Chapter 7: The Woman Who Signed My Life Away
Dr. Elaine Mercer stood beneath the cemetery lights as if she had arrived for a dinner reservation instead of a confrontation.
She wasn't alone.
Four men stepped out behind her.
Black suits.
No hospital badges.
No police insignia.
Just the kind of expensive silence that meant someone had paid very well for their loyalty.
Dorian moved in front of me.
“Stay behind me.””
Mercer smiled.
“You've always been predictable, Dorian.””
His shoulders went rigid.
“You should have stayed at the hospital.””
“And you should have signed the divorce papers this morning.””
I felt something cold move through my chest.
“You knew about the divorce?””
Mercer looked at me.
“I knew about everything.””
Dorian's voice was dangerously quiet.
“Who hired you?””
“No one hired me.””
“Then who?””
She smiled again.
“You're still asking the wrong question.””
Lucas stepped beside Dorian.
Mercer's smile vanished.
For the first time, genuine fear crossed her face.
“Lucas.””
“You should have stayed away from her.””
“You're supposed to be dead.””
“So are a lot of people who know too much.””
Mercer looked at me.
“You have no idea what you're carrying.””
I placed a hand over my stomach.
“My child.””
“No.””
Her voice was almost gentle.
“A genetic asset.””
Dorian took one step forward.
“You will not call my child that.””
Mercer laughed softly.
“Your child?””
She looked between us.
“That's the part you've misunderstood.””
Dorian's eyes narrowed.
“Explain.””
“The embryo was engineered from your genetic material.””
“And Alina's.””
“Yes.””
“So it is ours.””
Mercer shook her head.
“Biologically, perhaps.””
Her eyes settled on me.
“But legally?””
She reached into her coat and pulled out a document.
“That's another matter.””
Dorian lunged forward.
One of the men blocked him.
The cemetery exploded into movement.
Dorian struck the man across the jaw.
Lucas grabbed another.
Mara pulled me toward the mausoleum.
“Move!””
I stumbled after her.
A gunshot cracked through the cemetery.
Stone exploded beside my head.
I screamed.
Dorian shouted my name.
“ALINA!””
“I’m here!””
“Get down!””
Mara dragged me behind a stone wall.
My heart hammered.
Another shot.
Then another.
Dorian and Lucas moved between the trees, using the graves as cover.
Mercer didn't run.
She stood calmly behind the SUVs.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then she called out.
“Alina!””
I looked over the wall.
“You want answers?””
I didn't respond.
“I can give them to you.””
Dorian shouted, “Don't listen to her!””
Mercer smiled.
“She'll listen.””
Then she held up the document.
“Because this is the consent form that authorizes the transfer of custody.””
My stomach dropped.
“What custody?””
“Your child.””
Dorian fired a warning shot into the ground near her feet.
Mercer flinched.
“You don't have custody rights yet,” she called.
“Because you aren't legally divorced.””
I stared at Dorian.
He looked at me.
Mercer continued.
“The divorce agreement contains a temporary custody clause.””
Dorian's expression changed.
I remembered the papers on the lawyer's desk.
I had barely read the final pages.
I trusted my attorney.
I trusted the process.
I trusted that the marriage ending meant only one thing.
An ending.
Mercer laughed.
“Your divorce was designed to create a legal vulnerability.””
Dorian shouted, “You're lying.””
“Am I?””
She tossed a folder onto the ground.
It landed several feet from us.
“Open it.””
Dorian didn't move.
Mercer looked at me.
“Your lawyer received those documents from a court-approved filing service.””
I whispered,
“My lawyer?””
“Paid by an offshore account.””
Dorian's face darkened.
“Which account?””
Mercer smiled.
“Your father's.””
Silence.
Dorian looked stunned.
“My father is dead.””
“His money isn't.””
A siren sounded in the distance.
Police.
Mercer glanced toward the road.
“We're out of time.””
She turned to leave.
I stepped out from behind the wall.
“Wait.””
Dorian grabbed my wrist.
“Alina, no.””
I pulled free.
“Who signed my medical consent?””
Mercer stopped.
She slowly turned.
“Finally.””
She looked at me.
“That's the question you should have asked first.””
“Who?””
She smiled.
“You did.””
“No.””
“Yes.””
She pulled out her phone.
A video appeared on the screen.
It showed me sitting in a medical office.
Three months earlier.
I stared at myself.
My face looked tired.
Drugged.
A man stood behind me.
Adrian.
He placed a pen in my hand.
I watched myself sign a document.
My signature.
My handwriting.
My face.
But I had no memory of it.
Dorian looked at the screen.
“What did you do to her?””
Mercer answered calmly.
“Nothing she wasn't already going to forget.””
I felt sick.
“Why?””
“Because your body was selected.””
“For what?””
Mercer hesitated.
Then she said,
“Because your mother was the first successful carrier.””
My breath stopped.
“My mother?””
Mercer nodded.
“Your mother carried a child with the same genetic marker.””
Lucas stepped forward.
“She's lying.””
Mercer looked at him.
“Am I?””
She tapped her phone.
Another image appeared.
A newborn baby.
Then a medical record.
The mother's name was *Evelyn Cross*.
The father's name was *Richard Cross*.
And under child was a name I had never seen.
*Lucas Cross.*
Dorian stared.
“That doesn't prove anything.””
Mercer smiled.
“Look at the next page.””
He did.
His face went white.
A genetic analysis showed Lucas had been born with the same marker.
But the report had been marked:
*UNSTABLE — TERMINATE PROGRAM.*
Dorian looked at Lucas.
“You were the first.””
Lucas nodded.
“And they almost killed me.””
Mercer stepped backward.
“Lucas survived because Richard lost his nerve.””
She looked at Dorian.
“Your father hid him.””
“Then why did he tell everyone Lucas was dead?””
“Because the program's investors wanted him.””
I stared at Mercer.
“And my mother?””
Mercer said nothing.
That silence told me enough.
I felt tears burning my eyes.
“What happened to her?””
Mercer lowered her phone.
“She tried to expose us.””
“Us?””
“The foundation.””
“Who runs it?””
Mercer smiled.
“You already know.””
I shook my head.
“No.””
She looked at Dorian.
“Don't you?””
Dorian's expression was frozen.
Then Mercer said one name.
“Your mother-in-law.””
My breath caught.
“Evelyn?””
Mercer nodded.
“She never died.””
The world seemed to disappear.
I looked at Dorian.
He was staring at Mercer as if she had spoken in another language.
“My mother died eight years ago,” he said.
“No.””
Mercer smiled.
“She disappeared.””
A siren screamed closer.
Mercer stepped into the SUV.
“Midnight.””
She looked at me.
“Mecser Tower.””
Then she pointed at Dorian.
“Come alone.””
The SUV pulled away.
Police cars entered the cemetery.
Dorian stood motionless.
I turned toward him.
“Your mother is alive.””
He didn't answer.
Lucas looked toward the road.
“She wants us at Mercer Tower.””
Dorian finally spoke.
“No.””
He turned toward me.
“We're not going.””
“Then what?””
“We find Evelyn first.””
I looked at him.
“How?””
His phone rang.
Noah.
Dorian answered.
“Tell me.””
Noah sounded shaken.
“Sir, we traced the offshore account.””
“And?””
“It belongs to a trust.””
“Whose?””
Noah paused.
Then said,
“Alina's.””
My blood ran cold.
“What?””
Dorian looked at me.
Noah continued.
“The trust was established twenty years ago.””
“Who created it?””
A pause.
“Evelyn Cross.””
Then Noah said the words that made my knees buckle.
“And sir… there are monthly payments going into it.””
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“From where?””
“Mercer Biomedical.””
