Chapter 5 - The Man Who Called Himself My Father
“Dad is my father.”
Malcolm remained silent for a moment.
Then he chuckled.
“Richard Mercer raised you. I won't insult the man by pretending otherwise.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
Alexander moved closer.
Rebecca began signaling Detective Cole.
“What do you want?”
“To talk.”
“You threatened my family.”
“No. I came voluntarily with your mother.”
Vanessa shouted something in the background.
Malcolm continued.
“Your sister disagrees.”
“Put Dad on.”
A pause.
Then Richard's voice returned.
“I'm okay.”
“Vanessa?”
“She's here.”
“Mom?”
Another pause.
“She's here.”
I closed my eyes.
“Do not let Malcolm take you anywhere.”
Dad gave a strange laugh.
“Sweetheart, I'm sixty-six, not six.”
It almost broke me.
Even now, he was trying to make me feel safe.
The call ended with instructions.
Malcolm wanted me at the Beaumont’s private conference room within an hour.
Alone.
Naturally, I didn't go alone.
Detective Cole coordinated with hotel security.
Rebecca remained nearby.
Alexander refused to stay behind.
“You are the one person Malcolm has hated longer than me,” I told him.
“Exactly.”
“That's not reassuring.”
“No.”
We rode back in silence.
Halfway there, Alexander spoke.
“If the document is true…”
“It doesn't matter.”
He looked at me.
“Richard Mercer is my father.”
“I know.”
“Malcolm is genetics.”
“I know.”
“You don't need to handle me carefully.”
A faint smile appeared.
“I wasn't.”
“Good.”
Then he reached into his coat.
My ring.
He had carried it since the ceremony.
“I believe this belongs to you.”
I looked at it.
The ring Ethan had intended to use while marrying me.
The ring that had secretly contained a trust code.
“No.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
“Keep it.”
“As evidence?”
“As a reminder never to trust jewelry.”
He laughed softly.
“I'll safeguard it.”
When we arrived, Detective Cole entered first.
Malcolm Pierce was seated at the conference table.
He was seventy-one.
Silver hair.
Expensive navy suit.
A face that looked more suited to charitable foundations than blackmail.
My mother sat beside him.
Dad stood near the windows.
Vanessa was on the sofa, pale and exhausted.
The moment she saw me, she stood.
“Claire.”
I crossed the room.
She started to speak.
I held up a hand.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“The baby?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
For one second, her eyes filled with relief.
Then she stepped aside.
Malcolm studied me.
“You look like your mother did at your age.”
I hated that sentence instantly.
“Don't.”
He smiled.
“Fair enough.”
Alexander entered behind me.
Malcolm’s expression changed.
“Thomas's boy.”
Alexander stopped.
“You don't get to call me that.”
Malcolm leaned back.
“So serious.”
Detective Cole spoke.
“Mr. Pierce, understand that this conversation is being recorded.”
“I assumed.”
I sat across from Malcolm.
“What do you want?”
“Mercer House.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You haven't heard the offer.”
“You tried to steal twelve million dollars from it.”
“Allegedly.”
“You attempted to forge my signature.”
“Also allegedly.”
“You blackmailed my mother.”
Mom whispered, “Claire.”
I looked at her.
“What should I call it?”
She dropped her gaze.
Malcolm folded his hands.
“Linda made choices.”
“So did Ethan.”
“Ethan Brooks is an opportunist.”
“Working for you.”
“Indirectly.”
Vanessa spoke from behind me.
“He told me you promised him money.”
Malcolm glanced at her.
“You must be Vanessa.”
She went pale.
He barely knew her.
That told her everything.
Ethan had ruined her life for a man who didn't even recognize her.
I looked at Malcolm.
“Why expose the affair at my wedding?”
“I didn't.”
“Ethan engineered it.”
“I never control how desperate men solve problems.”
Detective Cole said, “Convenient.”
Malcolm ignored him.
“Claire, your grandfather stole something from me.”
“Evidence?”
“A company.”
“Your company collapsed because you committed fraud.”
“That is Henry's version.”
“And Thomas Vale’s.”
Alexander’s voice cut through the room.
Malcolm looked at him.
For the first time, his confidence flickered.
“You found the archive.”
“Yes.”
Mom gasped.
Malcolm sat straighter.
“Well.”
That single word revealed more fear than anything else he had said.
I understood our leverage.
“You want the archive destroyed.”
“I want old misunderstandings to remain buried.”
“Your threat to Thomas didn't sound like a misunderstanding.”
Alexander placed his phone on the table.
He played the recording.
Malcolm’s younger voice filled the room.
You have a son. Think about him before you decide how brave you want to be.
When it ended, Dad stared at him.
“You threatened his father?”
Malcolm’s face hardened.
“Thomas was reckless.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“Did you kill him?”
“Alexander,” Cole warned.
Malcolm smiled.
“No.”
But his eyes shifted.
Small.
Quick.
Toward my mother.
I saw it.
So did Rebecca.
So did Detective Cole.
Mom began trembling.
I turned toward her.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“Mom.”
She stood.
“Claire, please.”
Malcolm said quietly, “Linda.”
One word.
A warning.
My mother looked at him.
Then at me.
Something finally broke.
“I saw him.”
Malcolm went completely still.
Alexander whispered, “Saw who?”
Mom started crying.
“Malcolm.”
“When?”
“The night Thomas died.”
Alexander didn't move.
My mother continued.
“I was working late at Pierce Development. Malcolm left around ten.”
Malcolm interrupted.
“Linda, you're confused.”
“No.”
“Thirty years can distort memory.”
“I remember because you came back.”
The room became silent.
“You returned after midnight. Your shirt was torn. Your hand was bleeding.”
Alexander’s face had emptied.
Mom looked at him.
“I asked what happened.”
Her voice cracked.
“He said Thomas had made a mistake.”
Malcolm stood.
Detective Cole immediately moved forward.
“Sit down.”
Malcolm ignored him.
“This conversation is over.”
“No,” Mom said.
Everyone stared.
She had obeyed him for decades.
Now she was shaking but standing.
“I kept quiet.”
She looked at Dad.
“I told myself I didn't know anything.”
Then at Alexander.
“But I knew.”
Alexander’s voice was barely audible.
“Why didn't you tell police?”
“Because I was pregnant.”
My stomach twisted.
With me.
“And Malcolm said if I spoke, he would make sure Richard learned the baby wasn't his.”
Dad flinched.
Mom looked at him.
“I was terrified you'd leave.”
Dad stared at her for a long time.
“I would have stayed.”
She sobbed.
“I know that now.”
“You didn't give me the chance.”
“No.”
Malcolm walked toward the door.
Cole stopped him.
“We're not finished.”
“You have no basis to detain me.”
“Perhaps not yet.”
Malcolm smiled.
Then he looked at me.
“Claire, ask your mother how she paid her first debt.”
Mom went pale.
I turned.
“What does he mean?”
Malcolm answered.
“She didn't begin borrowing from me fifteen years ago.”
Mom whispered, “Stop.”
“She began thirty years ago.”
“Stop.”
“She needed money.”
“For what?”
Malcolm smiled at her.
“Tell Claire.”
My mother sank into the chair.
“Your grandfather.”
“What about him?”
“I paid him.”
My heart stopped.
“For what?”
“To keep Malcolm’s name off your birth certificate.”
The room blurred again.
Dad whispered, “Linda…”
She covered her face.
“Henry knew.”
Grandpa.
“He knew Malcolm was my biological father?”
“Yes.”
“And he took money?”
“No.”
She shook her head rapidly.
“I tried to pay him. He refused. He told Malcolm never to come near you.”
“Then what debt?”
Mom looked at Malcolm.
“He made me pay him.”
I stared.
“Malcolm charged you money to leave me alone?”
“For years.”
The cruelty of it was almost elegant.
He had blackmailed the mother of his child for the privilege of not being a father.
My disgust became absolute.
Malcolm looked almost bored.
“I financed Linda when she needed it.”
“You extorted her.”
“She made decisions.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“Mom made terrible decisions.”
She flinched.
“Ethan made terrible decisions.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“So did Vanessa.”
She nodded through tears.
“And so did I.”
Malcolm raised an eyebrow.
“But you're the only one in this room who built an entire life around making other people pay for yours.”
His smile disappeared.
I continued.
“You don't want Mercer House.”
“No?”
“You want the archive.”
His eyes hardened.
“And you're not getting it.”
Alexander stepped beside me.
“No.”
Malcolm looked between us.
Something almost amused him.
“The runaway bride and the orphan billionaire.”
I smiled.
“The billionaire part bothers you, doesn't it?”
Alexander coughed to hide a laugh.
Malcolm’s jaw tightened.
I saw it.
Power irritated men who thought it belonged only to them.
Detective Cole’s phone buzzed.
He checked it.
Then looked at Malcolm.
“Mr. Pierce.”
Malcolm turned.
“My office just received the warrant.”
Malcolm didn't move.
Cole continued.
“For your financial records, communications, and several properties connected to Harrison Capital.”
Rebecca smiled.
Malcolm looked at me one final time.
“This isn't over.”
“No,” I said. “It isn't.”
Police escorted him from the room.
Nobody spoke until the door closed.
Then Vanessa began crying.
Not theatrically.
Quietly.
Exhausted.
Dad sat beside her.
Mom remained alone at the table.
Alexander stared out the window.
I approached him.
“Alexander.”
He turned.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He blinked.
I smiled faintly.
“Because if you said yes, I'd know you were lying.”
His expression softened.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Not trying to fix it.”
We stood together in silence.
Then Vanessa’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
“It's Ethan.”
Everyone turned.
“Don't answer,” Dad said.
She almost didn't.
Then something changed in her expression.
A voicemail notification appeared.
She played it on speaker.
Ethan’s voice filled the room.
“Vanessa, listen to me. Malcolm is going to blame everything on your mother. There’s a second copy of the documents. I know where it is.”
A pause.
Then his breathing grew ragged.
“If Claire wants proof that Malcolm ordered the transfer, tell her to come to my apartment.”
Another pause.
“I don't have much time.”
A loud crash sounded behind him.
Ethan cursed.
Then the recording ended.
Vanessa looked at me.
Detective Cole grabbed his radio.
Alexander said, “We're not going.”
I stared at the phone.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
Ethan’s apartment.
His front door open.
Blood on the floor.
May you like
And beside it, a black folder stamped:
MERCER HOUSE — FINAL TRANSFER.
