Chapter 22 - KATHERINE MERCERThey found Katherine three days later.
Not hiding.
Waiting.
A lakeside house outside Montreal.
She opened the door before Liam knocked.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Liam stopped.
Nobody had called him that since childhood.
Clara stood beside him.
Adrian remained near the car.
He had almost refused to come.
Katherine looked exactly like the woman from Liam’s earliest memories.
Older.
Smaller.
But unmistakable.
Liam did not hug her.
“Why Grace?”
Katherine’s face fell.
“You’ve already decided what I am.”
“Answer.”
“I never intended to hurt her.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Katherine invited them inside.
The house contained decades of medical research.
No luxury.
No guards.
No weapons.
Just books.
She explained that the genetic mutation found in Elizabeth Vale, Adrian, Liam, and Grace could potentially create treatments for aggressive blood cancers.
Clara went still.
“Leukemia?”
Katherine nodded.
That changed the air.
Tommy.
Of course.
Katherine had followed his case.
She had followed Clara.
Liam.
Grace.
“You used my brother’s cancer to justify studying my daughter?”
Clara asked.
“I used nothing.”
Katherine looked directly at her.
“I was trying to prevent other families from going through what yours did.”
“Without consent.”
Katherine said nothing.
Clara nodded.
“That’s the answer.”
Adrian finally entered.
Katherine saw him.
Her face broke.
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
“Don’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did my mother know?”
Katherine cried.
“No.”
“Did you know the trial could kill her?”
Silence.
Adrian laughed softly.
“Thank you.”
He turned.
Katherine rushed forward.
“Please.”
He looked back.
“My mother didn’t get a choice.”
His eyes filled.
“So I’m going to use mine.”
He walked away.
Liam remained.
Katherine looked at him desperately.
“I loved you.”
“I believe you.”
That surprised her.
Liam continued.
“And you still abandoned me.”
She cried harder.
“I thought your father—”
“I know.”
Liam’s voice remained calm.
“Fear explains people.”
Clara recognized Susan Bennett’s words.
“It doesn’t excuse them.”
Katherine lowered her head.
Then Clara noticed a locked cabinet.
“What’s inside?”
Katherine hesitated.
Leo opened it under the authority of the investigators outside.
Inside were hundreds of samples.
One container was labeled:
GRACE MERCER.
Liam went completely still.
Clara stepped forward.
“When did you get this?”
Katherine didn’t answer.
“When?”
“Her birth.”
Clara stared.
“You were at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
Liam’s eyes filled.
“You saw her?”
Katherine nodded.
“You saw your granddaughter being born and you stayed hidden?”
“I couldn’t risk—”
Liam walked away.
For the first time, Katherine understood.
She had spent decades calling fear sacrifice.
But the people she claimed to protect had paid every bill.
Investigators seized the research.
Katherine was arrested.
As she was taken outside, she looked at Liam.
“Will I ever see you again?”
Liam thought about it.
Then answered honestly.
“I don’t know.”
It was not forgiveness.
It was not cruelty.
May you like
It was the truth.
And for the Mercer family, truth was still revolutionary.
