Chapter 5 - SHATTERED TRUST
The cabin was exactly as I remembered it.
Pine needles covered the porch.
The air was heavy with the smell of damp earth.
Elias was already there,
his car hidden under a tarp.
He looked tired,
his tie loosened,
his sleeves rolled up.
He didn't say a word.
He just pulled me into a hug.
I felt the tension in my body break for a second.
We went inside and spread the documents out on the kitchen table.
Elias had brought copies of everything.
The insurance policies.
The trust.
The death certificate.
“Look at the signature on the life insurance payout,”
Elias said,
pointing to a line at the bottom.
It was my name.
It looked exactly like my handwriting.
“I didn't sign this,”
I said.
“I know,”
he replied.
“But look at the date.”
“It was signed three months before the boat accident.”
The room felt like it was spinning.
“He planned it,”
I whispered.
“He planned his own death while we were still eating dinner together.”
“While we were talking about having kids of our own.”
Elias nodded grimly.
“He needed the money to pay off Margaret’s debts.”
“The Mercer estate was bankrupt,
Natalie.”
“The prestige was a lie.”
“They needed your family’s money to stay afloat.”
“But Daniel couldn't just leave you.”
“The pre-nup you signed stated that if he left,
he got nothing.”
“But if he died...
the trust opened up.”
“So they staged the wreck.”
“They found a body,
charred beyond recognition,
from a different accident.”
“They swapped the dental records.”
“Margaret had the coroner on her payroll.”
I sat down,
my hands numb.
“And the woman at the center?”
“Her name is Elena,”
Elias said,
tapping a photo on his laptop.
“She’s a nurse from the city.”
“She’s been Daniel’s mistress for seven years.”
Seven years.
The entire time we were married.
The "late nights at the office" weren't for work.
The "weekend fishing trips" weren't for leisure.
He had a whole other life.
And now he had a child.
“Why did she use my name at the hospital?”
I asked.
“Because legally,
Elena doesn't exist in the Mercer world,”
Elias explained.
“If the baby is born to 'Natalie Mercer,'”
“it is the legitimate heir to the Thorne-Mercer fortune.”
“It bypasses all the legal hurdles Margaret was facing.”
“They’re using your bloodline’s status to wash their dirty laundry.”
I looked at the video on my phone again.
Daniel holding the baby.
The look on his face.
It wasn't love.
It was relief.
He had gotten what he wanted.
He had the money.
He had the woman.
He had the heir.
And I was just the ghost that refused to stay buried.
“What do we do now?”
I asked.
Elias looked at me,
his eyes dark.
“We take the one thing they care about,
May you like
Natalie.”
“We take the baby.”
