Chapter 10 - THE MISTRESS WHO WAS NEVER JUST A MISTRESS
Luka did not speak for almost a minute.
No one did.
The abandoned procedure room seemed to hold its breath with us.
Finally, Ethan looked at him.
“My father?”
Luka’s eyes snapped toward him.
“Don’t call him that.”
Ethan flinched.
Not because Luka raised his voice.
Because he did not.
The quiet hatred in it was worse.
I replayed Mom’s recording.
Maybe we had misunderstood.
Maybe she meant something else.
We had not.
“Dominic Moretti was not Luka’s biological father.”
“Elias Mercer was.”
The words remained the same.
Luka walked to the far wall.
His hands braced against the counter.
Every assumption we had built over the previous forty-eight hours shifted again.
If Elias was Luka’s biological father, then Ethan and Luka might be paternal half-brothers through Elias.
But then the old report linking Ethan to Dominic made no sense.
Unless that report was false.
Another manufactured document.
Dr. Sloan seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“We need independent testing.”
Luka laughed without humor.
“That should have been sentence one two days ago.”
She did not argue.
Celeste leaned against the door.
“There may be preserved reference samples in the trustee archive.”
“From who?”
“Dominic.”
“Elias.”
“And Ethan.”
Luka turned.
“You have access?”
“Limited.”
“Enough?”
“Maybe.”
“Then get them.”
She nodded.
Ethan stared at the floor.
I watched him.
“What did Elias tell you?”
He looked at me.
“When?”
“About your biological father.”
“Dominic.”
“Did he show you proof?”
“Yes.”
“What proof?”
“A DNA report.”
Luka’s face hardened.
“From Mercer Diagnostics?”
“Yes.”
I almost laughed.
The laboratory that apparently never existed except on paper.
Ethan understood.
“It could have been fake.”
“Everything could have been fake.”
His face twisted.
“My entire life could be fake.”
I had thought the same thing about my marriage.
For one moment, I saw him not as the husband who betrayed me.
Not as the man who abandoned me at a hospital.
But as another child who had grown into adulthood inside Elias Mercer’s machinery.
The sympathy lasted three seconds.
Then I remembered Ethan had known enough to stop the cycle.
He chose not to.
That mattered.
Dr. Sloan finished searching the room.
“There’s another cabinet.”
We followed.
Inside were archived labels from the early fertility program.
Seventeen original files.
The numbering had been reassigned multiple times.
M-17 originally listed:
MARGARET REED — PATIENT.
I stared.
My mother.
Then a second attached code:
PATERNAL REFERENCE — ELIAS MERCER.
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
Dr. Sloan read further.
“This isn’t a conception record.”
“What is it?”
“A compatibility screen.”
“For what?”
She scanned.
“Future reproductive pairing.”
I felt sick.
“They tested my mother against Elias?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Celeste spoke quietly.
“Because Elias was trying to build a bank of compatible maternal lines.”
Luka turned toward her.
“You knew?”
“Not the full history.”
I stared at Mom’s name.
She had been twenty-four.
Young.
Vulnerable.
Just like me.
Celeste continued.
“Harrow & Pike found references to a program called Lineage Assurance.”
“Rich clients paid Mercer Medical to identify women with stable maternal genetic markers.”
My skin crawled.
“Women were treated like breeding stock.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
Ethan looked sick.
“Did my father…”
He stopped.
Luka looked at him.
“Finish the sentence.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Did Elias use his own biological material?”
Celeste met his eyes.
“At least once.”
Luka’s face turned cold.
“Me.”
“Possibly.”
I looked at the original M-17 file.
“But Mom’s recording said Elias was Luka’s father.”
“Yes.”
“Then who was Luka’s mother?”
He answered.
“Teresa Moretti.”
Dominic’s wife.
I looked through the labels.
M-09.
Teresa Moretti.
I pulled the file.
Compatibility screen.
Paternal reference.
Elias Mercer.
My stomach dropped.
“There.”
Luka stepped closer.
The file showed an embryo-transfer record.
Teresa Moretti.
Elias Mercer genetic source.
Dominic Moretti listed as legal spouse.
Luka stared.
His father had raised him believing he was his biological son.
Maybe Dominic discovered the truth years later.
That would explain everything.
His obsession.
His anger.
His secret investigation.
His refusal to tell Luka.
Luka’s voice was barely audible.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
Dr. Sloan pointed to a later notation.
“Confirmation test at age sixteen.”
Luka looked at her.
“What?”
“Someone tested you against Dominic.”
“Result?”
She swallowed.
“Excluded as biological father.”
Luka closed his eyes.
“And Elias?”
“There’s no direct comparison here.”
“But Teresa…”
“Yes.”
“She appears to be your biological mother.”
He nodded slowly.
At least one parent remained his.
Ethan moved closer.
“If Elias is Luka’s father…”
Luka opened his eyes.
“Don’t.”
Ethan stopped.
“We still need to know.”
“We’ll test.”
I looked between them.
They had hated each other before meeting.
Yet they might be brothers in the most direct biological sense.
Both children of Elias Mercer.
One raised as Mercer.
One raised Moretti.
One told Dominic was his real father.
One told Dominic was his father by family.
Both manipulated.
My daughter stood at the center of the next generation.
I whispered.
“Why use Luka’s sample if he and Ethan share Elias?”
Celeste answered.
“Because it makes the genetic bridge stronger.”
“How?”
“If Elias is the biological father of both men, then Ava is Ethan’s niece.”
“Yes.”
“Her DNA would show a close first-degree relationship.”
“Enough to support a forged paternity report if the testing process were controlled.”
I understood.
Elias did not need Ava to truly be Ethan’s daughter.
He needed her genetically close enough that compromised testing could be manipulated.
Luka’s sample was perfect.
His own biological son’s material.
Used to manufacture a granddaughter Elias could place under Ethan’s name.
It was monstrous.
And elegant.
I hated that word.
But it was.
Elias had spent decades converting blood into paperwork and paperwork into money.
Ethan spoke.
“Celeste.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“You said you were auditing the trust.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know Ava would be Luka’s?”
“Not until the hospital.”
His face hardened.
“But you knew the donor wasn’t mine.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Amelia?”
She looked at me.
“Because I needed the baby born.”
The honesty hit like ice.
I stared.
“You needed me to finish the pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
“For evidence.”
“Yes.”
“You let me go through nine months of this because you needed proof.”
“Yes.”
Rage rose.
“So you’re not better than Elias.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
“No.”
That stopped me.
She did not defend herself.
“I told myself I was protecting future victims.”
“I told myself one completed birth would expose the entire chain.”
“I told myself you were already pregnant, and telling you might put you in danger.”
Her eyes filled.
“But the truth is I made the same choice everyone else made.”
I swallowed.
“What choice?”
“I decided you didn’t deserve the truth because I thought I knew what was best.”
The room went quiet.
For the first time, I understood the real disease running through every relationship around me.
Not only greed.
Not only power.
Control disguised as protection.
Dad had hidden things from me.
Dominic had hidden things from Luka.
Ethan had hidden everything.
Celeste had hidden the investigation.
Everyone claimed the same reason.
To keep someone safe.
And all they had done was make us easier to manipulate.
“No more.”
I said it quietly.
Everyone looked at me.
“No more secrets.”
I pointed toward Luka.
“If you find something, I hear it.”
Then Ethan.
“If you know something, you say it.”
Then Celeste.
“If you have evidence, you hand it over.”
I looked at Dr. Sloan.
“And no more deciding I’m too fragile because I just gave birth.”
She nodded.
“Agreed.”
Luka nodded.
Ethan looked away.
“Ethan.”
He looked at me.
“Agreed.”
“Good.”
My phone rang.
Agent Ortiz.
I answered.
“Amelia, where are you?”
“Room 417.”
“We need everyone upstairs.”
“Why?”
“We found Elias.”
My heart jumped.
“Where?”
“He was never inside the Foundation House when it burned.”
Luka’s expression darkened.
“Then who did we see?”
“Video projection.”
I stared.
“What?”
Ortiz continued.
“The figure descending the stairs appears to have been a live remote projection triggered through the house automation system.”
I almost laughed at the absurdity.
“He wasn’t there.”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“We traced his private terminal activity.”
“To where?”
“Mercer Executive Airport.”
Ethan went pale.
“He has a plane.”
“Yes.”
“Did he leave?”
“No.”
“What’s he doing?”
Ortiz paused.
“Waiting for someone.”
My chest tightened.
“Who?”
“Your daughter.”
Every muscle in my body went cold.
“Ava is under federal protection.”
“I know.”
“Where is she?”
Ortiz did not answer fast enough.
My voice rose.
“Where is my baby?”
“There was an attempted transfer.”
I could not breathe.
“What transfer?”
“Someone produced an emergency pediatric order claiming Ava needed immediate cardiac imaging at another facility.”
I grabbed the table.
“Did they take her?”
“No.”
Relief nearly dropped me.
“The nurse challenged the order.”
“Where is Ava now?”
“Secure.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
Luka was already moving toward the door.
Ortiz continued.
“But the person who issued the false order used Dr. Sloan’s credentials.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She went pale.
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
Ortiz said.
“The credentials were copied.”
Celeste looked at Ethan.
“Elias is running out of options.”
“Then he gets desperate.”
Luka’s voice hardened.
“And desperate men make mistakes.”
We left Room 417.
As we reached the elevator, Celeste’s phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She listened.
Then looked at me.
“Harrow & Pike just received a genetic claim.”
My stomach dropped.
“For Ava?”
“Yes.”
“Submitted by who?”
She stared at Ethan.
“Ethan Mercer.”
His face went white.
“I didn’t submit anything.”
Celeste turned the screen toward us.
The claim had his electronic signature.
Ava Mercer.
Biological daughter of Ethan Mercer.
Supporting DNA attached.
My hands shook.
“They already forged the result.”
“Yes.”
Luka looked at the timestamp.
“Six minutes ago.”
Then Celeste scrolled lower.
Her face went still.
“What?”
“The claim includes a second relationship statement.”
“What statement?”
She looked at Luka.
It identified him as Ava’s biological uncle.
Not father.
The fraud was already active.
Then Celeste whispered.
“If Harrow & Pike doesn’t challenge this within seventy-two hours, the Moretti Legacy Vault automatically enters distribution.”
“How much?”
Ethan asked.
Celeste looked at him.
“Current valuation?”
She swallowed.
“Eight hundred and forty-two million dollars.”
Silence.
I stared at the fake claim carrying my daughter’s name.
May you like
Elias had put a price on Ava before she was old enough to open her eyes.
And now we had seventy-two hours to prove who her father really was.
