Chapter 7
The rain seemed to disappear.
The police.
The ruined factory.
The pain in my body.
Everything faded except Richard’s words.
“My father was your brother?”
Richard nodded.
Ethan stared between us.
“No.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Richard.”
“You should have told her.”
“You promised me you never would.”
“That promise almost got her killed.”
I felt as if someone had punched me.
I looked at Ethan.
Then Richard.
Then my mother.
“Someone start talking.”
Nobody did.
I screamed.
“Now!”
Richard stepped closer.
“Your father was Thomas Carter.”
The name meant nothing to me.
“Margaret’s brother?”
“No. Mine.”
“Why have I never heard of him?”
“Because my family erased him.”
Ethan whispered, “Dad, you told us you were an only child.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
Richard looked toward the burned factory.
“Because Thomas discovered what Margaret and Victor were doing.”
My mother began shaking.
I held her arm.
“What were they doing?”
Richard’s expression darkened.
“Stealing experimental medical equipment and selling it through private channels.”
Ethan frowned.
“That happened before Carter Medical became big.”
“Yes.”
“How much money?”
“It wasn’t about the money.”
“Then what?”
“Some of the equipment had not been approved for human testing.”
My stomach turned.
“What did they do with it?”
Richard looked ashamed.
“Victor found private clinics willing to buy it.”
“Margaret knew?”
“She organized the payments.”
I thought of the woman who hosted charity galas and smiled beside hospital directors.
Margaret had spent decades presenting herself as Boston royalty.
“What did Thomas do?”
“He found invoices.”
My mother spoke quietly.
“He wanted to go to the police.”
Richard nodded.
“But Margaret threatened him.”
“With Emily?” Claire asked.
“With everyone.”
My mother looked at me.
“Your father changed his name after we got married.”
“You married a Carter?”
“Not legally under that name.”
I felt sick.
“Then Ethan and I…”
Ethan looked horrified.
Richard answered immediately.
“You are distant first cousins by blood.”
The words hit hard.
“Distant?”
“My father and Thomas were half brothers,” Richard said. “You and Ethan share less family connection than it sounds, but yes, there is a biological relation.”
I sat down on a piece of concrete.
I couldn’t process it.
“My whole marriage is built on lies.”
Ethan crouched beside me despite his injuries.
“I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
It was the first thing I had believed from him all night.
Richard looked at Harris, who had returned.
“We shouldn’t remain outside.”
Harris stared at Richard.
“You disappeared after calling us.”
“I was being followed.”
“You might also be wanted for questioning.”
“I expected that.”
“You can explain everything inside.”
Richard didn’t resist.
We moved into what remained of the factory.
Agents had opened the bunker entrance.
Concrete stairs led underground.
My mother froze at the top.
“I can’t.”
I held her hand.
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes.”
She looked at Sophie, who had just arrived with another detective despite being ordered to stay at the hospital.
“I do.”
Sophie saw Richard.
Her face hardened.
“You.”
Richard lowered his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where is my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told Claire she was downstairs.”
Richard looked toward the bunker.
“Twenty-nine years ago, yes.”
Sophie stopped breathing.
“You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
She hit him.
Hard.
The sound echoed through the building.
Nobody stopped her.
“You left her here?”
“No.”
“Then where is she?”
“I helped her escape.”
Sophie stared at him.
“What?”
Richard continued.
“Margaret found out Caroline was pregnant. She had Victor bring her here.”
“Kidnap her?”
“Yes.”
My mother covered her mouth.
Richard looked ashamed.
“I didn’t know until Thomas came to me.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“He knew where Caroline was?”
“He followed Victor.”
Sophie’s voice shook.
“What happened?”
“Thomas and I went into the bunker.”
Richard looked down the stairs.
“We found Caroline locked in a storage room.”
Sophie began crying silently.
“She was seven months pregnant.”
“What did Margaret want?”
“The baby.”
The words chilled all of us.
“Why?” I asked.
Richard looked at Ethan.
“Because Margaret had learned she couldn’t have another biological child.”
Ethan frowned.
“But Daniel—”
Richard’s face changed.
Exactly.
Daniel.
Sophie stepped backward.
“No.”
Richard nodded.
“Caroline gave birth six weeks later.”
Nobody spoke.
The answer was already there.
“Daniel,” Ethan whispered.
Richard closed his eyes.
“Daniel is Caroline’s son.”
Sophie made a broken sound.
“My brother?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Richard looked at Harris.
Harris’s face hardened.
“We don’t know.”
Ethan stared at his father.
“My brother is actually my half brother.”
“Yes.”
“And Margaret raised him as hers?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Caroline was kept hidden after the birth.”
Sophie moved toward Richard.
“What did you do to her?”
“I tried to get her out.”
“Tried?”
“I succeeded.”
“Then where is she?”
“Thomas drove Caroline out of Massachusetts.”
My mother suddenly looked confused.
“No.”
Richard turned to her.
“What?”
“Thomas never told me that.”
“He couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because he was supposed to drive her to Maine.”
My mother stared at him.
“He came home that night covered in blood.”
Richard went still.
“What?”
“He said there had been an accident.”
“What accident?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
Richard looked terrified now.
“Claire, when was this?”
“September 14, 1997.”
Richard whispered a curse.
“What?”
“That was the night Caroline disappeared permanently.”
Sophie’s voice broke.
“My mother escaped once and vanished again?”
Richard nodded slowly.
“It seems so.”
“Then Thomas was the last person with her.”
My mother shouted, “He didn’t kill her.”
“You don’t know that!”
“I knew my husband.”
“You didn’t even tell your daughter his real name!”
The accusation cut deep.
Mom looked away.
I stepped between them.
“Sophie.”
“No.”
She pointed at my mother.
“Everyone here had secrets. Everyone protected someone.”
She looked at me.
“And my mother paid for all of them.”
I couldn’t argue.
Harris raised his voice.
“We need to focus.”
He turned to Richard.
“Where is Daniel?”
Richard looked toward Ethan.
“Last I knew, he was at my house.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No. He left yesterday.”
“Where?”
“He said New York.”
“Did you speak with him?”
“Text.”
Harris pulled out his phone.
“We’ll locate him.”
Richard grabbed his arm.
“Do it quietly.”
“Why?”
“Because if Margaret realizes we know who Daniel really is, he becomes dangerous to her.”
I looked at Richard.
“She raised him.”
“She raised him because he was useful.”
“What does that mean?”
“The trust.”
Ethan suddenly understood.
“Oh God.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“The trust says Dad’s first legally recognized child receives controlling interest.”
“Yes.”
“I’m his first child.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Ethan stared at him.
“What?”
“You were born in 1990.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel was born in 1997.”
“Then I’m first.”
“Biologically, yes.”
“Dad, what are you saying?”
Richard looked at Sophie.
Then at us.
“Daniel isn’t my son.”
Silence.
Sophie frowned.
“You said Caroline was pregnant with your child.”
“I believed she was.”
“What changed?”
“A DNA test.”
The report.
The sibling test.
Ethan and the unknown sample.
99.998 percent relationship.
Ethan whispered, “Daniel is my brother.”
“Yes.”
“But not through you.”
“No.”
The realization moved slowly through the room.
If Daniel was Ethan’s biological sibling, but Richard was not Daniel’s father—
Then they shared a mother.
Ethan’s mother.
Margaret.
I stared at Richard.
“No.”
He nodded.
“Margaret was Daniel’s biological mother.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s not.”
“You said she couldn’t have another child.”
“She believed she couldn’t.”
Sophie looked furious.
“Then why was my mother pregnant?”
Richard’s face crumpled.
“She wasn’t carrying my child.”
“Whose?”
He looked at Margaret’s half brother, Victor, being treated across the room by paramedics.
My stomach twisted.
“No.”
Richard nodded.
“Victor assaulted Caroline.”
Sophie went completely still.
Harris swore under his breath.
Richard continued quickly.
“Caroline told me the baby was mine because she was terrified. She thought if Margaret believed the child belonged to me, Margaret would keep Victor away.”
Sophie looked like she might collapse.
“And Daniel?”
“After Caroline gave birth, Margaret switched the babies.”
Everyone stared at him.
“Babies?” I whispered.
Richard nodded.
“Margaret had secretly given birth two days earlier.”
“To Ethan’s brother.”
“Yes.”
“Then Caroline’s child…”
“Disappeared.”
Sophie screamed.
“My mother had a baby and you lost him?”
Richard cried openly.
“I didn’t know about the switch until years later.”
“What happened to Caroline’s baby?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?”
“Margaret arranged everything through Victor.”
Ethan stood against the wall.
He looked destroyed.
“Daniel is Mom’s biological child.”
“Yes.”
“And the sibling test compared Daniel to me.”
“Yes.”
“So why hide it?”
“Because Daniel believes Margaret adopted him.”
“What?”
“He knows Caroline gave birth to him.”
Sophie looked shocked.
“He thinks my mother was his biological mother?”
“Yes.”
“Then he thinks I’m his sister.”
“Yes.”
“Does he know I exist?”
Richard nodded.
“He found you six months ago.”
Sophie’s face went pale.
“What?”
“He has been watching you.”
Harris immediately stepped toward her.
“Did anyone contact you?”
“No.”
“Unknown calls? Messages?”
Her eyes changed.
“One.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What did it say?”
She pulled out her phone.
A message from an unknown number.
I finally found you.
Harris took it.
“Anything else?”
“A picture.”
She opened it.
It was a photograph of Sophie leaving work.
Taken from across the street.
My skin crawled.
“He was watching you,” Ethan whispered.
Sophie looked terrified.
“Why didn’t Richard warn me?”
“I tried.”
“That apartment visit?”
“Yes.”
Harris’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then his face tightened.
“Where?”
He ended the call.
“We located Daniel’s car.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Where?”
“Logan Airport parking garage.”
“He flew somewhere?”
“No.”
Harris looked at Richard.
“The vehicle has been there since yesterday morning.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Security footage shows Daniel entering the garage.”
“And?”
“He never entered the terminal.”
“Then where did he go?”
Harris looked at us.
“He got into Margaret’s SUV.”
The room became silent.
My mother whispered, “They’re together.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
“You just said she would consider him dangerous.”
“She would.”
“Then why would he go with her?”
Richard stared at the floor.
“Because Daniel doesn’t know the truth.”
Ethan looked at him.
“What does he believe?”
Richard’s answer came slowly.
“That Emily destroyed our family.”
I stared at him.
“Me?”
“Margaret has spent years telling Daniel that you manipulated Ethan, turned him against the family, and convinced me to cut Daniel out of the company.”
“I barely speak to Daniel.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“What does she want him to do?”
Richard didn’t answer.
My phone buzzed.
Every person turned.
Unknown number.
A video file.
I opened it.
Daniel appeared on screen.
His face was pale.
His eyes were red.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Emily.”
Ethan whispered, “Daniel.”
Daniel continued.
“My mother told me what you did.”
I stared at the screen.
“What is he talking about?”
Then Daniel held up a document.
The Carter trust.
“You took everything from us.”
He looked almost broken.
“And now you’re going to give it back.”
The video ended.
A message appeared beneath it.
COME HOME.
I looked at Ethan.
“Our house.”
Richard whispered, “No.”
Then another message arrived.
BRING SOPHIE.
Sophie stopped breathing.
May you like
A final message appeared.
MOTHER WANTS THE WHOLE FAMILY TOGETHER.
