Chapter 9 - The Fourth Heir
Nathan sat slowly.
Ethan remained standing.
Vanessa watched both brothers.
No one spoke for nearly a minute.
Finally Nathan looked at Margaret.
“Believes?”
Margaret nodded.
“There was never a public acknowledgment.”
“Was there a DNA test?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then why would my father keep a birth certificate?”
“Because Evelyn named him.”
Nathan stared at the old photograph.
The woman beside his father looked young.
Maybe twenty-two.
Charles looked almost the same age.
Margaret continued.
“Evelyn became pregnant shortly before Charles married your mother.”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
“And he abandoned her.”
Margaret looked away.
“Yes.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“So Adrian has spent his life believing we inherited what should have been his.”
“That is what he believes.”
Vanessa finally spoke.
“That’s why he needed the ledger.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Vanessa frowned.
“He told me the ledger would prove Charles paid Evelyn to disappear.”
Margaret’s expression became sad.
“Adrian lied to you too.”
Vanessa went silent.
Margaret sat opposite Nathan.
“The ledger contains settlement payments, but Evelyn Mercer is not one of them.”
“Then what happened to her?”
“She died when Adrian was sixteen.”
Nathan looked at the photograph again.
“Did my father ever help them?”
Margaret hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“How much?”
“Monthly payments for years.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“So there was a secret family.”
“No.”
Margaret’s response was immediate.
“Charles never saw the boy.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Then why pay?”
“Guilt.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Adrian said Charles destroyed them.”
“He told you what he needed you to believe.”
Nathan turned toward Vanessa.
“You were being used.”
She looked furious at the suggestion.
“I knew what I was doing.”
“Did you?”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Because it looks like Mercer convinced you to fake a pregnancy, manipulate a trust, steal an authorization, and break into a private archive.”
Vanessa glared at him.
“I did not break into anything.”
Margaret suddenly looked toward the hallway.
“Where is Adrian now?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“You always had a way to contact him.”
“Not anymore.”
Nathan remembered Vanessa’s phone.
He pulled it from his pocket.
“Unlock it.”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Unlock it.”
She entered the code.
Ethan searched her recent calls.
No Adrian.
No Mercer.
No obvious alias.
Then Nathan noticed a contact named M.
There were hundreds of messages.
Most had been deleted.
One remained.
Tonight, 8:16 p.m.
The message contained only a location.
Riverfront Station.
Locker 214.
Nathan looked at Vanessa.
“What’s in locker 214?”
Her face changed.
“Nothing.”
Ethan grabbed his coat.
“That means we’re going.”
Vanessa stood.
“No.”
Nathan turned.
“Why?”
Vanessa looked genuinely terrified now.
“Because if Adrian used that locker, he knew you would eventually find it.”
Nathan stared at her.
“And?”
May you like
Her voice dropped.
“He never leaves evidence unless he wants someone to see it.”
