Chapter 19
I read the note three times.
Tessa was never the only Halloway child.
The words did not become clearer.
Only heavier.
Jake stood beside me in the FBI office, one hand on my shoulder.
Vivian paced near the window.
Agent Morales watched my face carefully.
“I don’t have a sibling,” I said.
My voice sounded distant.
“I was an only child.”
Morales nodded.
“That is what your official records show.”
“Then what is this? Another lie? Another trap?”
“Possibly.”
But she did not believe that.
I could see it.
Neither did Vivian.
Because my father’s world had been built from secrets, and every time I thought we had reached the bottom, another floor collapsed.
Dr. Mercer was missing.
Maybe kidnapped.
Maybe running.
Maybe dead.
The note could have been planted.
Or it could have been her last attempt to tell me something.
I thought of every therapy session again.
Dr. Mercer asking about loneliness.
About growing up without siblings.
About whether I ever felt like part of me was missing.
At the time, it sounded clinical.
Now it sounded like fishing near a locked door.
Vivian pulled the old H.O.P.E. trust documents.
There were references to “secondary beneficiary protections.”
The name was redacted in the copies.
My father had hidden someone.
Maybe from Jonathan Finch.
Maybe from me.
My anger returned.
Not hot.
Not explosive.
Cold.
Clean.
“Find the original,” I said.
Vivian nodded.
“We’re already moving.”
Uncle Robert came over that evening.
He looked wrecked.
I stood in the living room with the note in my hand.
“Did you know?”
His face told me before his mouth did.
He did not know everything.
But he knew something.
“Tessa—”
“No. Not this time. No soft introductions. No protecting me. Did I have a sibling?”
He sat down.
Or collapsed.
“I don’t know.”
I almost screamed.
He raised a trembling hand.
“I know your mother lost a baby before you were born.”
I froze.
“A miscarriage?”
“That’s what we were told.”
“By who?”
“Your father.”
Of course.
Jake stood behind me silently.
Letting me lead.
Uncle Robert continued.
“It happened during the period after your mother broke the engagement with Jonathan. She disappeared for months. When she returned, she was different. Your father said she had been recovering.”
My voice shook.
“Recovering from what?”
“I never asked enough.”
That sentence was becoming the anthem of my family.
I never asked enough.
I sat across from him.
“Could the baby have lived?”
Uncle Robert closed his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
I thought of Dr. Mercer.
Missing.
Blood in the car.
The note.
Tessa was never the only Halloway child.
“What if my mother had a child before me?” I whispered.
Jake’s hand tightened on my shoulder.
“What if Jonathan was the father?”
No one answered.
Because the possibility was too ugly.
Too possible.
If my mother had a child with Jonathan Finch before marrying my father, that child could be tied to both families.
Halloway.
Finch.
A living secret.
A threat to inheritances, trusts, revenge, and power.
Agent Morales called before midnight.
They found Dr. Mercer.
Alive.
Barely.
She had been dumped near an abandoned clinic outside the city.
Beaten.
Dehydrated.
But conscious enough to say one name.
Naomi.
We reached the hospital before dawn.
Dr. Mercer lay behind glass, guarded by two agents.
I did not know if I wanted her alive until I saw her.
Then I knew.
I wanted answers from a living woman.
Morales came out.
“She’s asking for you.”
Jake said, “No.”
I said, “Yes.”
He looked at me.
I touched his face.
“I need to.”
Inside, Dr. Mercer looked nothing like the calm therapist I remembered.
Her face was bruised.
Her lips cracked.
Her voice barely a whisper.
“Tessa.”
I stood at the foot of her bed.
“Did you know who I was?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt even though I expected it.
“Did you give Sarah my records?”
“I gave Sarah access to controlled notes because I thought she was still working under the trust protocol.”
“What does that mean?”
Dr. Mercer cried silently.
“I thought Sarah was protecting you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“She almost got us killed.”
“I know.”
“Who is Naomi?”
Dr. Mercer closed her eyes.
“Your sister.”
My knees almost gave out.
May you like
Jake caught me.
Dr. Mercer whispered, “Your mother’s first daughter. Jonathan Finch’s child.”
