Chapter 10 - Rebecca’s part in the lie
Rebecca Mercer requested a private meeting with Claire.
Claire refused private.
Maren attended.
Rebecca accepted.
“I need to tell you everything before Daniel decides I’m the next person to blame.”
Claire looked at her.
“You helped him blame me.”
“I know.”
Rebecca had spent years defending Daniel because she believed he carried the family after Natalie died.
He raised Ava.
Kept Mercer Ridge alive.
Supported Richard through cancer.
Paid Rebecca’s mortgage for six months after her divorce.
Every favor became emotional debt.
“When Daniel told me you were secretly moving money around, I believed him.”
Claire frowned.
“He told you I was moving money?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly?”
“That you found a way into Ava’s trust accounts.”
The inversion was almost impressive.
Daniel accused Claire of the thing he was doing.
Rebecca continued:
“He said you were meeting Owen behind his back.”
“That part was true.”
“I thought you two were planning something.”
“We were investigating missing money.”
“I know now.”
“Why coach Ava?”
Rebecca cried.
“Daniel said if you left before Monday, he could separate marital issues from the audit.”
“You knew about Monday.”
“Yes.”
“And you still whispered to a sixteen-year-old to ‘not back down.’”
Rebecca nodded.
“I wanted you gone.”
The direct admission was almost a relief.
“Why?”
“I thought you were trying to take Natalie’s place.”
Claire stared.
“After six years?”
Rebecca looked ashamed.
“Daniel told us you wanted Natalie’s bracelet because you wanted Ava to see you as her real mother.”
Claire almost laughed.
Daniel had given her the bracelet.
“He gave it to me on our wedding day.”
Rebecca stopped.
“What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“What did Daniel tell you?”
“That you found it in Natalie’s jewelry and started wearing it.”
Claire felt the scope of his storytelling widen.
Different lies for different people.
To Ava:
Claire wants your mother’s money.
To Rebecca:
Claire wants your mother’s place.
To auditors:
Claire controls the books.
To Claire:
Evan made mistakes.
Daniel did not need one consistent story.
Only one tailored to each audience.
Rebecca wiped her eyes.
“There’s something else.”
Claire waited.
“The barbecue was supposed to happen last weekend.”
“What?”
“Daniel wanted a family confrontation before the audit.”
Ava refused the first time.
“He told her Claire needed to understand boundaries.”
Rebecca helped persuade her.
This made the accidental lemonade bump convenient rather than planned.
Ava had been primed to interpret any contact as proof.
Daniel used what happened.
He had not staged the physical bump.
He had staged the meaning around it.
That distinction mattered.
Then Rebecca revealed why Daniel seemed so desperate.
Evan disappeared three days earlier.
Claire stared.
“What?”
“He hasn’t been answering Daniel.”
“Where is he?”
“No one knows.”
“And Daniel didn’t tell police?”
“He said Evan went to Nevada.”
Claire looked at Maren.
Evan vanished shortly before the audit.
Shortly after Daniel reopened Natalie’s files.
And Daniel immediately began constructing a story against Claire.
Maybe he believed Evan was about to expose him.
Or run.
Rebecca handed over a spare phone.
“Daniel gave me this.”
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“He wanted me to keep it out of the house.”
Messages between Daniel and Evan.
The final exchange:
DANIEL: Owen copied something.
EVAN: Then handle Claire.
DANIEL: She doesn’t know enough.
EVAN: Natalie knew less and look what happened.
Claire felt cold.
Daniel:
Don’t ever write that again.
Evan:
Then stop pretending I did this alone.
The conversation ended.
Maren immediately contacted Detective Hayes.
Rebecca looked sick.
“I didn’t know what it meant.”
Claire replied:
“You knew enough to hide the phone.”
Rebecca nodded.
Again.
Responsibility.
Not mastermind.
Still participant.
The device contained one more conversation.
Daniel:
Where are you?
Evan:
Fixing the only thing Dad should have fixed nine years ago.
Daniel:
Stay away from Voss.
Evan:
Too late.
Mark Voss.
The mechanic who interfered with Natalie’s SUV.
Detective Hayes called Pueblo police.
Mark’s shop was closed.
His apartment empty.
His phone off.
Security footage from the shop two nights earlier showed Evan entering.
He stayed seventeen minutes.
Then both men left separately.
May you like
Neither had been seen since.
👉 Rebecca exposed Daniel’s campaign of different lies for different family members—and a hidden phone showed Evan vanished after meeting the mechanic who sabotaged Natalie’s SUV nine years earlier.
