Chapter 7 - THE LAWYER
The next morning I met Daniel Mercer, the attorney who had handled my father’s estate and later some of Glen’s business paperwork.
I picked him because he knew our family history and because he was discreet.
I did not expect his expression to change from concern to outright alarm halfway through my explanation.
He read the Northlake documents twice.
Then asked, “Did you knowingly consent to transfer your embryo to Clara Bennett?”
“No.”
“Did you ever discuss her acting as a gestational carrier?”
“Never.”
He leaned back and pressed two fingers to his forehead.
“This is not just a marriage problem.”
“I know.”
“Did Glen have access to your email? Phone? Signature accounts?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have reason to believe he bundled these consents into other documents?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I blinked. “Good?”
“Good for proof, not for your life.”
I nodded.
He flipped through the billing statements again.
Then frowned.
“These payments didn’t only come from your household account.”
He turned one page toward me.
A wire transfer receipt.
Source account:
Ariel Carter Trust – Educational Reserve Subaccount.
I stared.
Then read it again.
“Why would my daughter’s trust pay a fertility clinic?”
“It shouldn’t,” Daniel said.
A roaring started in my ears.
My father had set up that trust for Ariel before he died. Small, but protected. Education, health, housing support later.
Untouchable for day-to-day spending unless both parents approved.
I never approved.
Daniel pulled another document.
Then another.
By the time he was done, my hands were ice cold.
Three transfers had been moved out of Ariel’s trust over two months.
Each one had required two-factor confirmation.
One code sent to my phone.
One to Glen’s.
He had my phone most nights while I was putting Ariel to bed, “charging it in the office” if the battery ran low.
I closed my eyes.
Of course he did.
Daniel spoke carefully.
“Rachel, if these records hold up, we are looking at marital fraud, possible forgery, unauthorized use of trust funds, and very significant custody implications.”
I opened my eyes again.
“I want everything.”
He held my gaze.
“Everything legal?”
“Yes.”
A faint grimness touched his mouth.
“Good answer.”
Then he said, “There’s more.”
He turned to the back of the file and pulled out a request form from Northlake.
Not signed by me.
Signed by Glen.
Additional note:
Maintain confidentiality from spouse until positive viability confirmed.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
The room went so quiet I could hear Daniel’s office clock ticking.
“They weren’t just hiding it,” I said.
“No.”
“They were waiting to tell me only if it worked.”
“Yes.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“So if Clara miscarried, I would never have known my embryo had been in her body at all.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Then he asked the question that changed my strategy.
“Rachel, do you want them punished quietly, or do you want them exposed where they’ve been performing innocence?”
I thought of the party.
Of Clara slapping Ariel.
Of Glen turning his phone facedown.
May you like
Of my daughter’s trust paying for my betrayal.
And I said, “I want them destroyed by exactly what they thought they had hidden.”
