Chapter 5 - Laura Mercer Confesses Her Role
Laura arrived that afternoon.
She admitted approaching Alicia outside the bridal boutique.
She had panicked after learning Nathan intended to marry a woman whose name appeared beside his in David Cole’s trust.
Laura also admitted working in David’s accounting office years earlier.
Her signatures appeared on several shell entities.
She claimed Thomas told her they were ordinary tax structures.
Thomas denied it over speakerphone.
Laura snapped, “You told me exactly what to sign.”
Thomas went silent.
Laura said she discovered the property scheme later. David had benefited from it, but eventually tried to cooperate with Samuel and compensate some victims.
Then Samuel died.
David became frightened and stopped cooperating.
“Who frightened him?” Alicia asked.
Laura looked toward Evelyn.
“The man who came with Thomas the night Alicia was born.”
Evelyn remembered only fragments.
A dark overcoat.
A gold watch.
A deep voice arguing in the kitchen.
Laura named him.
Charles Hawthorne.
Daniel Ross went still.
“Hawthorne Investigations was founded by Charles Hawthorne.”
Alicia looked at him.
Daniel swallowed.
“Charles was my father.”
His full legal name was Daniel Hawthorne Ross.
He had inherited the investigation firm after Charles died.
Alicia had unknowingly hired the son of a man involved in the secret surrounding her birth.
Daniel insisted he had not known.
Instead of demanding trust, he offered records.
His father’s old archives contained a locked case labeled:
COLE / BENNETT — 1999.
Daniel obtained the key from his sister.
Inside were surveillance photographs of Caroline, David, Samuel, Thomas, and Charles.
One transcript contained a recorded meeting.
David’s words were unmistakable:
“The test is final. Robert Bennett is the father. Remove Alicia.”
Another voice answered:
“If her name comes out, Samuel keeps digging.”
The unidentified speaker wanted Alicia’s name left in the trust because the paternity dispute distracted Samuel from the financial investigation.
Then Daniel found an evidence receipt.
The speaker had signed it.
T. MERCER.
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Thomas had known the truth.
And kept Alicia listed as David’s possible daughter anyway.
