Chapter 10 - DANIEL HAD TO DECIDE WHICH FAMILY HE WASDaniel disappeared for three days.
Not literally.
He stayed at a hotel.
Stopped answering Margaret.
Then he came to see me.
He placed his phone on the table.
Screen up.
“No recording.”
I almost smiled.
Not quite.
He said:
“I don’t know who I am.”
I answered:
“Daniel.”
He looked irritated.
“That’s not enough.”
“It has to be eventually.”
He was legally a Hartwell.
Biologically the son of Elise Mercer and Robert Hartwell.
Raised by Margaret.
Economic heir to the Mercer trust.
Husband to me, though that part was in serious danger.
He asked:
“Do you think our marriage was fake?”
Hard question.
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“The setup around it was manipulated.”
I said.
“But every conversation we had wasn’t scripted.”
“I loved you.”
“I know.”
“Love you.”
I looked down.
“That doesn’t erase what you did.”
“I know.”
Good.
For once he did not add but.
Then:
“I recorded you because I wanted leverage.”
Yes.
“I knew the signature wasn’t yours.”
Yes.
“I told myself Mom understood the structure better than I did.”
Yes.
“And I chose not to ask because the answer might have required me to oppose her.”
That was the deepest truth.
May you like
He had not been an innocent puppet.
He had participated because loyalty was easier than scrutiny.
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