Chapter 5 - The Hidden Heir
Margaret appeared on the upper balcony ten minutes later.
She wore a burgundy robe over her evening dress.
Her expression remained composed until she saw Jacob’s comb in Leah’s hand.
“You opened the box,” she said.
Leah stared.
“You knew about it.”
Margaret descended slowly.
“I knew Jacob made emotional claims.”
“Emotional?” Leah repeated.
“He was your stepson.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“He was the result of an affair.”
Ethan looked at her.
“So you punished him for being born.”
“I protected you.”
“No.”
Leah’s voice cut through the foyer.
“You protected his shares.”
Margaret turned sharply.
Leah opened Jacob’s sealed letter.
Their father had created a private trust after Maria threatened to disclose the birth.
Jacob would receive twenty-five percent of Mercer Holdings when he turned thirty-five.
If he died before then, the interest passed to his child.
Jacob had turned thirty-five twelve days before the elevator accident.
The transfer should already have occurred.
It never did.
Ethan stared at Margaret.
“You hid the trust.”
“I prevented an unqualified technician from destabilizing a national company.”
There it was.
Not son.
Technician.
Jacob’s blood was Mercer when the family needed silence.
His job became his identity when he asked for ownership.
Leah placed both hands over her belly.
“My child did not ask for your company.”
Margaret replied coldly:
“Then sign the waiver.”
Ethan looked at his stepmother.
“You still think she should sign after what happened?”
Margaret glanced toward Victoria.
“She was corrected publicly because she refused a private solution.”
May you like
The guests went silent again.
And every phone in the foyer rose.
