Chapter 3 - The Dead Man in the Elevator
Richard Bennett looked almost exactly as Jessica remembered him.
That was the terrifying part.
Gray hair.
Expensive charcoal suit.
Silver watch.
Calm eyes.
He looked like a man arriving for dinner, not someone who had supposedly been buried three years earlier.
"Jessica," Richard said. "You've made this unnecessarily complicated."
Mike moved in front of her.
"Dad?"
Richard looked at his son.
"Hello, Michael."
Mike stared.
"I buried you."
"No. You buried an identification."
Claire whispered, "Run."
Richard looked at her.
"Claire, you've already caused enough trouble."
Mike stepped forward.
"What did you do?"
"Not here."
"You've been alive for three years."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Richard's gaze moved to Lily.
"Because some problems require distance."
Jessica tightened her grip on Lily.
"She's not a problem."
Richard smiled faintly.
"You always were protective."
"Stay away from her."
"Jessica, I have no intention of harming Lily."
"Emily thought differently."
Something changed in Richard's eyes.
Small.
But Jessica saw it.
"Where is my sister?"
"Safe."
"Where?"
"That depends on whether you're willing to listen."
Mike laughed bitterly.
"You don't get to negotiate."
Richard looked at him almost sympathetically.
"Michael, you still don't understand what's happening."
"Then explain the DNA test."
Richard's calm slipped.
Only slightly.
Jessica saw enough.
"You did it," she said.
Richard's gaze returned to her.
"You used Mike's frozen samples."
Claire closed her eyes.
Mike looked at his father with disgust.
"Why?"
Richard sighed.
"The situation was more complicated."
"Why?"
"Because your family needed an heir."
Mike stared.
"I'm your heir."
"You were divorcing Jessica."
"So?"
Richard hesitated.
Jessica understood before Mike did.
"The Bennett trust."
Mike looked at her.
Jessica remembered Richard obsessing over family legacy during their marriage.
The Bennett family trust controlled properties and investments worth tens of millions.
Its terms were old-fashioned.
Certain assets transferred only through direct descendants.
Mike was Richard's only child.
If Mike died without children, much of the estate would pass to distant relatives and charitable foundations Richard despised.
"You wanted a grandchild," Jessica said.
Richard didn't deny it.
Mike looked horrified.
"You created a child without my consent?"
"No."
The answer came from Claire.
Everyone turned.
Claire's face was wet with tears.
"Richard didn't choose Emily."
Jessica frowned.
"What?"
Claire looked at Mike.
"I did."
Mike stared at her.
Jessica felt the pieces shifting again.
Claire swallowed.
"Five years ago, I worked at the clinic."
Mike looked sick.
"You told me you were in pharmaceutical consulting."
"I lied."
"Clearly."
"I was an embryology technician."
Jessica's pulse accelerated.
Claire continued.
"Richard approached me because he knew about your stored samples."
Mike's hands curled.
"And you helped him?"
"At first."
"At first?"
Claire looked at Jessica.
"Then I learned what he planned."
"What exactly did he plan?"
Richard interrupted.
"Enough."
Claire flinched.
Jessica said, "Keep talking."
Claire did.
"He wanted a surrogate."
Jessica looked toward Lily.
Claire shook her head.
"Emily wasn't supposed to be involved."
"Then how was she?"
"She found out."
Jessica remembered Emily confronting Mike on the night of the divorce.
"You told Emily."
"No. She followed me."
Claire wiped blood from her eyebrow.
"She'd already suspected something because Richard was paying me. She thought I was blackmailing Mike."
Jessica almost laughed at the cruelty of it.
Emily had been trying to protect her.
"What happened?"
"Emily confronted me at the clinic."
Claire looked toward Lily.
"She discovered an embryo had already been created."
Mike whispered, "Jesus."
"She threatened to expose Richard."
Richard said coldly, "And destroy the embryo."
Claire looked at him.
"No. You told her it would be destroyed."
Jessica stared at Richard.
Richard remained silent.
Claire continued.
"Emily couldn't let that happen."
Jessica understood.
"No."
Claire nodded.
"She offered to carry the baby."
Mike staggered backward.
Jessica's hand covered her mouth.
Lily looked between the adults.
"Mommy?"
Jessica crouched immediately.
"It's okay."
But nothing was okay.
Emily had carried Mike's biological child.
Not because they'd had an affair.
Because Richard had created an embryo illegally.
"Whose egg?" Jessica asked.
Claire looked at her.
That question frightened her more than anything else had.
"Claire."
"I can't."
Richard said, "We are done."
Jessica stood.
"No, we're not."
Mike looked at Claire.
"Whose egg?"
Claire whispered, "Jessica's."
Silence.
Jessica stopped breathing.
"No."
Claire began crying.
"Years before, during your fertility treatments—"
"No."
Jessica remembered.
Three years into the marriage, she and Mike had tried unsuccessfully to conceive.
There had been procedures.
Tests.
Egg retrieval.
One unsuccessful IVF cycle.
They had been told no viable embryos remained.
Jessica looked at Lily.
Blonde hair.
Emily's eyes, she'd thought.
But perhaps not Emily's.
Perhaps hers.
"You're saying..."
Claire nodded.
"Lily is biologically yours and Mike's."
Jessica couldn't hear anything for several seconds.
The wedding.
The hotel.
Richard.
Everything vanished.
Only Lily remained.
The child who had run toward her.
Mommy.
Jessica's knees weakened.
Lily looked scared.
"Did I do something bad?"
Jessica dropped to her knees and pulled her into her arms.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"No, sweetheart. You didn't do anything wrong."
Lily hugged her.
Jessica closed her eyes.
Something primal moved through her.
Love wasn't supposed to arrive through laboratory reports and secrets.
But when Lily's arms tightened around her neck, Jessica knew one thing with absolute certainty.
Nobody was taking this child.
Mike stared at them.
His face had changed too.
Richard spoke.
"Now you understand why discretion was necessary."
Jessica looked up.
"Discretion?"
"You stole my eggs."
"That wasn't my decision."
"You stole Mike's genetic material."
Richard's jaw tightened.
"The clinic made mistakes."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"You paid them."
"Be careful."
"No," Claire said. "I'm done being careful."
She turned toward Jessica.
"Richard paid the clinic director. He ordered me to falsify the records. When Emily threatened to expose everything, he arranged for her to disappear."
Jessica stood.
"You faked her death."
Richard's calm finally broke.
"I saved her."
"From whom?"
Claire answered.
"From Richard."
Richard glared.
Mike stepped between them.
"Where is Emily?"
Richard said nothing.
Mike grabbed his father's jacket.
"Where is she?"
Richard's voice remained low.
"Remove your hands."
"Tell me."
"She is alive because I allowed her to remain alive."
Jessica's blood chilled.
Claire whispered, "Mike."
Mike released him.
Richard straightened his jacket.
"Emily agreed to disappear in exchange for Lily's safety."
Jessica stared.
"Why would Lily need protection?"
Richard's eyes moved toward Claire.
Claire understood.
"Because she owns something."
Jessica frowned.
"What?"
Mike's expression changed.
"The trust."
Richard looked at his son.
"Finally."
Mike turned to Jessica.
"When Lily was born, she became my legal descendant."
"But nobody knew."
"Richard knew."
Claire added, "And the trust did."
Jessica looked between them.
"What does that mean?"
Mike answered.
"It means Lily controls the Bennett inheritance when she turns eighteen."
Richard corrected him.
"Not merely the inheritance."
"What else?"
"Voting control over Bennett Holdings."
Jessica suddenly understood why a child had become dangerous to powerful adults.
Richard hadn't simply wanted an heir.
He had created one.
Then lost control of her.
"Emily refused to let you control Lily."
Richard's silence confirmed it.
Jessica took Lily's hand.
"We're leaving."
Richard stepped aside.
"You're free to."
Nobody moved.
It was too easy.
Jessica knew it.
"What's the catch?"
Richard smiled faintly.
"You can't prove any of this."
Claire reached into her dress.
Richard's expression changed.
Claire pulled out a small flash drive.
"I can."
Mike stared.
Claire held it toward Jessica.
"Everything is here. Payments. Clinic records. Emails. Richard's instructions."
Richard's face hardened.
"Give me that."
Claire stepped backward.
"No."
Jessica took it.
Richard lunged.
Mike blocked him.
"Don't."
Father and son stared at each other.
For the first time, Richard seemed old.
Not weak.
Old.
Claire said, "We need to find Emily."
Jessica nodded.
"Where?"
Claire looked toward Richard.
"He moved her this morning."
Richard said nothing.
Claire continued.
"There's another property."
"What property?"
"Mike's childhood lake house."
Mike frowned.
"We sold it ten years ago."
"No," Richard said quietly.
Claire looked at Jessica.
"He never sold it."
Jessica's phone buzzed.
Another unknown message.
She opened it.
A photograph appeared.
Emily sat in a wooden chair.
Alive.
Behind her was a familiar stone fireplace.
Mike recognized it immediately.
"The lake house."
Then another message arrived.
COME ALONE.
Jessica read it.
Mike shook his head.
"Absolutely not."
A third message.
BRING LILY.
Jessica's blood went cold.
May you like
Then the final message arrived.
OR YOUR SISTER DOESN'T LEAVE THE HOUSE ALIVE.
