Chapter 3 - What Her Mother Hid
Lydia took the photograph home.
She didn't remember leaving Bellamy's.
She remembered Roman offering a car.
She refused.
He didn't argue.
She remembered standing under the awning outside while rain misted the street.
She remembered looking backward once.
Roman was still inside.
Still seated.
Still watching through the glass.
Not possessively.
Not threateningly.
Just waiting.
That somehow unsettled her more.
Her father's apartment was six blocks from the subway.
Gary opened the door wearing sweatpants and an old Yankees shirt.
His expression changed immediately.
“You went.”
Lydia walked past him.
“Yeah.”
“Did Tyler like you?”
She stopped.
That question hurt more than she expected.
Not Are you okay?
Not What happened?
Did Tyler like you?
She slowly removed the photograph from her purse.
Gary's face drained of color.
Lydia knew instantly Roman had told the truth.
“Where did you get that?”
“Roman Mercer.”
Gary backed into the wall.
“Jesus.”
“Dad.”
“You shouldn't be talking to him.”
“Apparently I shouldn't be talking to you either.”
“Lydia—”
“Twenty-seven years.”
Gary closed his eyes.
She felt something inside her tear.
“You knew Carter before Mom died.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“And the debt?”
Gary didn't answer.
Lydia stepped closer.
“Was it ever two hundred forty thousand?”
Gary's silence answered.
She laughed once.
“You sold me for a debt that didn't exist.”
“No.”
“You told them I'd marry Tyler.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Gary looked toward the photograph.
“Your mother.”
Lydia froze.
“My mother has been dead ten years.”
“I know.”
“Then explain that sentence.”
Gary sat heavily.
And finally, after decades of smaller lies, he told Lydia the biggest one.
Her mother, Elaine Bennett, had not simply been a school librarian as Lydia believed.
Before Lydia was born, Elaine had worked as an archival researcher for one of Manhattan's oldest maritime law firms.
She discovered falsified ownership records involving dozens of properties along the waterfront.
The Mercer family had purchased several companies legally.
But years earlier, a partnership involving Lydia's grandfather had been quietly erased from corporate histories.
Elaine began collecting proof.
Carter Voss discovered what she knew.
Gary helped her hide it.
Then Gary became frightened.
He gambled.
Borrowed.
Talked.
Eventually Carter learned enough to understand the evidence had survived.
“Where is it?” Lydia whispered.
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I swear.”
“Then why Tyler?”
Gary looked ashamed.
“Carter thought your mother left something with you.”
“And marrying me to his son would accomplish what?”
“Access.”
“To my apartment?”
“To you.”
Lydia stood.
“You let him.”
“I thought if I cooperated, he'd stop looking.”
“You put me directly in front of him.”
“I was scared!”
“So was I!”
Gary flinched.
Lydia had never screamed at him like that.
She didn't care.
“For ten years I have paid for every mistake you've made because I kept telling myself you were grieving.”
Gary looked down.
“I was.”
“No. You were hiding.”
Silence.
“There's a difference.”
She walked toward the door.
“Lyd.”
She stopped.
Gary's voice cracked.
“Your mother didn't trust Roman Mercer.”
Lydia looked back.
“Why?”
“I never knew.”
“You're lying again.”
“No.”
Gary stood.
“She made me promise that if Roman ever came looking for the certificate, I'd destroy it first.”
“Why?”
“She said if he found the second document, everything would change.”
Lydia remembered the backing paper.
The faint second layer.
“What second document?”
Gary swallowed.
“Roman isn't a Mercer.”
Lydia stared.
Gary continued.
“Not by blood.”
The room went silent.
“Then who is he?”
“I don't know.”
But Lydia could see another lie arriving.
“Dad.”
Gary looked at the floor.
When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible.
“Your mother thought Roman was the rightful Bennett heir.”
Lydia felt the world tilt.
“What?”
Before Gary could answer, somebody knocked on the apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Gary turned white.
Lydia's heart began pounding.
Another knock.
Then a familiar calm voice came through the door.
“Lydia.”
Roman.
Gary whispered:
“Don't let him in.”
Lydia looked at her father.
Then at the door.
“Why?”
May you like
Gary's answer arrived with terror in his eyes.
“Because your mother believed Roman Mercer was your brother.”
