Chapter 7 - Why Richard Chose Me
I looked at my husband.
“Did you know?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
That was enough.
“Richard.”
“When we met?”
“Yes.”
He rubbed his face.
“I knew your father had worked with Mercer records.”
“Not what I asked.”
He looked at me.
“I knew your grandfather’s name was Thomas Mercer.”
The backyard disappeared around us.
“How?”
“My mother told me.”
Helen said:
“Because your father was blackmailing us.”
I turned.
“Dad?”
According to Helen, my father contacted her seven years earlier.
One year before Richard and I met.
He claimed he possessed original partnership documents proving Thomas Mercer retained ownership.
He demanded nothing.
That was the strange part.
No money.
No stock.
No threat.
He asked only one thing:
Stay away from Maya.
Helen didn’t.
Instead, she introduced Richard into my orbit.
Not directly.
A charity event.
Mutual friends.
A “chance” meeting.
I remembered.
Richard spilled champagne near me and joked that expensive parties made people clumsy.
I thought fate had finally done something kind.
Now I felt sick.
“You approached me because of the Mercer documents.”
Richard nodded once.
“At first.”
I almost laughed.
“At first.”
“I was supposed to find out what your father gave you.”
“And did you?”
“No.”
“Because he gave me nothing.”
Richard looked at Helen.
“Or that’s what we thought.”
Why marry me?
Richard claimed he fell in love.
Maybe he did.
But Helen encouraged the marriage because joining the Vance and Mercer bloodlines could eliminate future ownership disputes if assets were consolidated through descendants.
Lily.
Our daughter.
Suddenly every piece became uglier.
Helen had not simply wanted Lily as a grandmother.
Lily was the first child carrying both bloodlines.
Vance through Richard.
Mercer through me.
One future heir.
One convenient solution.
I looked at Richard.
“Did you know Lily mattered legally before we had her?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
That hurt more than anything else.
“You let me think we were starting a family because we loved each other.”
“We were.”
“But you knew our child could settle the trust.”
“Yes.”
I stepped back.
Lily pressed against me.
Richard reached out.
I shook my head.
“Don’t.”
For the first time, he obeyed instantly.
Then Evelyn spoke through the door.
“Maya.”
“Yes?”
“Your father did give you something.”
“No.”
“He hid it where Helen would never search.”
“Where?”
“Inside Lily’s birthday gift.”
I looked toward the party table.
A large wrapped box from my late father’s estate had arrived that morning.
No sender.
I assumed my aunt had mailed it.
Helen saw it too.
Her face changed.
Then she ran.
May you like
Not toward me.
Toward the gift.
