conference.
But after he discovered the connection, he stayed silent because he feared losing her.
“Did you tell anyone we were engaged?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Nathan looked ashamed.
“My grandmother.”
Everyone froze.
Walter whispered:
“Margaret is alive?”
Nathan nodded.
Eighty-six.
Living in Oregon.
Under the name Margaret Crane.
No fake death.
She had simply disappeared from Mercer life.
Pike stood.
“Where?”
Nathan shook his head.
“She’ll kill me.”
“Is that literal?”
“I don't know.”
Serena stared at him.
“You've been talking to her?”
“Yes.”
“About me?”
“Yes.”
She slapped him.
He accepted it.
Then Nathan said something worse.
“Grandma told me Clara was alive.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Not you.”
The duplicate.
Rebecca.
Margaret referred to Rebecca as Clara.
She claimed Jonathan had always intended the oldest daughter to inherit using that identity.
Mom shouted:
“That’s insane.”
Maybe.
Then Nathan revealed Margaret’s claim.
The first baby Marjorie believed died had not been stolen by strangers.
Jonathan took her.
Mom went silent.
“Why?”
According to Margaret, Jonathan and Marjorie were young, unstable, fighting constantly.
Jonathan’s family believed Marjorie was incapable of caring for the baby.
Evelyn Mercer arranged a private adoption without Marjorie’s informed consent.
Jonathan eventually regretted allowing it.
Years later, he searched for Rebecca.
When he found her, she had been raised under another name.
He tried to bring her into the family secretly.
That was why Rebecca called him Dad.
Marjorie whispered:
“He knew she lived?”
“Yes.”
“And never told me?”
Nathan nodded.
Another betrayal.
Then Walter said:
“Jonathan created the three-daughter trust after he found Rebecca.”
That made sense.
He was trying to restore what had been taken.
But why use duplicate identities?
Maybe he didn’t.
Maybe Margaret did.
Then the keys on the table suddenly seemed more important.
Nathan stared at them.
“Those are from Mercer House.”
I picked them up.
“You recognize them?”
“Yes.”
“My grandmother has been looking for those for thirty years.”
“Why?”
He looked at Serena’s necklace key.
Then mine.
“Because together they open the blue room.”
We already knew that.
May you like
But Nathan added:
“And inside the blue room is proof that one of the three Mercer daughters isn’t Jonathan’s child.”
