Chapter 5 - Richard Says His Father Planned Everything
Richard asked to speak with Emily through her attorney.
She refused.
Then he sent a written statement.
Emily almost tore it up.
Claire stopped her.
“You don’t have to believe him. But information is information.”
Emily read.
Richard claimed his father, William Mercer, had created the illegal
fertility project with Dr. Andrew Cole.
William wanted a genetically controlled family line.
The phrase made Emily nauseous.
William believed inherited heart disease in the Mercer family could be
reduced through embryo screening.
Richard had lost an older brother to cardiomyopathy.
William became obsessed with producing descendants without the mutation.
Andrew Cole had access to young, healthy ovarian tissue through
experimental preservation programs.
Emily’s tissue had unusually strong viability.
Richard wrote that he knew none of this when Noah was conceived.
He and Sarah believed the donor egg had come from an anonymous
consenting adult.
Years later, Noah developed the very heart condition William had tried
to avoid.
He died at four.
After Noah’s death, Sarah discovered irregularities.
She began investigating.
Then she died in a car accident.
Emily stopped reading.
“Of course she did.”
Claire looked at her.
“You think it wasn’t an accident.”
“At this point, does anything sound accidental?”
She continued.
Richard discovered the truth six months earlier while settling his
father’s remaining estate.
He learned Noah’s egg donor was Emily.
By then, Richard and Emily had been married for two years and were
struggling with infertility.
Richard panicked.
Instead of telling her, he confronted Margaret.
Margaret told him the remaining embryos had been destroyed.
That was a lie.
When Emily began IVF, Margaret secretly arranged for one of the old
embryos to be transferred.
Benjamin.
Emily lowered the pages.
“Richard says he didn’t know.”
Claire asked, “Do you believe him?”
“I don’t know.”
The statement continued.
Richard learned about the embryo switch only the night before Emily’s
scheduled induction.
He also learned Margaret had ordered a DNA test on Benjamin immediately
after birth.
Richard believed she wanted to determine whether the old embryo was
genetically healthy enough to keep the fertility scandal hidden.
Emily frowned.
“Why would health matter?”
Claire read over her shoulder.
“If Benjamin had the Mercer heart mutation, the old program’s records
could become relevant medically.”
Emily understood.
If Benjamin carried a hereditary condition, doctors might investigate
embryo history.
Margaret needed control before that happened.
But why Tyler?
Richard claimed Tyler discovered the ledger independently.
Tyler knew Sophie might have come from the same program.
He agreed to help Margaret remove Benjamin from the hospital temporarily
because Margaret promised to give him Sophie’s full genetic records.
Emily’s hands shook with anger.
“He traded my baby for information about his daughter.”
Claire nodded.
“Fear makes people do ugly things.”
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
Emily finished the statement.
Richard admitted slapping her.
There was no justification.
He wrote:
I was terrified you would press the emergency button before we could
leave, and I chose violence. I will live with what that means. You do
not owe me forgiveness or access to Benjamin.
Emily stopped.
For the first time, Richard had not written that he was protecting
anyone.
No excuse.
Just the act.
She folded the statement.
“I still don’t want to see him.”
“You don’t have to.”
A pediatric geneticist entered later that afternoon.
Benjamin did not carry the known Mercer cardiomyopathy mutation.
He was healthy.
Emily cried with relief.
Then the doctor asked permission to run a broader panel because of the
unusual embryo history.
Emily agreed.
This time, she signed the form herself.
That mattered.
Every consent line mattered.
Two days later, Emily left the hospital with Benjamin.
Not with Richard.
Claire drove.
A police officer followed because investigators still considered the
fertility records sensitive evidence.
Emily stayed at Claire’s home.
At 2:13 a.m., Benjamin woke screaming.
Emily fed him in a rocking chair.
She stared at his tiny face.
“You’re not evidence.”
He blinked.
“You’re not a Mercer project.”
His hand closed around her finger.
“You’re not anybody’s plan.”
She kissed his forehead.
“You’re Benjamin.”
Her phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
An eight-year-old girl with dark curls standing beside a soccer field.
Sophie Bennett.
Below it:
STOP THE INVESTIGATION OR SOPHIE’S FAMILY LEARNS SHE WAS STOLEN.
Emily stared.
Someone else had access to the ledger.
Someone who did not want Sophie’s parents to know.
May you like
Then a second message arrived.
YOUR FATHER WASN’T THE ONLY DOCTOR.
