Chapter 3 - THE FOUNDATION THAT NEVER DISAPPEARED
The jet landed shortly after sunrise.
I stepped onto the runway in a city where no one knew me as Mrs. Elijah Mercer.
That alone felt like breathing again.
My attorney, Daniel Brooks, was waiting.
He was in his late fifties, with silver hair and the permanently tired eyes of a man who had spent decades watching wealthy families destroy themselves.
“You look exhausted,” he said.
“I've had a long night.”
He glanced at my cheek.
His expression hardened.
“I saw the news.”
“Already?”
“Someone recorded the incident.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Hundreds of people had watched Elijah hit me.
By breakfast, millions could probably watch it too.
Daniel opened the car door.
“Get in. We have work to do.”
I sat beside him.
“What did my father leave me?”
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he handed me a folder.
I opened it.
The first page contained an old corporate structure.
My father's company.
The second page showed ownership percentages.
The third showed something that made my stomach twist.
Mercer Foundation — controlling voting trust: 51%.
I looked at Daniel.
“I thought the foundation was dissolved.”
“It was supposed to be.”
“Supposed to?”
“Your father's instructions were complicated.”
“Daniel, please.”
He sighed.
“Your father didn't trust Elijah.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“He never did.”
“Why?”
“Because of his father.”
Elijah's father.
Richard Mercer.
A man I had met only twice before his death.
A charming businessman who had always treated me with strange politeness.
Daniel leaned back.
“Your father believed Richard had manipulated the original Mercer acquisition twenty-two years ago.”
“Manipulated how?”
“Fraudulently.”
My pulse increased.
“Then why didn't anyone expose him?”
“Because your father died before he could.”
Silence filled the car.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father ordered me not to.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Because he believed your marriage to Elijah would eventually place you in danger.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Well, he wasn't wrong.”
Daniel's expression didn't change.
“There is more.”
He handed me another folder.
This one was much thinner.
Inside was a birth certificate.
I frowned.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Look at the name of the hospital.”
I did.
Then I looked at the date.
My date of birth.
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
“This isn't where I was born.”
Daniel nodded.
“That's what your mother told you.”
My hands began to shake.
“Where was I actually born?”
Daniel didn't answer.
He simply pointed to another line.
Under mother, my mother's name was listed.
Under father, there was no name.
Instead, it said:
Parentage sealed by court order.
I looked up.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You're my father's lawyer.”
“Your father knew. I didn't.”
I closed the folder.
“I need to call my mother.”
Daniel reached out.
“No.”
I stopped.
“Why?”
“Because if your father was right, she's already been waiting for this call.”
My mother's house was three hours away.
When I arrived, she was standing in the kitchen.
She looked at my face.
Then she saw the folders.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“Mom?”
She sat down.
“You found them.”
I froze.
“You knew?”
She covered her face.
“Your father promised me he'd protect you.”
“From what?”
She looked up.
“From the Mercers.”
My blood went cold.
“What did they do?”
My mother started crying.
“Your father and Richard Mercer were partners once.”
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don't know.”
She reached into a cabinet.
From behind a stack of old dishes, she removed a small metal box.
She placed it on the table.
“Your father told me never to open this unless Elijah hurt you.”
I stared at the box.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Inside was a flash drive.
A key.
And one photograph.
The photograph showed two young men.
My father.
Richard Mercer.
And a woman standing between them.
Laura's mother.
I looked at my mother.
“Who is she?”
My mother's face collapsed.
“Her name was Catherine.”
“Laura's mother?”
She nodded.
“Why was she with Dad?”
My mother whispered:
“Because she was supposed to marry him.”
I couldn't breathe.
“What?”
“Before I met your father.”
The room seemed to tilt.
My mother continued.
“But that wasn't the worst part.”
“What was?”
“She was already pregnant.”
I stared at her.
“With Laura?”
My mother shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“She was pregnant with you.”
The room went silent.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't speak.
May you like
Then my mother said the sentence that shattered everything I thought I knew.
“Alexandra... you are not your father's biological daughter.”
