Chapter 10 - The Brother I Never Knew
The helicopter did not land.
The cracked columns around us were too unstable, and the rotor wash would have sent debris through the rescue teams.
Instead, my father and Aaron watched from above while ground crews prepared a safer landing zone two blocks away.
Daniel struggled beneath the rescuers.
“Victor, get me out of here.”
Victor did not answer.
His attention stayed on Aaron.
Fear had reached him too.
The rescue team finally stabilized the cavity beneath me.
Hydraulic lifting bags inflated under the beam.
The pressure on my leg eased by inches.
Pain rushed back with blood flow so violently that I nearly blacked out.
“Stay with us,” the medic said.
I held on by looking toward Mason’s vehicle.
His monitor had steadied after the gunshot. He was still unconscious, but he was breathing with assistance.
The beam rose higher.
Rescuers pulled me free.
The sight of my leg made Vanessa turn away. My dress was torn, skin bruised and bleeding, but the limb remained intact.
They placed me on a board.
I refused transport until Michael was removed.
The lower cavity opened enough for two technicians to crawl inside. They brought Michael out on a stretcher, his chest wrapped and one arm bent at an unnatural angle.
Vanessa reached him.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he whispered, “You chose wrong.”
Her face broke.
The helicopter moved toward the new landing zone.
Victor walked away from Daniel and approached my stretcher.
“You need to understand that Aaron’s appearance changes the legal situation.”
“My son is not a legal situation.”
“He was conceived using stolen genetic material.”
“Stolen by whom?”
Victor glanced toward Daniel.
Michael answered from his stretcher.
“Daniel stole it.”
He had investigated the fertility clinic after Olivia Grant’s death. The clinic was owned through a shell company tied to Hale Development.
Aaron had stored genetic samples before a classified deployment ten years earlier. He feared exposure to chemicals might leave him infertile.
Daniel learned the samples were linked to a Hale family trust.
He paid the clinic to use them without consent.
I thought of every injection, every appointment Daniel attended, every moment he held my hand while pretending we were trying to build a family together.
“He made Mason for money,” I said.
Michael’s eyes closed.
“Yes.”
Vanessa began sobbing.
Daniel lifted his head.
“You think I wanted a sick child?”
The cruelty in his voice silenced everyone.
I turned toward him.
“Mason became sick after you poisoned him.”
“He was weak before that.”
“You bruised him.”
“He wasn’t mine.”
“He was your son for seven years.”
“He was a contract.”
The rescue commander stared at him with disgust.
Daniel seemed to realize he had said too much, but arrogance had carried him beyond repair.
Victor stepped closer.
“The trust required the heir to remain in Daniel’s household until age eight.”
Mason’s birthday was in twelve days.
The timing of the hotel collapse suddenly made sense.
If Mason died before turning eight, control of certain assets would pass to the surviving legal parent.
Daniel.
He had not merely abandoned us during a disaster.
He had planned for Mason to die inside it.
The earthquake had provided cover.
The sedative ensured the fever and respiratory collapse looked natural.
The weakened annex ensured there might be no body to examine.
Daniel saw the realization in my face.
“You can’t prove intent.”
Michael laughed weakly.
“That’s what the locker is for.”
The brass key.
The evidence locker.
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
“Where is it?”
Michael looked at Vanessa.
She shook her head.
“I never told Daniel.”
Michael whispered, “Locker 417. Norfolk Central Station.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
Victor immediately reached for his phone.
Before he could make a call, a federal agent beside the convoy received a message.
He read it, then looked toward us.
“Norfolk Central Station reports Locker 417 was opened four minutes ago.”
Michael tried to sit up.
“By who?”
The agent looked at the access-camera image on his device.
Then he turned the screen toward us.
May you like
The person emptying Michael’s locker was wearing my father’s disaster-response uniform.
📖 Find out who stole the evidence while wearing Colonel Hale’s uniform—and why Aaron believed the thief had access to the family from inside in CHAPTER 11. 👇
