Chapter 2 - The Woman at Lexington
Harrison drove through Manhattan with both hands locked around the steering wheel.
He had lied to Clare.
But not about everything.
There really had been a problem at the Lexington property.
Just not the kind he had described.
When he pulled into the underground garage, Sienna Blake was waiting beside a black SUV.
She wore a cream-colored coat and held a folder against her chest.
“You came,” she said.
“I told you I would.”
Sienna studied his face.
“You look terrible.”
“My wife knows.”
Sienna's expression changed.
“Everything?”
“Enough.”
For six months, Harrison had convinced himself that the situation could be contained.
He had been wrong.
Sienna wasn't his mistress.
That was the story Clare had been allowed to believe.
The truth was much more complicated.
Sienna was the attorney representing Eleanor Parker.
And Eleanor Parker was the woman Harrison's father had spent thirty years trying to silence.
“Did she sign?” Harrison asked.
Sienna shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she wants you to tell your wife.”
Harrison closed his eyes.
“Absolutely not.”
“She says Clare deserves to know.”
“Clare is thirty-one weeks pregnant.”
“That doesn't make the truth disappear.”
Harrison looked toward the garage entrance.
“My father built everything on Lexington. My mother sold the family home to keep him alive. If this comes out now, the company could collapse.”
Sienna lowered her voice.
“The company may collapse because of what your father did, Harrison. Not because of what Eleanor knows.”
He didn't answer.
Sienna handed him the folder.
Inside were bank records, old incorporation documents, and a faded birth certificate.
At the bottom of the certificate was a name.
Evelyn Parker.
Born December 26.
Thirty years ago.
Mother: Eleanor Parker.
Father: William Mercer.
Harrison's jaw tightened.
“She was born the day after Christmas,” Sienna said.
“My father told me she died.”
“He lied.”
Harrison looked away.
“When did you find out?”
“Eight months ago.”
“And you didn't tell Clare?”
“I was trying to protect her.”
Sienna almost laughed.
“You've been lying to your pregnant wife for six months and you're calling that protection?”
Harrison's face hardened.
“You don't know what my father was capable of.”
“No. But I know what you're capable of.”
He looked at her.
Sienna softened.
“I've watched you spend eight months trying to repair something you didn't break.”
Harrison's eyes fell to the floor.
“I should have told Clare.”
“Yes.”
“She'll leave me.”
“Maybe.”
“And she'll take my son.”
Sienna didn't answer.
Because that fear was exactly why Harrison had kept digging.
His father's estate had never been clean.
After William died, Harrison inherited Mercer Hospitality Group and discovered irregular transfers hidden inside decades of property records.
At first, he thought it was tax fraud.
Then he found Eleanor's name.
Then Evelyn.
His father had purchased Lexington through a shell company shortly after Evelyn's birth.
The original agreement gave Eleanor and her daughter a percentage of the property's future value.
William had never paid them.
Instead, he had threatened Eleanor.
When she refused to disappear, he had used his influence to make her unemployable.
Harrison had spent months trying to locate her.
When he finally did, she was living quietly in Connecticut.
She had one demand.
She wanted the truth acknowledged publicly.
Not money.
Not revenge.
Truth.
Harrison couldn't bring himself to tell Clare because the truth would expose his family—and himself.
Then his father had left one final instruction in a letter.
If you ever marry, never let your wife know what happened to Eleanor.
Harrison had obeyed.
Until now.
Sienna looked at her watch.
“Eleanor wants to meet Clare tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Harrison.”
“No.”
“She already knows about the baby.”
He looked sharply at her.
“How?”
Sienna hesitated.
“Because someone has been watching the Mercer family.”
A cold feeling moved through Harrison.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
Clare.
He stared at the screen.
He couldn't answer.
The call stopped.
Then a text appeared.
I found the box.
Harrison went completely still.
Sienna saw his face.
“What happened?”
“My wife found my father's letter.”
Sienna's eyes widened.
“What exactly did it say?”
Harrison looked at her.
“Enough to destroy my family.”
His phone vibrated again.
This time, Clare's message contained only four words.
Who is Evelyn Parker?
Harrison closed his eyes.
The lie was over.
But when he opened them, he saw movement near the garage entrance.
A man in a dark wool hat was standing beside a pillar.
Watching them.
Harrison took one step forward.
The man turned and disappeared.
“Stay here,” Harrison said.
He ran.
But by the time he reached the exit, the man was gone.
On the concrete floor, however, lay a small envelope.
Harrison picked it up.
His name was written across the front.
Inside was a photograph.
William Mercer stood outside a hospital.
Beside him was Eleanor Parker.
And in William's arms was a newborn baby.
On the back of the photograph someone had written:
He didn't abandon her. He stole her.
Harrison's blood went cold.
Because the baby in the photograph wasn't Evelyn.
The baby's blanket carried a different name.
May you like
Clare.
:::
