Chapter 3 - THE LOCKED STUDY
Claire ran upstairs.
Daniel followed.
“Claire!”
She ignored him.
The corridor seemed longer than she remembered.
At its end stood the mahogany door to her father's study.
She inserted the brass key.
Daniel grabbed the door before she could open it.
“Whatever Rosa told you, she's confused.”
Rosa reached the landing.
“No, Mr. Mercer.”
Her voice was surprisingly steady.
“I remember everything.”
Vanessa stood halfway up the staircase.
For the first time, she looked frightened of Daniel.
Claire pushed the door open.
Dust floated through shafts of sunlight.
Her father's books remained untouched.
His old reading glasses rested beside a leather chair.
Claire almost broke at the sight of them.
Then she remembered why she was there.
Rosa pointed toward a painting behind the desk.
“Take it down.”
Daniel went pale.
Claire noticed.
That was enough.
She removed the painting.
Behind it was a wall safe.
“Combination?”
Rosa shook her head.
“Your birthday.”
Claire entered the numbers.
The safe clicked open.
Inside were several folders.
A flash drive.
A sealed envelope.
And an old photograph.
Claire picked up the photograph first.
Her father stood beside a younger woman Claire had never seen before.
The woman was holding a newborn baby.
On the back, written in her father's handwriting, were five words.
FOR CLAIRE, WHEN SHE IS READY.
Claire's breath caught.
“What is this?”
Daniel said nothing.
Rosa began crying quietly.
Claire opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
My dearest Claire,
If you are reading this, then I failed to tell you the truth while I was alive.
Claire stopped breathing.
She continued.
Daniel knows.
He has always known.
Claire looked up.
Her husband stood completely still.
“What did you know?”
Daniel said nothing.
“WHAT DID YOU KNOW?”
Vanessa whispered from the doorway.
“Daniel…”
“Shut up.”
Claire looked at her husband.
She had never heard him speak to Vanessa that way.
She returned to the letter.
The next line changed everything.
The man you called your father loved you more than life itself, but he was not your biological father.
Claire's knees weakened.
Rosa caught her arm.
“No.”
Claire shook her head.
“No, that's impossible.”
She looked at the photograph again.
The unknown woman.
The newborn.
Her father's handwriting.
Daniel finally spoke.
“Claire…”
She stared at him.
“You knew?”
His silence answered.
“For how long?”
“Before we married.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Eleven years.
Every anniversary.
Every kiss.
Every promise.
He had known something fundamental about her identity while she hadn't.
Claire looked back at the letter.
There was another paragraph.
One Daniel desperately didn't want her to read.
Your biological father's identity is connected to Mercer Holdings.
And if Daniel discovers the complete truth before you do, everything I built may become his.
Claire slowly lifted her eyes.
May you like
Daniel wasn't merely afraid of losing his marriage.
He was afraid of losing an empire.
