CHAPTER 8 — THE OTHER HEIR
No one spoke as the SUV raced away from the clinic.
Evelyn sat across from Nathan, studying every detail of his face.
He was thirty-four.
Three years younger than her.
Too old to be her father’s child from an affair that happened after Celeste disappeared.
Celeste seemed to understand the question.
“Nathan is not Daniel’s biological son,” she said.
Nathan looked out the window.
“Then why did he say he was?” Evelyn asked.
“Because Daniel chose him.”
Nathan finally turned toward her.
“My birth parents worked for Beatrice. When I was six, they discovered money being moved through children’s hospitals. They planned to testify.”
“What happened?”
“They died in a house fire.”
Evelyn looked at Celeste.
“Another fire.”
“The Thornes liked methods that destroyed evidence,” Celeste said.
Nathan continued.
“Daniel found me before Beatrice did. He created a new identity and placed me in one of the Thorne family’s private orphanages.”
“And Beatrice adopted you?”
“She thought taking in a child would improve her public image.”
Evelyn almost laughed at the cruelty of it.
“You spent your entire life inside their home.”
“Watching. Listening. Waiting.”
Nathan handed her a silver drive.
“Your father gave me this when I was nineteen.”
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know. It only opens with two biological keys.”
“Whose?”
“Yours and his.”
Evelyn stared at the drive.
“If my father is alive, where is he?”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“I haven’t seen him in eleven years.”
Mara looked up from her laptop.
“We have a bigger problem.”
The news was showing footage from the clinic.
Julian stood before reporters as paramedics carried Gabriel away.
“My wife kidnapped an elderly patient and attacked members of our security team,” Julian announced. “She is armed and unstable.”
Celeste watched silently.
Then the screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Evelyn beside Celeste outside the clinic.
The headline called Celeste an unidentified hostage.
“They don’t want anyone to know who she is,” Mara said.
Nathan nodded.
“Because Celeste Vance died twenty-two years ago.”
Evelyn looked at her mother.
“What happens if the world learns you’re alive?”
Celeste’s answer was quiet.
“Every fortune built after my funeral becomes legally questionable.”
“Why?”
“Because before your father created Nightingale, I owned half of the Thorne empire.”
The SUV suddenly slowed.
Police vehicles blocked the road ahead.
Behind them, three black helicopters appeared over the trees.
Nathan reached for his weapon.
“They found us too quickly.”
May you like
Mara stared at her tracking system.
“No,” she whispered. “Someone inside this vehicle led them here.”
