Chapter 6 - What Maya Knew
Daniel did not answer the anonymous message.
Nora insisted.
"If they want a reaction, silence pressures them."
Daniel hated it.
Every instinct wanted him to drive back to the estate and tear through walls until he found the rabbit.
But Lily needed a father, not a reckless avenger.
So he waited.
And investigated.
The next morning Nora obtained archived emails from Thomas Mercer's former accountant, Samuel Greene.
Samuel had retired to Vermont five years earlier.
They reached him by video call.
The seventy-three-year-old studied Daniel through thick glasses.
"You look like your father when you're angry."
"Did my father create a trust for my future child?"
Samuel removed his glasses.
"Where did you hear that?"
"So he did."
Samuel sighed.
"Yes."
Daniel gripped the edge of the desk.
"Why?"
"Thomas was worried about Margaret's influence over the company."
"That doesn't explain Lily."
"He wasn't worried about Lily."
"She wasn't born."
"He was worried about you."
Daniel sat back.
Samuel continued.
"Your father believed you would eventually have children. He wanted part of his holdings protected outside the main family trust."
"How much?"
"I don't know the final figure."
"Estimate."
"At the time? Perhaps seventy million dollars."
Daniel stared at him.
Money explained greed.
Not cruelty.
"Why tie it to my child?"
"Because Thomas thought becoming a father might finally give you a reason to resist Margaret."
Daniel almost laughed.
His father had been right.
"Who knew?"
"Thomas. Gerald Pike. Me."
"Margaret?"
"Not officially."
"Vanessa?"
"No."
"What happened after my father died?"
"I resigned six months later."
"Why?"
Samuel hesitated.
"I found amendments I hadn't prepared."
Daniel leaned forward.
"To the trust?"
"Related documents."
"What amendments?"
"They changed the verification procedure for identifying a beneficiary."
"Meaning?"
"Originally, a birth certificate naming you as father and a sworn acknowledgment were sufficient."
Daniel had both.
"The amendment required additional genetic verification through a trustee-approved laboratory."
"Why?"
"I asked Gerald."
"What did he say?"
"Your mother had concerns about fraudulent claims."
Daniel closed his eyes.
There it was.
Margaret had inserted herself.
"Was the amendment valid?"
"I never determined that. Thomas was already dead."
"Can a trustee change it?"
"Not ordinarily."
Nora leaned toward the camera.
"Do you have copies?"
Samuel looked uneasy.
"I kept one."
Daniel's pulse accelerated.
"Where?"
"With my attorney."
"Can we get it?"
"If subpoenaed."
Nora said, "We'll handle that."
Daniel asked the question that had been burning in him.
"Did my father know Maya?"
Samuel blinked.
"Maya Bennett?"
Daniel went still.
"You know her name."
Samuel looked away.
"She came to see Thomas."
"When?"
"Three weeks before he died."
Daniel felt the room tilt.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I only saw her leaving his office."
"Did you ask him?"
"He said she was helping him with a private architectural matter."
Maya had been an architect.
Daniel remembered something she once told him.
Before they officially dated, Maya had worked briefly on a confidential renovation for an unnamed wealthy client.
Had that client been Thomas?
"Did my mother see her?"
"I don't know."
"Did Gerald?"
Samuel's face tightened.
"Yes."
Daniel and Nora exchanged a glance.
"You're certain?"
"They argued in the hallway."
"About what?"
"I heard Maya say, 'If you change it after he's gone, I'll tell Daniel.'"
Daniel's heartbeat became audible in his ears.
"What did Pike say?"
"I didn't hear."
"Why didn't you ever tell me?"
Samuel's shame showed immediately.
"I convinced myself it wasn't my business."
Daniel looked away.
Another witness who had chosen silence.
Different dining room.
Same cowardice.
Samuel whispered, "I'm sorry."
Daniel ended the call after obtaining his attorney's information.
For several minutes Daniel said nothing.
Nora finally spoke.
"Maya knew about the trust."
"She knew somebody intended to alter it."
"Probably."
"Why wouldn't she tell me?"
"Maybe she planned to."
Daniel thought of the months after Thomas died.
Maya had discovered she was pregnant six weeks later.
She had been unusually anxious during that time.
Daniel had assumed pregnancy and Margaret's hostility were responsible.
Maybe there had been more.
Lily wandered into the room carrying crayons.
Daniel immediately closed the documents.
She climbed onto his lap.
"Blue."
She handed him a blue crayon.
Daniel smiled faintly.
"Good choice."
"Daddy sad?"
"A little."
She patted his cheek.
"Better."
His throat tightened.
"Working on it."
That evening the anonymous number messaged again.
LAST WARNING. STOP THE AUDIT.
Daniel handed the phone to Nora.
"Still no response?"
"Still no response."
Thirty minutes later, another image arrived.
This time not the rabbit.
A scanned document.
Daniel enlarged it.
It appeared to be a paternity laboratory report.
His name.
Lily's name.
Probability of paternity:
0.00%.
Daniel stopped.
Nora took the phone.
"Don't react."
He couldn't speak.
He knew Lily was his.
He had been there through Maya's pregnancy.
He had never questioned her.
But numbers on official paper possessed a cruel authority.
The anonymous sender added one line.
YOUR MOTHER WAS RIGHT.
Daniel stared at Lily sleeping on the couch.
Nora said, "This proves nothing."
"It has a laboratory name."
"We verify it."
"What if—"
"Daniel."
He looked at her.
"Do not let an anonymous document decide who your daughter is."
Daniel breathed slowly.
"She's my daughter regardless."
"Good."
Nora studied the report.
Then frowned.
"What?"
"The collection date."
Daniel looked.
The test supposedly had been conducted fifteen months earlier.
"When Lily was ten months old."
"I never authorized one."
"Exactly."
Daniel's anger returned.
"If it's real, who submitted her DNA?"
Nora pointed at the bottom.
The requesting party was listed only as trustee representative.
Gerald Pike.
Daniel stood.
Pike had secretly obtained Lily's genetic material.
Or fabricated a report claiming he had.
Either possibility was terrifying.
Then Nora noticed something else.
"The lab closed three years ago."
Daniel looked at her.
"Before Lily was born."
Nora turned the screen toward him.
"So this report isn't evidence that you're not Lily's father."
She tapped the dead laboratory's name.
May you like
"It's evidence somebody forged a paternity test."
---
