Chapter 8 - THE DAUGHTER WHO CARRIED THE SECRET
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Everything stopped.
I looked down at my babies.
One sleeping.
One wide awake.
Both perfect.
Both mine.
Margaret's voice echoed over the harbor.
“One of them belongs to the Ross line.”
She pointed.
“The other belongs to the Mercer line.”
Silas stared.
“That is impossible.”
Margaret smiled.
“Not according to the blood records.”
My mother stepped forward.
“Margaret, stop.”
“No.”
She laughed.
“You hid the truth long enough.”
I felt sick.
“What are you talking about?”
My mother couldn't answer.
I looked at my father.
He closed his eyes.
“Tell me.”
He whispered:
“One of the twins is not Julian's.”
The words hit like a physical blow.
I looked at the babies.
“What?”
My father continued.
“The embryos were switched before implantation.”
I felt like I couldn't breathe.
“You mean…”
“Julian isn't the father of one child.”
I looked at Silas.
His face was unreadable.
Margaret smiled.
“The Mercer family supplied the original embryo.”
Silas stared at her.
“No.”
My father nodded.
“You were never supposed to know.”
I looked at my daughters.
“They're twins.”
“Biological twins,” my father said.
“From two fertilized eggs.”
One was Julian's.
The other was Silas's.
The room seemed to tilt.
I looked at Silas.
He stepped toward me.
“I didn't know.”
I believed him.
That was what frightened me.
Because suddenly the kindness of the last three days had become something deeper.
Not obligation.
Not pity.
Protection.
Love.
But I couldn't process it.
Julian shouted from the helicopter.
“Give me the Mercer child!”
Silas moved in front of me.
“No.”
Margaret smiled.
“You already lost.”
Silas looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because the Covenant follows blood.”
My mother whispered:
“No.”
Margaret raised her voice.
“The child carrying Mercer blood can command the Mercer network.”
Silas's eyes turned cold.
“She is a baby.”
“She is the key.”
I held both girls tighter.
“You're not taking either of them.”
Julian shouted:
“You don't understand!”
I looked at him.
“You're right.”
I stepped forward.
“I finally understand everything.”
He stared.
“You married me to control the Ross trust.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted a son because you believed a son would inherit.”
“Yes.”
“You never knew the twins would trigger the Covenant.”
He said nothing.
“And you thought abandoning me would make me disappear.”
Silence.
I looked at Silas.
“The only thing Julian never understood…”
I swallowed.
“…is that I would become dangerous the moment he touched my daughters.”
Silas smiled faintly.
Then his phone rang.
Kaelen answered.
His expression changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“The Mercer network has already been transferred.”
“To whom?”
Kaelen looked at me.
“To Elena.”
Silas stared.
My mother closed her eyes.
Margaret's smile disappeared.
The helicopter suddenly began losing altitude.
Julian screamed.
And the black aircraft vanished into the fog.
We watched in horror.
Then the emergency radio crackled.
A woman's voice spoke.
“Do not follow them.”
My mother whispered:
“That's Margaret.”
But Margaret was still standing above us.
Alive.
Which meant someone else had spoken.
Someone inside the helicopter.
May you like
Someone who knew everything.
Someone who had just taken control of both family empires.
