Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN I CALLED MOTHER
I confronted my mother that night.
She didn't deny it.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You took me?”
“I saved you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I lied because your life depended on it.”
“You let me believe I was your biological daughter.”
“You are my daughter.”
“Not by blood.”
She began crying.
“Blood isn't what makes a mother.”
I wanted to hate her.
But I couldn't.
“Tell me everything.”
She sat down.
“Your father discovered Richard wanted both children.”
“Why?”
“Because Catherine had inherited a controlling stake in the Mercer hotel chain from her father.”
“So Laura and I inherited it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Richard raise Laura?”
“To control her share.”
“And me?”
“Your father took you.”
She looked down.
“He planned to expose Richard.”
“What happened?”
“Richard found out.”
My mother's voice trembled.
“He threatened your father.”
“Did he kill him?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Your father died because of the stress, the lawsuits, and the pressure. But before he died, he created the foundation.”
“The Mercer Foundation.”
“Yes.”
I remembered the documents.
My father hadn't sold it.
He had hidden it.
And he had placed it under my control.
“Why Elijah?”
My mother looked at me.
“Because your father believed Elijah was different from Richard.”
I laughed.
“He was wrong.”
“Yes.”
She lowered her head.
“He was wrong.”
Meanwhile, Laura went on television.
She appeared in a white dress.
Her face looked fragile.
Her voice trembled.
“I never wanted any of this,” she told the interviewer. “Alexandra has struggled emotionally for years.”
I watched from my mother's living room.
Elijah watched too.
His expression hardened.
“She lied.”
I looked at him.
“You believed her.”
“I was wrong.”
“Very.”
He swallowed.
“I deserve that.”
“Yes.”
The interviewer asked Laura:
“Do you believe Alexandra is dangerous?”
Laura looked down.
Then whispered:
“I don't want to say that.”
That one sentence was enough.
Within hours, the internet exploded.
I became the villain.
People called me jealous.
Unstable.
Obsessed.
A woman trying to destroy her husband's reputation.
Then Daniel called.
“Don't respond.”
“Why?”
“Because Laura just made the biggest mistake of her life.”
“What?”
“She mentioned the wrong date.”
I frowned.
“What date?”
“The date she claims she met Elijah.”
Daniel sent me a document.
Laura had said they met at a charity gala three years ago.
But financial records showed she had received money from Elijah's company five years earlier.
Two years before that gala.
Daniel smiled.
“She wasn't his mistress three years ago.”
“No.”
“She was working for him.”
I looked at the documents.
“Doing what?”
Daniel answered:
“Spying on you.”
That night, someone broke into my mother's house.
The alarm screamed.
Glass shattered downstairs.
I grabbed my phone.
Then I heard footsteps.
I locked the bedroom door.
“Mom?”
No answer.
I called her.
Nothing.
Then my phone received a video.
It showed my mother tied to a chair.
Laura stood behind her.
Her voice was calm.
“Come alone, Alexandra.”
My blood turned to ice.
“Or your mother dies.”
The video ended.
I grabbed my coat.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
And bring the foundation documents.
