Chapter 6 - I Lost My Company to Save My Children
The federal investigation moved quickly after the hospital records were recovered.
Victor had assets frozen.
Richard was arrested.
Dr. Yates entered witness protection.
But Victor remained missing.
Then my attorneys discovered what he was planning.
He intended to release selected M-17 research data through foreign pharmaceutical channels.
If the data escaped, the original research could be recreated.
We had to stop him.
The trail led to a private airfield in Indiana.
Prescott assembled a small team.
I insisted on going.
Elena came too.
“You're not trained for this,” Prescott warned her.
“I know.”
“You could get hurt.”
“I know.”
I looked at her.
“Stay beside me.”
She nodded.
We arrived at midnight.
A private jet waited on the runway.
Victor's men loaded equipment.
Prescott's team moved into position.
Then the lights came on.
Victor stepped from the hangar.
He was holding a gun.
“Lawson.”
I walked forward.
“You're finished.”
He smiled.
“Your company is finished.”
“I don't care.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I gave it away.”
He froze.
“What?”
“The companies. The properties. The patents.”
“You would destroy everything?”
“To save my children.”
Victor's expression became almost sympathetic.
“That's why you were always weak.”
I smiled.
“No.”
Then I looked at Elena.
“She's why I'm strong.”
Victor raised the gun.
Prescott's team reacted instantly.
The weapon fell.
Victor was arrested.
The research files were recovered.
The trial lasted months.
Evidence linked Victor to the laboratory, Genevieve's murder, the attempted child kidnapping, and financial crimes.
Richard testified against him.
The Mercer empire survived, but it no longer belonged to the family that created it.
A new board was formed.
Mercer Holdings became a social-impact company.
Mercer Biogen was dissolved.
Its facilities became medical research centers.
Its patents were placed into nonprofit trusts.
And M-17 research became available to independent scientists.
But I didn't care about any of that.
I cared about the hospital.
Jonah and Blythe continued treatment.
Every blood test became a battle.
Every improvement felt like a miracle.
Every setback terrified me.
Elena stayed.
She began teaching Blythe to draw.
She helped Jonah build model airplanes.
She made terrible pancakes.
The children adored her.
One evening, Blythe asked me a question.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Can Elena stay forever?”
I looked across the room.
Elena heard.
She smiled.
“I'd like that.”
I felt something shift inside me.
Not because I needed a replacement for Genevieve.
I didn't.
Because grief had taught me that loving someone new didn't erase loving someone who was gone.
Months later, Jonah was declared in remission.
Blythe followed two weeks afterward.
Dr. Yates cried.
I cried.
Elena cried.
The nurses applauded.
Jonah held up his arms.
“Can we go home now?”
“Yes.”
Blythe smiled.
“To the big house?”
“Yes.”
The children ran through the estate that afternoon.
For the first time in two years, there was laughter in every hallway.
I stood beside Elena.
“Thank you.”
She shook her head.
“Don't thank me.”
“I will.”
She looked at me.
“Genevieve gave me the courage.”
“She trusted you.”
“She trusted you too.”
I smiled.
“I wasn't very trustworthy.”
“You are now.”
That evening, I found an envelope on my desk.
It was from Genevieve.
The final one.
Lawson,
If my plan worked, you are reading this while Jonah and Blythe are alive.
I hope Elena is with you.
Don't be afraid of the future.
You spent too much of our marriage trying to protect everyone by becoming harder.
Don't become hard after I am gone.
Love them.
Laugh.
Forgive.
And if life brings you someone who is willing to stand beside you when everything falls apart, don't push her away because you're afraid it means you've forgotten me.
You haven't.
You never will.
I closed my eyes.
Then I looked at Elena.
May you like
For the first time, I understood what Genevieve had been trying to give me.
Permission to live.
