Chapter 11 - THE OTHER C. MERCER
There was another C. Mercer.
Celeste Mercer.
Victor’s mother.
Lawson’s father had married Celeste before Lawson’s mother.
Everyone treated her like a harmless widow living in Palm Beach.
She sent birthday cards.
Attended charity galas.
Called Jonah “my little prince.”
She had visited the twins three times during treatment.
And she knew their diagnosis.
Prescott traced Victor’s messages.
Many originated near Celeste’s Florida residence.
Lawson called her.
She answered immediately.
“Lawson?”
“You should leave your house.”
Silence.
Then:
“You found Victor’s phone.”
Not a question.
Lawson closed his eyes.
“How long?”
“Longer than you deserve to know.”
“Did you help poison my children?”
“Don’t be vulgar.”
His hand tightened around the phone.
“Did you?”
“I helped my son reclaim what your father stole.”
“They’re six.”
“They’re Mercer heirs.”
“They’re children.”
“They are obstacles because Conrad made them obstacles.”
Lawson had never hated anyone so cleanly.
Celeste blamed Conrad for giving Lawson control of the empire.
When Victor failed to challenge the succession legally, mother and son chose another path.
Yates manipulated treatment.
Victor funded it.
Celeste helped hide money.
But Genevieve had discovered them before her crash.
“She knew about you,” Lawson said.
“Yes.”
“And you had her followed.”
Celeste’s silence answered.
“Did you cause the crash?”
“No.”
“Did Victor?”
Another silence.
“Victor was supposed to frighten her.”
Lawson felt the same phrase repeated across generations.
Supposed to frighten.
Supposed to pressure.
Supposed to control.
And somehow people kept dying.
Federal agents reached Celeste before sunrise.
Victor remained missing.
Yates began cooperating to reduce his own exposure.
He admitted altering the twins’ medication.
He admitted burying Genevieve’s genetic report.
He admitted helping Conrad’s old genetic program.
But one admission surprised everyone.
“Genevieve wasn’t trying to expose Lawson,” Yates said.
“No one thought she was.”
“She was trying to protect him from the company.”
Lawson stared.
“What does that mean?”
Yates explained that Genevieve believed Conrad’s genetic archive contained thousands of illegally obtained profiles.
Employees.
Children.
Families.
Potential donors.
If exposed carelessly, it could destroy Mercer Biomedical and reveal private medical information belonging to innocent people.
Genevieve planned to dismantle the archive quietly while preserving evidence against those who abused it.
“She needed someone outside Mercer control.”
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
Then Yates added:
“And Amelia.”
Amelia frowned.
“I was a child.”
“You were supposed to receive the archive when you turned eighteen.”
Elena went still.
Amelia’s eighteenth birthday was six weeks away.
“Where is it?” Lawson asked.
Yates looked toward the blue-stone necklace.
“Genevieve didn’t give Elena that necklace because it belonged to her.”
Lawson frowned.
“I bought it.”
“No.”
Yates shook his head.
“Conrad did.”
Lawson stared.
“The necklace was part of the archive system.”
Elena touched the stone.
May you like
Yates whispered:
“And you haven’t opened the real compartment yet.”
