Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Deal
Robert Mercer had always been the quiet one.
William took the meetings.
Margaret hosted the dinners.
Harrison inherited the company.
Robert stayed in the background.
He was the uncle who remembered birthdays.
The man who sent expensive bottles of wine.
The relative who never raised his voice.
And, according to Eleanor, the only Mercer William genuinely feared.
Harrison found him at the Mercer family's private club.
Robert was sitting beside the fireplace, reading the newspaper.
He looked up calmly.
“Christmas morning.”
Harrison dropped the forged property transfer onto the table.
“What is this?”
Robert folded the newspaper.
“A mistake.”
“Your signature is on it.”
“My signature is not on it.”
“It is.”
Robert studied the document.
Then smiled.
“Your father taught you nothing about signatures.”
“What?”
“A signature can be copied.”
Harrison stared at him.
“Did you sell Lexington?”
“No.”
“Did you try?”
“No.”
“Then why is this document here?”
Robert leaned forward.
“Because someone wants you to think I did.”
Harrison sat across from him.
“Who?”
Robert looked toward the window.
“Your father.”
Harrison almost laughed.
“My father has been dead four years.”
“Yes.”
“And you think he's behind this?”
“I think his secrets are.”
Robert reached inside his jacket and placed a small flash drive on the table.
“Your father kept backups.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
Harrison took it.
“Why give this to me now?”
“Because I thought you were finally ready.”
“Ready for what?”
Robert looked directly at him.
“To become your own man.”
Harrison's expression hardened.
“You knew about Clare.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“Did you know William took her?”
“Yes.”
Harrison stood.
“You let him do it?”
Robert's face changed.
“I tried to stop him.”
“Not hard enough.”
“No.”
The admission was devastating.
Robert looked down.
“I was twenty-eight. Your father was already powerful. I had a wife, two children, and a business he could destroy.”
“So you stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
“Just like everyone else.”
“Yes.”
Robert pushed the flash drive toward him.
“Your father kept a recording.”
“Of what?”
“Eleanor.”
Harrison stared.
“When?”
“The night Clare was born.”
He took the drive.
“Why didn't you give this to the police?”
Robert smiled sadly.
“Because I was a coward.”
Harrison left.
By noon, Clare, Eleanor, Sienna, and Harrison were sitting around a farmhouse table.
The recording played.
William's voice filled the room.
“You have two choices, Eleanor.”
Her younger voice answered.
“I'm not giving you my daughter.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“You will lose everything.”
“I already lost everything.”
A chair scraped.
Then William spoke again.
“Your daughter will have a better life with Margaret.”
“She'll have a life stolen from her.”
“Better stolen than ruined.”
Eleanor's voice trembled.
“Thomas will never forgive you.”
William laughed.
“Thomas doesn't even know she's his.”
Clare covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
William revealed everything.
The fake adoption.
The property agreement.
The threats.
The payments.
But then came a sentence that changed everything.
“There is one thing neither of you knows.”
Silence.
“The child wasn't conceived naturally.”
Eleanor gasped.
William continued.
“Margaret's fertility treatment created three embryos.”
Clare stared at Harrison.
“Three?”
William's voice:
“One became Clare.”
Another voice entered the recording.
Robert.
“William, stop.”
William laughed.
“You're too late.”
The recording ended.
Everyone was silent.
Sienna slowly spoke.
“If there were three embryos, where are the others?”
Harrison looked at Robert.
Robert shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Clare felt the baby kick.
She placed a hand over her stomach.
“What if one of them was used?”
Sienna frowned.
“Thirty years ago, fertility records weren't as centralized as they are now.”
Eleanor looked frightened.
“Why would William mention it?”
“Because he wanted Robert to know,” Harrison said.
“Know what?”
Harrison looked at his uncle.
“That the Mercer family might have another heir.”
Robert's face went pale.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A voice said something.
Robert stood abruptly.
“Where?”
He listened.
Then hung up.
“What happened?” Harrison asked.
Robert looked at Clare.
“The Lexington building is on fire.”
Harrison grabbed his coat.
“Was anyone inside?”
Robert didn't answer.
Sienna understood.
“Eleanor's records.”
Robert nodded.
“They were in the basement archive.”
Clare stood.
“Then someone is trying to destroy the evidence.”
Harrison looked at her.
“You're staying here.”
“No.”
“Clare—”
“You don't get to disappear into danger and tell me to stay behind anymore.”
He stared at her.
For the first time in days, he almost smiled.
“Fine.”
They drove toward Manhattan.
Behind them, snow continued falling.
May you like
But the real storm had finally begun.
:::
