Chapter 9 - The Secret Clara Had Protected
Julian nearly dropped the phone.
Clara began crying before she could explain.
“It happened during our separation.”
Julian sat down.
“You and Derek separated before Alba was born?”
“For three months.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because I knew what you’d say.”
The answer hurt.
Clara continued.
She had briefly left Derek after his controlling behavior worsened.
During that separation, she reconnected with an old college friend, Daniel Mercer.
Their relationship was short.
Clara became pregnant.
Before she could tell Daniel, he accepted humanitarian work overseas.
Then Derek returned.
He apologized.
Promised counseling.
Promised change.
Clara believed him.
When Alba was born, Derek knew there was uncertainty.
A private DNA test later confirmed he was not her biological father.
“Why did he stay?”
Julian asked.
“Because he said Alba was his daughter regardless.”
“And later?”
“He used it against me.”
Clara explained Derek threatened to reveal Alba’s paternity whenever Clara tried leaving.
He claimed Julian would disown her.
“I believed him.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“Clara.”
“I was scared.”
“You should never have had to be scared of me.”
That sentence brought silence.
“What happened to Daniel?”
“I don’t know.”
“You never told him?”
“No.”
Julian struggled with the revelation but refused to judge her.
“What matters now?”
“Alba.”
Exactly.
But Whitmore possessed the secret.
And if Derek was willing to weaponize cancer, he would weaponize paternity.
Within hours, another anonymous post appeared.
WHO IS ALBA’S REAL FATHER?
No documents yet.
Just the question.
The internet erupted.
Julian wanted to smash his phone.
Clara instead made a decision.
“I’m telling the truth.”
Her attorney warned her.
“You don’t owe the public your private life.”
“I’m not telling the public.”
She looked at Alba.
“I’m telling my daughter.”
That evening Clara sat with Alba.
Julian and Evelyn waited outside.
Clara explained in language a five-year-old could understand that families could be complicated and that Derek had raised her but another man helped bring her into the world.
Alba listened.
Then asked:
“Is Grandfather Julian still my grandfather?”
Clara laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
“Then okay.”
Children sometimes solved what adults spent years destroying themselves over.
But another problem remained.
Daniel Mercer.
Investigators searched.
They found him.
Alive.
Living in Seattle.
Married.
A physician specializing in emergency medicine.
And according to travel records, he had flown to Chicago that morning.
Julian stared at Torres.
“Why?”
“He received an anonymous email yesterday.”
“What did it say?”
Torres handed him the printout.
YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER.
COME TO CHICAGO BEFORE DEREK COLE TAKES HER FOREVER.
At the bottom was a sunflower.
May you like
Whitmore had summoned Daniel himself.
But nobody knew why.
