Chapter 10 - GARRETT LEARNED WHY HIS MOTHER NEVER LOVED HIMGarrett looked like a man who had just watched his identity disappear.
“My father was Charles Mercer?”
Nobody answered immediately.
He laughed.
“Say something.”
Samuel handed him the DNA report.
Garrett read it.
Then read it again.
“No.”
Victor said:
“The test appears legitimate.”
“My mother would’ve told me.”
Evelyn almost laughed.
“Your mother?”
Garrett flinched.
“She lied about everything else.”
“She wouldn’t lie about this.”
“Why not?”
He had no answer.
Samuel found a letter beneath the DNA documents.
Addressed to Eleanor.
Written by Charles.
Garrett opened it.
His hands shook.
Eleanor,
You have every right to hate me, but Garrett deserves the truth. He is my son. What happened between us should never have happened, but punishing a child for our mistakes is cruelty.
Garrett sat down.
Evelyn watched his face.
Charles and Eleanor.
An affair.
Garrett was the result.
Richard had raised another man’s child.
That explained hatred.
Control.
Secrets.
Maybe everything.
Garrett continued reading.
I will provide for him privately, but Richard can never know. If he discovers the truth, I believe he will hurt both you and the boy.
Garrett’s eyes closed.
“My entire life…”
Victor said nothing.
Garrett looked at Evelyn.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“I married my father’s daughter.”
“Adopted daughter.”
“That doesn’t make it feel better.”
“No.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Mother used to tell me Richard thought weakness ran in my blood.”
Evelyn remembered Eleanor’s cruelty.
Perhaps Richard had always suspected.
Garrett folded the letter.
“Why didn’t Charles acknowledge me?”
“To protect you,” Samuel said.
Garrett looked at him.
“Everyone keeps using protection to explain abandonment.”
The sentence silenced the room.
Evelyn understood it more than she wanted to.
Garrett stood.
“Does this give me a claim to Mercer Holdings?”
There it was.
Even shattered, his first instinct eventually returned to money.
Samuel sighed.
“Potentially.”
Evelyn stared at Garrett.
“Of course.”
He looked at her.
“I’m asking because people are killing for this.”
“You were stealing it yesterday.”
“I was trying to get Mother what she wanted.”
“Same difference.”
“No.”
Garrett’s voice cracked.
“I thought if I gave her control, she would finally leave us alone.”
Evelyn laughed.
“You locked me inside to make your mother happy.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
She stood.
“You don’t know what it felt like to be on that floor.”
Garrett said nothing.
“I thought our babies might die.”
His eyes filled.
“You looked at me.”
“I know.”
“And stepped over me.”
A tear slipped down Garrett’s cheek.
Evelyn had never seen him cry.
She felt nothing.
Maybe later.
Not now.
“You don’t get forgiveness because your childhood was terrible.”
“I’m not asking.”
“Good.”
The door opened.
A security guard entered.
“Mr. Hale?”
Victor turned.
“Dr. Bennett is on the NICU floor.”
Evelyn froze.
“Laura?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She says she has authorization.”
Victor immediately moved.
Evelyn followed.
Garrett came too.
They reached the NICU elevator just as an alarm sounded.
Red lights flashed.
Staff rushed past.
A nurse shouted:
“Security lockdown!”
Evelyn’s blood went cold.
“What happened?”
The nurse recognized her.
Her face changed.
“Mrs. Blackwood…”
“What?”
“Your son’s bassinet is empty.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
“No.”
Victor ran.
Evelyn screamed.
“My baby!”
Garrett caught her before she fell.
Security footage showed Laura entering the NICU wearing a medical coat.
She used a temporary access badge.
She lifted Evelyn’s newborn son.
Wrapped him in a blanket.
Then walked into a service elevator.
Nobody stopped her.
The footage ended.
Evelyn turned toward Garrett.
“This is your doctor.”
His face was white.
“I didn’t tell her—”
“Where is my son?”
“I don’t know!”
Victor grabbed Garrett by the jacket.
“Who introduced you to Laura?”
“My mother.”
“Where would Eleanor take a child?”
Garrett stared at him.
Victor shook him.
“Think.”
Garrett suddenly froze.
“The lake house.”
“What lake house?”
“Blackwood Lake. Mother goes there when she doesn’t want anyone knowing where she is.”
Victor turned toward security.
“Address.”
Garrett gave it.
Then his phone rang.
Eleanor.
He answered on speaker.
“Mother?”
At first, only breathing.
Then Eleanor whispered:
“Garrett… I made a mistake.”
His face changed.
“What did you do?”
A baby cried in the background.
Evelyn lunged toward the phone.
“My son!”
Eleanor’s breathing became ragged.
“Someone is here.”
A crash.
May you like
Then Eleanor screamed.
The line went dead.
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