Chapter 6 - The DNA Test
Ian was still Lizzy’s father.
At least emotionally.
Legally.
In every way that mattered to a six-year-old girl.
But Caroline’s note created a question we couldn’t ignore.
Ian wanted the DNA test.
“I need to know what Mom and Dad know.”
The result came back two days later.
Probability of paternity:
0%.
Ian read it once.
Then again.
He sat alone for almost an hour.
Finally:
“She’s still my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t change.”
“No.”
But something else had changed.
Someone knew Lizzy’s biological father.
Caroline’s laptop contained initials.
T.M.
Thomas Mercer.
We assumed the obvious.
We were wrong.
Thomas agreed to meet investigators.
He was sixty-three.
Too old to plausibly fit Caroline’s timeline? Not impossible.
But he immediately denied being Lizzy’s father.
Then volunteered DNA.
Not the reaction of a man hiding obvious paternity.
The result confirmed it.
Not her father.
But biologically related.
Lizzy was Thomas Mercer’s granddaughter.
His son was the father.
Daniel Mercer.
Thirty-four.
Married.
Wealthy.
And completely unaware Lizzy existed.
Caroline had briefly dated Daniel during a separation from Ian.
She became pregnant after reconciling with my brother.
She never told either man.
Why?
Her private journal suggested she didn’t know for certain.
Ian loved Lizzy immediately.
Caroline chose not to destroy that family.
But Thomas discovered the possibility after Caroline died.
That was why he watched Dad.
Why he came to the house.
Why he spoke to Lizzy.
Why he helped her find the hidden phone.
The midnight call had not happened by accident.
Thomas put the phone where Lizzy could reach it.
He knew something was wrong.
But instead of calling authorities, he created an escape route.
“Why didn’t you call me yourself?” I asked him.
“Because I didn’t know who to trust.”
“You watched a child starve.”
His face tightened.
“I knew they were misusing money. I didn’t know about the closet.”
That distinction didn’t make me like him.
Then he admitted signing the withdrawal.
Dad had agreed to repay stolen company funds.
Thomas accepted money without verifying its source.
When he realized it came from Lizzy’s account, he stopped.
Too late.
“Why did Walt steal from your company?”
Thomas looked at Ian.
“Ask Gloria.”
Again Mom.
Everything returned to her.
She was found that evening at a hotel thirty miles away.
Not fleeing the state.
Waiting.
For someone.
Police surveillance showed a man entering her room.
Daniel Mercer.
Lizzy’s biological father.
Why would Mom contact him now?
Daniel later claimed Gloria demanded $500,000.
In exchange for silence.
She threatened to tell his wife and the press that he had a secret daughter.
Mom had turned Lizzy into leverage.
Again.
But Daniel did something Mom didn’t expect.
He recorded the meeting.
On the audio, Gloria said:
“If Natalie gets custody, none of us gets access to the trust.”
Daniel asked:
“What trust?”
Mom froze.
He genuinely didn’t know.
Then she said something investigators replayed three times.
“The Mercer trust. Not Caroline’s little insurance account. The real one.”
Thomas went pale when he heard it.
“What real trust?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Thomas.”
His eyes moved toward Lizzy’s hospital room.
“My father established a generational trust.”
“How much?”
“Depends on the beneficiary.”
“And if Daniel has a biological child?”
Thomas swallowed.
“She becomes eligible at six years old.”
Lizzy had turned six four months earlier.
“How much?”
Thomas looked directly at me.
“Approximately twelve million dollars.”
Suddenly $800,000 wasn’t the biggest theft anymore.
May you like
And my parents hadn’t been keeping Lizzy because of monthly guardianship checks.
They had been waiting for her sixth birthday.
