Chapter 6 - Charles Protected Anna After All
Anna did not call Charles “Dad” because of biology.
Charles had secretly supported her for years.
After discovering Margaret had placed Anna with Helen, Charles created
an education trust for her.
He paid medical bills.
He sent birthday gifts through Helen.
Anna grew up believing the gifts came from an anonymous relative.
After Helen died, Anna discovered Charles’s name in the trust documents.
She contacted him.
For six years before his death, they exchanged letters.
Charles urged Margaret to tell Robert.
Margaret always found a reason to delay.
Robert read one of Charles’s letters.
Anna,
You did nothing wrong by being born into a story adults were afraid to
tell.
Robert had to stop.
Emily put a hand on his shoulder.
Charles had lied to him about biology.
But he had also tried, imperfectly and too late, to repair Margaret’s
earlier deception.
Anna’s envelope contained copies of financial records.
Margaret had recently attempted to terminate the remaining Anna Mercer
Education Trust.
The trust no longer funded education.
Its residual assets were scheduled to pass equally to Anna and Robert
after Margaret’s death.
Margaret had tried to move the money.
“Why?” Robert asked.
Margaret looked exhausted.
“Because David came back.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
She finally admitted she feared the trust would prove Anna’s connection
to the family.
Robert almost laughed.
“You were still hiding her.”
“Yes.”
Anna’s attorney had blocked the transfer.
That was why David contacted Margaret directly.
He threatened to tell Robert himself.
Margaret planned to delay him until after the anniversary party, move
the trust assets, and destroy Charles’s paternity report.
Sophie accidentally heard enough to become a problem.
Emily’s champagne became the next solution.
Every secret led to another act of control.
Then laboratory results from the party arrived.
No sedative was detected in the recovered champagne residue.
Margaret seized on that.
“I told you.”
The investigator corrected her.
“The video shows Mr. Mercer interrupting you before anything was placed
into the glass.”
Margaret’s relief disappeared.
Intent still mattered.
The bottle.
The video.
Her admission.
Sophie’s account.
All of it remained.
Robert looked at David.
“You came back because of Anna’s trust?”
“Partly.”
“What else?”
David hesitated.
Anna answered.
“Because Charles didn’t die believing his heart attack was natural.”
Robert stared.
Officially, Charles had died at home from cardiac arrest.
Anna opened another letter.
Charles had written it three days before his death.
If something happens to me, look at the blue medication bottle.
Margaret stood abruptly.
“No.”
May you like
Robert looked at her.
For the first time that day, she seemed genuinely terrified.
