Chapter 8 - Adam
Adam Mercer was not dead.
Sometimes Rachel wished the story were simpler enough that he was.
He lived in Arizona.
Sent birthday texts late.
Paid child support irregularly.
Saw Sophie twice after the divorce.
Then stopped.
Rachel had never told Sophie he was a monster.
He wasn't.
He was weak in ways children experience as disappearance.
Margaret had found him.
Bank transfers showed three payments.
$1,500.
$2,000.
$2,000.
Daniel stared at the screenshots.
"What did she buy?"
Rachel called Adam.
He answered after five rings.
"Rach?"
"Why is my mother-in-law paying you?"
Silence.
Then:
"Okay."
Rachel's hand tightened.
"Okay what?"
"I knew this would happen."
"What did she pay you for?"
"Travel."
"Where?"
"Chicago."
Rachel went cold.
"You were here?"
"Twice."
"When?"
"Last fall. February."
Rachel thought of Sophie.
No.
"Did you see her?"
"No."
"Why?"
Adam sighed.
"Margaret wanted me to petition for a formal parenting schedule."
Rachel laughed once.
"You needed to be paid to see your daughter?"
"No."
"Then why did she pay you?"
"Lawyer consult. Flight. Hotel."
"What did she want?"
Adam took too long.
"She thought if I became active again, you wouldn't move Sophie fully into Daniel's family."
Rachel closed her eyes.
Margaret again.
Separating attachments.
Creating competing loyalties.
"Did you file?"
"No."
"Why not?"
Adam's voice dropped.
"I saw Sophie outside school."
Rachel stopped breathing.
"What?"
"I sat in the rental car."
"You watched her."
"Yes."
"And didn't get out."
"No."
"Why?"
"She looked happy."
Rachel covered her mouth.
Adam continued.
"She was holding Lily's hand."
Of course.
Even Adam had seen the attachment Margaret hated.
"I left."
"Then why take the second payment?"
He had no good answer.
Money.
Weakness.
Habit.
Rachel said, "Do not contact Sophie until we discuss this with her therapist."
"I understand."
"No. You don't get credit for understanding after the fact."
He accepted that.
Daniel listened to the entire call.
Then said, "My mother tried to reactivate Sophie's father to destabilize our house."
"Yes."
"And I was worried you were manipulating my daughter."
Rachel looked at him.
"Yes."
That sentence cost him something.
Good.
Margaret's campaign became clearer.
She had no master legal scheme.
No trust.
No inheritance.
She wanted Daniel and Lily back in the emotional arrangement that existed after Claire died.
Margaret central.
Daniel dependent.
Lily hers to protect.
Rachel threatened that.
Sophie threatened it more because Lily loved her naturally.
The girls were building family without asking Margaret's permission.
So Margaret made attachment look dangerous.
Then Adam sent one final file.
An email from Margaret.
If Rachel becomes frightened about Sophie losing Adam completely, she may agree the households should remain separate.
Rachel stared.
Daniel whispered, "She wanted you to choose Sophie over me."
Rachel looked at him.
"Would that have made you leave?"
He thought.
"Before?"
"Yes."
Daniel looked ashamed.
"Maybe."
The honesty hurt.
Rachel nodded.
"That's why it would have worked."
That evening Sophie asked whether she could see Daniel.
Rachel said yes.
They met at a park.
Sophie sat on a swing.
Daniel stood nearby.
She asked, "Did Grandma pay my dad?"
Daniel did not lie.
"She helped him come to Chicago."
"Why didn't he see me?"
"I don't know."
Sophie stared at her shoes.
Then whispered, "Maybe he didn't want to."
Daniel sat on the ground.
Not too close.
"Maybe."
He did not rescue Adam.
Sophie looked at him.
"Do you want to?"
"What?"
"See me."
Daniel's eyes filled.
"Yes."
She nodded.
"Okay."
Then she pushed the swing with her feet.
Five minutes later she asked him to push.
That night, Margaret left Daniel a voicemail.
Not crying.
Angry.
"If Rachel turns Sophie against Adam too, don't say I didn't warn you."
Daniel deleted it.
Then blocked her number.
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