Chapter 13 - My Mother Had Been Watching for Years
Eleanor chose the meeting place.
My father's old lake house.
No security.
No staff.
No Marcus.
No Graham.
Her instructions were clear.
I ignored half of them.
Marcus and Graham followed in a second vehicle but remained half a mile away.
Sophie came with me.
I hated it.
But Eleanor refused to speak unless she saw her.
I carried my daughter through the front door.
My mother stood beside the fireplace.
Alive.
Seeing her in person was different from the camera.
Older.
Thinner.
A surgical scar ran beneath her jaw.
But she was Eleanor Sterling.
The woman who had taught me to tie a tie.
The woman whose coffin I had touched before burial.
My anger arrived before grief.
"You let me bury you."
She looked at Sophie.
"Hello, sweetheart."
I stepped sideways.
"Don't."
Her eyes returned to mine.
"Richard."
"You don't get to say my name like nothing happened."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"Whose coffin was it?"
"Empty."
"Who signed the death certificate?"
"Adrian."
Of course.
"Why trust him?"
"I didn't."
"Yet you let him fake your death."
"I needed him to believe the deception was his idea."
I laughed bitterly.
"Everyone in this family thinks they're playing chess."
"And Sophie is the board."
That silenced me.
She looked at my daughter again.
"I'm sorry."
Sophie stayed behind my leg.
I didn't force her closer.
"Who is her biological father?"
Eleanor's face tightened.
"Sit down."
"No."
"Richard."
"Name."
"You need context."
"I've had twelve hours of context."
She nodded.
"Fair."
Then:
"JVV-4 is not a person."
I frowned.
"What?"
"It's a donor classification."
My pulse changed.
"Whose sample?"
"A stored specimen Jonathan created years earlier."
"Jonathan Vale?"
"Yes."
"He was Sophie's biological father?"
"No."
My confusion sharpened.
"Then explain."
"Jonathan had four sons."
Adrian.
Marcus.
Graham.
Unknown fourth.
"JVV-1 through JVV-4 referred to paternal lines."
"So JVV-4 is the fourth son's line."
"Yes."
"Who is the fourth son?"
Eleanor looked away.
My stomach dropped.
"You know."
"Yes."
"Name him."
She whispered, "Thomas Reed."
My head snapped back.
My head of security.
The man who had protected me for fifteen years.
The man who wasn't answering his phone tonight.
"Thomas is Jonathan Vale's son?"
"Yes."
"Does he know?"
"Not until recently."
"How recently?"
"Three months."
Exactly when Adrian's moves accelerated.
"Is Thomas Sophie's father?"
"No."
"Then why is JVV-4 in the donor file?"
"Because the donor was one of Thomas's biological sons."
My entire body went cold.
"Thomas has children?"
"One son."
"Name."
Eleanor hesitated.
"Daniel Reed."
I didn't know him.
"How old?"
"Thirty-two."
"Where is he?"
"Missing."
"Since when?"
"Six years."
That date mattered.
One year before Sophie's conception.
"Missing or hidden?"
"We don't know."
I stared at her.
"So Adrian used stored sperm from a missing man."
"Possibly."
"Possibly?"
"The sample code could have been relabeled."
Nothing was ever clean.
"Why hide the donor from Caroline?"
"Because if she knew Thomas was connected, she'd go to him."
"And?"
"Thomas was already investigating Adrian."
I thought of my disabled security login.
"Where is Thomas now?"
Eleanor's face changed.
"I was hoping you knew."
My blood ran cold.
"He stopped answering tonight."
"When?"
"Three hours ago."
She closed her eyes.
"Then Adrian has him."
"Why?"
"Because Thomas found Daniel."
I stepped closer.
"Where?"
"Alive."
Sophie shifted behind me.
"Where?"
Eleanor took a folded photograph from her pocket.
A man in his early thirties stepping out of a clinic.
Timestamp two weeks ago.
"Thomas sent this."
"Did Daniel know about Sophie?"
"No."
"Did Adrian?"
"Yes."
"Then why leave him alive?"
Eleanor looked at me.
"Because Daniel's consent signature is on the fertility records."
My stomach turned.
"Did he consent?"
"We don't know."
Adrian might have forged another life.
I thought about Vanessa.
Caroline.
Sophie.
Me.
Every layer relied on fabricated paperwork and controlled perception.
"What does Halcyon actually contain?"
Eleanor's expression changed.
"Money."
"We know that."
"Companies."
"We know."
"Medical patents."
Graham hadn't mentioned those.
"Which patents?"
"Neurological diagnostics. Fertility technologies. Behavioral health systems."
Adrian's fields.
"Jonathan created Halcyon by hiding intellectual property before several Sterling-Vale companies split."
"Stolen assets."
"Some."
"And Sophie owns it."
"If her lineage is validated before seven."
"Why before seven?"
"Jonathan believed heirs should be identified young enough to be controlled."
My stomach turned.
"And if not?"
"Halcyon dissolves into a private foundation managed by Adrian."
There it was.
Adrian didn't necessarily need Sophie incompetent.
If he prevented validation until her birthday, he inherited administrative control anyway.
Two possible paths.
Either control Sophie.
Or erase her claim.
"How do we validate?"
"Original donor record plus Caroline's lineage record plus Sophie's DNA."
"Where is the donor record?"
"Thomas had it."
Of course.
"When did you last speak to him?"
"This afternoon."
"What did he say?"
"He found Daniel."
"And?"
"He was bringing him to me."
I looked around.
"Here?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Three hours ago."
Thomas and Daniel never arrived.
My phone rang.
Marcus.
I answered.
"Where are you?"
"Outside the lake road."
"Why?"
"Graham disappeared."
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
"He left the car fifteen minutes ago."
"Where?"
"No idea."
I looked at Eleanor.
She heard.
Her face changed.
Then headlights swept across the lake-house windows.
A vehicle approached.
I moved Sophie behind the stone fireplace wall.
"Stay right here."
The front door opened.
Graham entered.
Hands raised.
Blood on his shirt.
Marcus came behind him with a gun I didn't know he carried.
"Richard."
"What happened?"
Graham looked at Eleanor.
"You were right."
"About what?"
"Thomas found Daniel."
My pulse jumped.
"Where are they?"
"Adrian's clinic."
"How do you know?"
Graham reached into his jacket.
Marcus raised the gun.
"Slow."
Graham removed a flash drive.
"Thomas gave me this before they took him."
I stared.
"You saw Thomas?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
"You said you disappeared from Marcus."
"I followed the tracker."
"What tracker?"
"The one inside Vanessa's phone."
My jaw tightened.
Always another secret.
"What's on the drive?"
"Daniel's donor record."
Sophie peeked around the wall.
Graham looked at her.
Then me.
"And something worse."
"What?"
"Adrian didn't use Daniel's sample once."
My blood went cold.
"How many times?"
Graham swallowed.
"At least six."
Silence.
Six embryos?
Six children?
Eleanor whispered, "No."
Graham nodded.
"Thomas found five additional birth records."
My stomach turned.
"Where are the children?"
"Different states."
"Do they know?"
"No."
"Why?"
Graham looked at Sophie.
"Because Adrian wasn't creating one Halcyon heir."
He looked back at me.
May you like
"He was creating backups."
📖 Discover why Adrian secretly created multiple Vale heirs—and what made Sophie different from the five other children when the donor records open in CHAPTER 14. 👇
