Chapter 4 - What Anna Knew
Richard reached for the recorder.
Lila slapped his hand away.
"Don't."
He looked at her.
For the first time, something like shame crossed his face.
The tape continued.
Richard:
"You don't understand what that would do."
Anna:
"I understand exactly."
"You would destroy the company."
"No. You did that when you decided sick people were cheaper than truth."
Jonathan's face tightened.
Lila watched him.
He had never heard anyone speak to a Mercer that way.
Neither had she.
Anna continued.
"Jonathan was there that night."
Jonathan's head snapped up.
Richard's hand closed around the edge of the table.
Lila whispered, "What night?"
The tape clicked.
End.
"No." Lila hit rewind.
Nothing else.
Jonathan turned on Richard.
"What did she mean?"
Richard looked toward the window.
"You were young."
"What night?"
"The containment failure."
Jonathan went still.
A fragment moved behind his eyes.
Red light.
Concrete.
A siren.
A woman's hand on his shoulder.
He gripped the table.
"I visited Plant Seven during management rotation."
Richard said nothing.
"I got sick."
"You got dehydrated."
Jonathan laughed once.
"That was the story."
Lila opened Anna's old work folder.
Payroll sheets.
Safety complaints.
A photocopied incident log.
One line circled in blue ink.
J.M. DOWN - SERVICE GATE 4.
Jonathan stared.
"That's me."
Lila looked at Richard.
"My mother found him."
Richard closed his eyes.
"Yes."
"Did she call the ambulance?"
"Yes."
Jonathan's breathing changed.
Another memory.
A woman kneeling beside him.
"Stay awake."
He whispered, "Anna."
Lila's eyes filled.
She hated that.
Not because she was sad.
Because the past was stealing her balance faster than she could recover.
Richard sat.
"Your father handled it."
Jonathan looked at him.
"Handled what?"
"Your exposure."
"I was exposed."
"Minor."
"Enough to collapse."
Richard's mouth tightened.
Jonathan reached for the BM-17 folder.
"Was I in the program?"
Richard did not answer.
"Was I?"
"Yes."
The word landed quietly.
Jonathan looked away.
Lila opened another envelope.
Old photo.
Jonathan on a stretcher.
Twenty-four years old.
Oxygen mask.
Anna beside him.
Her hand still on his arm.
On the back, Anna had written:
HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HIS FATHER DID.
Jonathan read it.
His face emptied.
"What did he do?"
Richard stood.
"William protected you."
"From what?"
"From consequences."
Lila snapped.
"By giving them to everyone else?"
Richard looked at her.
Too long.
Then said:
"Your mother should have taken the settlement."
Lila stepped toward him.
"And if she had?"
"Your life would have been easier."
"She would have been silent."
"Yes."
The admission made Jonathan move.
He grabbed Richard by the front of his coat.
"Get out."
Richard did not resist.
"You still don't know the worst part."
Jonathan's grip tightened.
"Try me."
Richard looked at Lila.
"Anna was not just a subcontractor."
Lila froze.
"What does that mean?"
Richard said:
May you like
"She was family."
CUT.
