Chapter 11 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The photograph felt impossibly heavy in Evelyn’s hand.
Victoria stared over her shoulder.
The man beside Margaret was Jonathan Mercer.
Former federal prosecutor.
Former governor.
Founder of Mercer National Holdings.
A man whose funeral had been televised nationwide twenty years earlier.
Evelyn looked at Alexander.
“You expect us to believe this?”
“I don’t care what you believe.”
Victoria pointed at the photograph.
“He died.”
Alexander smiled.
“So did you.”
Evelyn understood the warning.
Records could be manufactured.
Deaths could be manufactured.
Entire identities could disappear.
Samuel looked at Rose.
“Is it true?”
Rose nodded.
“Yes.”
Evelyn stared at her.
“Jonathan Mercer is our father?”
“Yes.”
Victoria sat down.
For once, she had no sarcastic response.
Evelyn asked,
“Did he know?”
Rose hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Did he abandon us?”
“No.”
Alexander laughed.
Rose glared at him.
“He tried to get Margaret out.”
Alexander leaned against the doorway.
“He tried to steal her.”
“She wanted to leave you.”
“She belonged to me.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“No human being belongs to you.”
Alexander smiled.
“There she is.”
Victoria stood beside Evelyn.
“No.”
Alexander looked at her.
“There we are.”
The twins stood together.
Alexander’s smile faded.
Rose continued.
“Jonathan discovered Alexander’s network.”
“He and Margaret planned to expose it.”
“But someone betrayed them.”
Evelyn looked at Charles’s name in the letters.
“Charles?”
Rose shook her head.
“No.”
“Diane?”
“No.”
“Who?”
Rose looked at Samuel.
Samuel frowned.
“Why are you looking at me?”
Rose whispered,
“Your father.”
Samuel stared.
“You just said Alexander isn’t my father.”
“He isn’t.”
“Then who is?”
Rose began crying.
Alexander answered.
“Jonathan Mercer.”
Silence.
Samuel stared at him.
Then at Evelyn.
Then Victoria.
“No.”
Rose closed her eyes.
“Samuel…”
“No.”
“You’re their brother.”
Samuel backed away.
Evelyn felt another piece of reality collapse.
Rose continued.
“Jonathan and I were together before Margaret.”
“I became pregnant.”
“He didn’t know.”
“Alexander found out.”
“He used you to control me.”
Samuel stared.
“So Jonathan Mercer had three children.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn whispered,
“And he’s alive.”
Rose nodded.
Alexander’s smile returned.
“Very.”
Victoria looked toward the door.
“Where?”
Nobody answered.
Then the house alarm sounded.
One long tone.
Alexander’s expression changed.
For the first time, genuine fear crossed his face.
Rose whispered,
“He’s here.”
Headlights swept across the nursery windows.
Several vehicles entered the estate.
Alexander moved toward the hallway.
Samuel blocked him.
“Going somewhere?”
Alexander’s eyes hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re standing between.”
Samuel smiled coldly.
“I’m starting to.”
Footsteps echoed downstairs.
Not rushed.
Not chaotic.
Measured.
A man’s voice came from the entrance hall.
“Alexander.”
Alexander went completely still.
Evelyn looked at Victoria.
Victoria reached for her hand.
This time Evelyn took it.
The footsteps approached.
A man appeared at the end of the corridor.
Seventy-one years old.
Silver hair.
Dark overcoat.
A scar crossed his right cheek.
Older than the photographs.
But unmistakable.
Jonathan Mercer looked at the three adults standing before him.
Samuel.
Victoria.
Evelyn.
His eyes filled with tears.
“My children.”
Evelyn’s expression hardened.
“Don’t.”
Jonathan stopped.
“You don’t get to walk in after thirty-two years and call us that.”
Pain crossed his face.
“You’re right.”
Victoria stared at him.
“Are you actually our father?”
“Yes.”
“Prove it.”
Jonathan nodded.
“I will.”
Alexander laughed.
“How touching.”
Jonathan looked at him.
The warmth vanished from his face.
“You should have stayed hidden.”
Alexander smiled.
“You first.”
Jonathan stepped closer.
“You killed Margaret.”
Evelyn froze.
Rose gasped.
Alexander’s smile disappeared.
Evelyn looked at Jonathan.
“What did you say?”
Jonathan’s eyes remained on Alexander.
“Your mother didn’t die from cancer.”
Evelyn felt cold.
Jonathan finally looked at her.
“She was poisoned slowly for eighteen months.”
Evelyn could barely speak.
“By who?”
Jonathan looked at Rose.
Rose began crying.
May you like
And Evelyn understood before anyone answered.
Rose had been the person preparing Margaret’s medication every day.
