Chapter 5
Dr. Evelyn Shaw still remembered the night Bennett was born.
She met me at one of our private clinics before sunrise.
No staff except people I trusted.
I showed her Silas’s messages.
She read them twice.
Then said:
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
Evelyn opened an old cabinet.
Removed a sealed envelope.
I recognized Lila’s handwriting.
FOR SELENE, IF THEY EVER COME FOR HIM.
My hands went cold.
“You had this?”
“She made me promise not to give it to you unless someone tried to use Bennett’s origin.”
I almost laughed.
Apparently everyone in my life had a different definition of protecting me through secrecy.
I opened it.
One page.
Selene,
If you are reading this, Bennett’s father is no longer only my problem.
His name is Adrian Mercer.
I stopped.
Mercer.
The Mercer family controlled half the private waterfront security business north of New York.
Old allies.
Occasional rivals.
Adrian Mercer had died four years ago.
Which meant—
I kept reading.
Adrian and I were together privately. He wanted to leave his family obligations. His father found out before he could.
Do not let them turn Bennett into a bridge between families.
My breathing slowed.
Adrian Mercer.
Only son of Elias Mercer.
That made Bennett Elias’s grandson.
And potentially the last male descendant of Adrian’s branch.
The letter continued.
Silas knows because Adrian asked him for help.
I looked up.
There it was.
Silas had not accidentally learned the adoption.
He had been part of the original secret.
Maybe even before me.
Lila wrote:
Silas promised he would never tell either family unless Bennett’s safety required it.
Safety.
The favorite word.
I folded the letter.
Evelyn whispered:
“If Silas exposes Lila’s name, Mercer will know.”
Exactly.
This was larger than succession inside Caruso.
Silas wanted the Mercers involved.
Why?
Because a three-year-old tied by blood to two powerful families creates something old men adore.
A bridge.
A bargaining chip.
A reason to reopen agreements no living parent requested.
I looked toward Evelyn.
“He isn’t trying to remove Bennett.”
She frowned.
“No.”
May you like
I stood.
“He’s trying to make Bennett valuable enough that everyone starts fighting over him.”
