Chapter 5 - THE BLOODLINE
Thomas cried for nearly a minute before he could answer.
Adrian did not move.
Neither did I.
Finally Thomas lowered his hands.
“I raised you.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I loved you from the second you were born.”
“Are you my biological father?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“No.”
The word seemed to hollow out the room.
Adrian stepped backward.
I reached for him.
He didn’t pull away, but his body felt rigid beneath my hand.
“Daniel?”
Thomas shook his head again.
“No.”
“Same father?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian laughed once.
It was the sound a person makes when reality has stopped obeying ordinary rules.
“You don’t know who fathered either of your sons?”
“I wasn’t given a choice.”
“What does that mean?”
Robert stepped in.
“It means Eleanor decided which pregnancies counted.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
Robert pointed toward Daniel’s notebook.
“She called it preservation.”
My stomach turned.
Thomas sat heavily in his chair.
“Our generation carried the cardiac mutation.”
“Yours and Robert’s?”
“Yes.”
“So Eleanor believed her grandsons might inherit it.”
“She did more than believe it.”
Thomas looked toward Adrian.
“She decided the next generation wouldn’t.”
Adrian’s face went blank.
“No.”
I understood before he fully did.
“Adrian’s mother?”
Thomas nodded.
“Eleanor controlled the fertility treatments.”
Adrian grabbed the edge of the desk.
“My mother never told me she had fertility treatments.”
“She didn’t know everything.”
“What do you mean she didn’t know?”
“The clinic told her they were using my genetic material.”
Adrian whispered, “But they weren’t.”
“No.”
The room seemed suddenly too small.
“You’re saying Eleanor selected donors?”
Robert nodded.
“Healthy donors without the mutation.”
“That’s illegal.”
“Yes.”
“Who helped her?”
“Dr. Mercer.”
The photograph from Daniel’s wedding flashed through my mind.
The man with surgical gloves.
The trusted cardiologist.
The family doctor who had been invited into Eleanor’s bedroom while Daniel lay unconscious.
I looked at the blood tubes in the picture again mentally.
“What was Eleanor testing on the wedding nights?”
Robert looked at Adrian.
“Whether her experiment worked.”
Adrian’s voice was barely audible.
“She drugged us to take blood.”
“Yes.”
“But why wait until marriage?”
Thomas answered.
“Because once you married, control of your trust shifted.”
Robert continued.
“And Eleanor needed confirmation that each male heir remained useful before she released any power.”
“Useful?”
I hated the word.
Adrian did too.
“What happened if someone wasn’t useful?”
Nobody answered.
Daniel’s notebook suddenly felt heavier.
I flipped through the pages.
Near the back, there were references to another man.
Michael Arden.
Repeatedly.
Who is Michael Arden?
Why are there five payments from Mercer to Arden?
Eleanor refuses to discuss donor records.
Arden disappeared in 1996.
I showed them.
“Who is Michael Arden?”
Thomas stared at the page.
“I don’t know.”
Robert did.
His face told me immediately.
“Who?” Adrian demanded.
Robert walked toward the window.
“Mother’s driver.”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
“He worked for the family in the nineties.”
“And?”
“He disappeared.”
“Why is he in Daniel’s investigation?”
Robert turned.
“Because Daniel believed Arden was one of the donors.”
Adrian looked physically ill.
“One of our biological fathers.”
“Possibly.”
Detective Ortiz collected the notebook and flash drive as evidence.
Before taking the drive, she allowed Adrian to copy it onto her department laptop.
The first folders contained financial records.
The second contained scanned medical charts.
The third was labeled WEDDINGS.
Inside were six videos.
Daniel Vale.
Robert Vale Jr.
Christopher Vale.
Nathan Vale.
Adrian Vale.
And Thomas Vale.
Adrian’s file carried last night’s date.
My heart stopped.
“They recorded it.”
Ortiz clicked Adrian’s folder.
A video opened.
Time stamp 1:42 a.m.
Eleanor’s bedroom.
Adrian stood near the fireplace.
He looked furious.
Eleanor sat calmly in a chair holding a glass.
There was no sound at first.
Then audio came through.
“Drink it.”
“No.”
“Your brother drank it.”
“Daniel hated this tradition.”
“Daniel understood duty.”
“No, he was afraid of you.”
My husband’s voice on the recording sounded stronger than he had described.
Then Eleanor stood.
“You will sign what every Vale man signs.”
“I’m not signing anything.”
“Your father did.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will care when Claire learns exactly what kind of family she married.”
Adrian took a step toward the door.
It wouldn’t open.
“You locked me in.”
“For your own good.”
“I’m leaving.”
Eleanor pressed something beneath the table.
A hidden door opened behind the bookshelf.
A man stepped into the room.
I recognized Dr. Mercer immediately.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“He’s been retired for eight years.”
Apparently not retired enough.
In the video, Adrian turned.
“What is he doing here?”
Mercer held a syringe.
Adrian backed away.
“No.”
Eleanor’s voice remained calm.
“We only need a sample.”
“You already have my medical records.”
“We need a current sample.”
“No.”
Adrian lunged toward the locked door.
Mercer grabbed him from behind.
They struggled.
Eleanor shouted, “Hold him still.”
The phrase Adrian remembered.
Mercer pressed the syringe into Adrian’s arm.
Within seconds, Adrian weakened.
He collapsed onto the bed.
I watched myself grip the desk so hard my fingers hurt.
Mercer attached monitors to Adrian’s chest.
Then he drew several tubes of blood.
Eleanor brought out legal documents.
Mercer pressed Adrian’s hand around a pen.
They manipulated his fingers.
The forged signature.
Then Mercer checked a device connected to one of the blood samples.
He waited.
A small screen displayed results.
Eleanor leaned closer.
Mercer said, “Still negative.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Excellent.”
Then she asked the question that changed everything.
“And Daniel?”
Mercer went silent.
Eleanor repeated herself.
“What happened with Daniel?”
Mercer looked toward the camera without realizing it was recording.
“Daniel’s results were also negative.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
Mercer lowered his voice.
“You know what happened.”
Eleanor replied coldly.
“I know what you told me happened.”
Mercer stepped closer.
“You told me to make sure he never talked.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Nobody in the study moved.
May you like
Eleanor’s response came clearly through the speakers.
“And you assured me his death would look natural.”
