Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
For the next forty-eight hours, I disappeared.
No social media.
No interviews.
No statements.
Nothing.
The world expected a billionaire chairman's wife to fight back publicly.
Instead, I went silent.
That silence made Elijah nervous.
It made Laura reckless.
And it made the press hungry.
On the third morning, headlines exploded.
CHAIRMAN'S WIFE SUFFERS PUBLIC BREAKDOWN AT ANNIVERSARY GALA
ELIJAH MERCER'S MARRIAGE IN CRISIS
MYSTERY WOMAN ACCUSED OF ATTACKING ELITE SOCIALITE
They had edited the ballroom footage.
The slap was visible.
But the moments before it had been removed.
Laura appeared innocent.
I appeared unstable.
Exactly as Elijah had called me.
A lunatic.
I watched the coverage without emotion.
Then Daniel walked in.
“We found the original footage.”
I looked up.
“From the ballroom?”
“Yes.”
He placed a tablet on the table.
The unedited recording began.
Laura approached me.
She whispered something.
I stepped backward.
She smiled.
Then she deliberately threw herself into the champagne table.
The wine splashed over her dress.
Then she screamed.
The entire sequence lasted eleven seconds.
Daniel paused it.
“Look at her hand.”
I leaned closer.
Laura was holding something.
A tiny black device.
“What is that?”
“A recording device.”
My blood ran cold.
“She wanted me to say something.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel opened another file.
The audio played.
Laura's voice.
“You'll lose everything, Alexandra.”
My voice answered:
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Laura laughed softly.
“Your father told you nothing.”
Then the recording stopped.
I stared at Daniel.
“She knew about my father.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“We're still investigating.”
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A woman's voice whispered:
“Stop looking into Laura.”
“Who is this?”
“You don't understand what she is.”
“What is she?”
Silence.
Then:
“She is not after Elijah.”
My heart pounded.
“Then who?”
“You.”
The call ended.
That evening, I received another package.
Inside was an old newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
LOCAL HOTEL HEIRESS DISAPPEARS AFTER PRIVATE FAMILY DISPUTE
The woman pictured was Catherine Bennett.
Laura's mother.
Date: twenty-eight years earlier.
I read the article.
Catherine had disappeared three days before my birth.
Her body had never been found.
But one detail caught my attention.
The article stated that Catherine had been engaged to my father.
And according to witnesses, she had been pregnant.
With twins.
I dropped the paper.
Twins.
I stared at the date.
My birth certificate.
My mother's story.
Laura.
Everything connected.
But there was one question.
If Catherine was pregnant with twins...
Where was the other child?
Daniel found the answer six hours later.
He called me at midnight.
“Alex, sit down.”
“I am.”
“We found hospital records.”
My pulse raced.
“Catherine gave birth to twins.”
“Where?”
“St. Vincent Medical Center.”
“What happened to them?”
Daniel hesitated.
“One baby was registered as deceased.”
“And the other?”
“Transferred.”
“To where?”
“Mercer Children's Home.”
I closed my eyes.
“Who adopted the child?”
Daniel's voice became quiet.
“Richard Mercer.”
I stopped breathing.
“Richard adopted Catherine's child?”
“Yes.”
“Which child?”
Daniel was silent.
Then he said:
“Laura.”
I couldn't sleep.
At 3:17 a.m., my phone rang.
It was Elijah.
I almost ignored him.
Then I answered.
“What?”
His breathing was uneven.
“Alex, you need to listen.”
“What?”
“I found something in my father's study.”
“What?”
“A file.”
“About Laura?”
“No.”
He paused.
“About you.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does it say?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
“Because my father wrote your name on the cover.”
I closed my eyes.
“What else?”
Elijah whispered:
“He wrote one sentence.”
May you like
“What sentence?”
“He said, ‘If Alex ever learns the truth, the entire Mercer empire falls.’”
