Chapter 5 - THE MERCER DAUGHTER NO ONE WAS ALLOWED TO KNOW
Elena laughed when Lawson called her his aunt.
Not because it was funny.
Because sometimes reality became so ridiculous laughter was safer than screaming.
“My mother never told me.”
Lawson studied the birth certificate.
Conrad Mercer had been fifty-eight when Elena was born.
Claire Ward had been twenty-nine.
Prescott verified the document through sealed Illinois records.
It was real.
Lawson looked at Elena.
“You’re my father’s daughter.”
“Apparently.”
“And Genevieve knew.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Maybe a year before she died.”
Genevieve had traced the anonymous donor profile back to Elena’s childhood blood sample.
Conrad had tested her secretly.
Years later, Genevieve realized Elena’s markers were unusually compatible with Lawson’s.
That made her a potential match for his future children.
Elena paced.
“I thought Genevieve befriended me because we worked together.”
“She did.”
“No. She found me because of my blood.”
Lawson recognized the hurt.
“Maybe at first.”
Elena turned sharply.
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
He paused.
“But I knew my wife.”
Elena’s anger cracked slightly.
“She kept visiting me after the investigation ended.”
“She gave you her necklace.”
“She made me promise things I didn’t understand.”
“Like finding my children.”
“Yes.”
Lawson looked toward the medical wing.
“Will you be tested?”
Elena stared at him.
“You think that’s why I came?”
“No.”
“Yes, you do.”
He did.
She hated him for it.
That was fair.
Then she looked toward Jonah’s room.
“Of course I’ll be tested.”
Dr. Hart arranged emergency compatibility testing.
The results came back six hours later.
Elena was a strong partial match.
Not perfect.
Not enough for both twins.
Lawson’s hope rose and collapsed in one breath.
Then Dr. Hart pointed to another result.
“Elena’s profile suggests something else.”
“What?”
“If Conrad Mercer was her biological father, another descendant from the same line might match even better.”
Lawson frowned.
“I’m already their father.”
“Not you.”
Hart turned toward Elena.
“Her child.”
Elena went silent.
Lawson noticed.
Prescott noticed.
Everyone noticed.
“You have a child?” Lawson asked.
Elena’s face changed completely.
“No.”
Dr. Hart looked confused.
“Were you ever pregnant?”
“No.”
Too fast.
Lawson stepped closer.
“Elena.”
She backed away.
“I said no.”
Then Prescott entered holding a newly recovered photograph from Genevieve’s cloud account.
Genevieve stood beside Elena outside a small clinic.
Elena was visibly pregnant.
On the back, Genevieve had written:
THE BABY MUST NEVER ENTER CONRAD’S DATABASE.
Lawson looked at Elena.
Her hands began shaking.
“Where is your child?”
Elena closed her eyes.
May you like
And whispered:
“I don’t know.”
