Chapter 7 - BLOOD AND INK
The Mercer estate was a sprawling Gothic nightmare.
It sat on a cliff overlooking the Hudson,
gray stone and dark windows.
I drove through the gates,
which were surprisingly open.
The boathouse was a long walk from the main house,
down a winding stone path.
The air was thick with mist.
The water lapped against the pilings with a rhythmic,
hollow sound.
Daniel was standing on the dock.
He was wearing his old naval jacket.
The one he was supposed to be wearing when the boat went down.
He looked like a man made of smoke.
“You came,”
he said,
his voice barely audible over the water.
“Tell me why,
Daniel,”
I said,
stopping ten feet away.
“Tell me why you let me mourn you for five years.”
He looked at the water,
not at me.
“Margaret said it was the only way.”
“The business was failing.”
“We were going to lose the house,
the name...
everything.”
“I was a coward,
Nat.”
“I thought if I was dead,
you’d get the insurance and you’d be taken care of.”
“I thought you’d move on and find someone better.”
“And Elena?”
I asked,
my voice like a knife.
“She was pregnant before the accident,
wasn't she?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Margaret found out.”
“She said we couldn't have a scandal.”
“She said the baby needed a proper name.”
“She convinced me that you would forgive me eventually.”
“Forgive you?”
I screamed.
“I spent five years at a grave that had a stranger in it!”
“I defended your mother against the board!”
“I gave her my life!”
“I know,”
he whispered.
“And I’ve hated myself every day.”
“But now there’s a baby,
Nat.”
“He’s innocent.”
“He needs a mother.”
“He has a mother,”
I said.
“And she’s wearing my name.”
Daniel stepped toward me,
his face desperate.
“Give me the phone,
Nat.”
“Give me the video and we can settle this.”
“Margaret will give you half the trust.”
“You can leave,
start a new life anywhere.”
“Just let us have this.”
I looked at him,
at the man I had loved.
He wasn't a victim of Margaret’s ambition.
He was the heart of it.
He was still trying to buy me off.
“No,”
I said.
I pulled out the documents Elias had given me.
“I’ve already signed the freeze on the trust,
Daniel.”
“The money is gone.”
“By tomorrow,
this estate will be seized.”
“Margaret will be in a cell.”
“And you?”
“You’re going to stay dead.”
Daniel’s face transformed.
The sorrow vanished,
replaced by a cold,
calculated rage.
“I can't let you do that,
Nat.”
He moved toward me,
May you like
his hands reaching for my throat.
But he wasn't the only one in the shadows.
