Chapter 7 - Vivian’s Version of MercyVivian requested another meeting.
This time, she refused to speak through glass.
Her attorney arranged a secured interview room with Detective Grant present. Daniel and Elena sat across from her.
Vivian looked at Elena’s stomach before meeting her eyes.
“How is the baby?”
“You lost the right to ask,” Elena said.
Vivian accepted the answer without visible emotion.
Daniel placed Elizabeth’s image on the table.
“You knew about her.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After I became pregnant with you.”
“My father had a child locked in laboratories, and you stayed?”
Vivian’s face tightened.
“I was twenty-eight. Michael controlled every account, every doctor, and every person around me. He said Elizabeth was dangerous.”
“She was a child.”
“He showed me footage of her attacking staff.”
“After they experimented on her.”
“I did not know that then.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“You erased her.”
“Michael erased her.”
“You remained his wife.”
Vivian’s control cracked.
“And then I helped him disappear.”
The room became still.
Vivian admitted Michael’s boating accident was staged. She arranged the memorial and supported the legal declaration of death.
In exchange, Michael transferred operational control of the family holdings to her and promised never to contact Daniel.
“For twelve years, I believed he kept that promise.”
“When did he return?” Grant asked.
“Six years ago. He sent Elena’s photograph.”
Vivian initially refused to cooperate.
Then Michael showed her evidence that Elizabeth was alive and claimed she intended to reclaim the Mercer companies by exposing the original research.
He told Vivian that Daniel needed to marry Elena because their child could stabilize the marker and prevent Elizabeth’s worsening condition.
“What condition?” Elena asked.
Vivian shook her head.
“He never explained. He said Elizabeth was dying.”
“Then why make me appear unstable?”
“Because Michael wanted control of the baby after birth.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You were trying to obtain guardianship before he could?”
“Yes.”
“By drugging Elena?”
“I needed records showing she was incapable.”
Elena’s voice sharpened.
“You did not save me. You built another cage.”
Vivian looked at her with something close to regret.
“I believed Daniel would keep the child away from Michael if he controlled the trust.”
“Then why tell him I was dangerous?”
“Because he loves you more than he fears his father.”
Daniel stood.
“You tried to make me doubt my wife so I would trust you.”
“I needed you dependent on someone Michael could not predict.”
“You mean you.”
“Yes.”
Vivian’s honesty was monstrous because she still viewed every relationship as a mechanism.
She insisted she never intended to harm the baby. The extra tablets crushed into the cloudy water were meant to intensify Elena’s confusion quickly before Daniel returned.
“You thought I would remain in Seattle.”
“Michael had access to your itinerary.”
“Who sent the message asking whether she drank the full dose?”
Vivian’s hands became still.
“Elizabeth.”
Elena looked at the photograph.
“Why would she help him?”
“She doesn’t.”
“Then why order the drugging?”
Vivian’s voice dropped.
“Because Elizabeth believes the baby should never be born.”
Daniel felt cold.
“She wants to kill our daughter?”
“She believes Lily’s birth will allow Michael to activate something called the Continuity Vault.”
No one had seen that phrase before.
Vivian claimed Elizabeth contacted her separately, using the black-icon phone. She warned that Michael arranged Daniel and Elena’s marriage to create a child carrying two biological markers.
Michael wanted Lily alive.
Elizabeth wanted the pregnancy stopped.
Vivian chose a third path: discredit Elena, gain guardianship, and hide the baby after birth.
Every path treated Elena and Lily as property.
“What is inside the vault?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know.”
Vivian looked toward Elena.
“But your biological mother did.”
Elena’s throat tightened.
“You knew her?”
“Her name was Nora Vale. She worked with Michael during the original trial. She disappeared after placing you for adoption.”
“Is she alive?”
Vivian’s expression became unreadable.
“She was three months ago.”
Daniel slammed one hand against the table.
“Where?”
“Michael’s property in Vermont.”
Detective Grant requested the address.
Vivian provided coordinates for an old Mercer estate officially sold years earlier.
Before the meeting ended, she reached toward Elena.
The guard stopped her.
Vivian whispered:
“You think I am the monster because I stood in the kitchen. When you meet Michael, you will understand I was the only person trying to keep Lily from becoming E-18.”
Elena stood.
“You called me unstable while holding drugged water to my lips.”
“Yes.”
“That is who you are, no matter who frightened you first.”
Vivian lowered her hand.
For the first time, shame reached her face.
That evening, federal agents traveled toward the Vermont estate.
They found the main house empty.
In a locked bedroom, however, they discovered recent photographs of Elena, Daniel, and the nursery.
One image showed Daniel entering the home with white roses.
It had been taken from inside the living room before he opened the front door.
May you like
Someone had been present during the kitchen confrontation.
👉 A hidden observer photographed Daniel’s arrival from inside the house, meaning Vivian’s unknown partner may have watched him record the entire crime without intervening.
