Chapter 5
Daniel called Adrian before Detective Monroe could stop him.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Then Adrian answered.
“Daniel?”
His voice sounded normal.
Warm.
Concerned.
Exactly the voice Claire had heard dozens of times when Emma had a fever.
Daniel looked ready to explode.
Sarah grabbed his wrist and shook her head.
Daniel forced his breathing to slow.
“Adrian, I need you to come to the house.”
A pause.
“At this hour?”
“Emma was kidnapped.”
“I heard.”
Another pause.
“I was going to call.”
Daniel’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“She’s back.”
“Thank God.”
“We need you to examine her.”
“I can be there in forty minutes.”
“Good.”
The call ended.
Sarah immediately began issuing orders.
“We don’t arrest him when he arrives.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Why not?”
“Because we have a photograph and a claim from a dead woman. I need evidence.”
“He lied about who he is.”
“Then we let him walk into a house full of cameras and give him the chance to explain that lie.”
Claire understood.
“And if he runs?”
Sarah looked toward two officers.
“He won’t get far.”
They returned to the estate.
Claire went upstairs first.
Emma was awake again.
The little girl sat beside Mrs. Bennett, clutching her rabbit.
When she saw Claire, she reached for her.
Claire sat beside her.
“Dr. Cole is coming.”
Emma’s expression immediately changed.
“No.”
Claire frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want him.”
“Why?”
Emma looked toward the door.
Then whispered, “He gives me sleepy medicine.”
Claire’s blood ran cold.
“What medicine?”
“The pink one.”
“When?”
“When Daddy isn’t there.”
Claire tried to keep her voice calm.
“Who else is there?”
“The red lady.”
Victoria.
Claire’s hand tightened around the blanket.
“What happens after the medicine?”
“I sleep.”
“Do you remember waking up?”
Emma nodded.
“My tummy hurts.”
Claire felt sick.
“Has Dr. Cole ever hurt you?”
Emma thought.
“No.”
Then she added, “He takes my blood.”
Claire stared at her.
“How often?”
“A lot.”
Daniel appeared in the doorway.
He had heard everything.
His face turned gray.
“Sweetheart.”
Emma looked at him.
“Daddy, don’t make me see him.”
Daniel immediately crossed the room.
“I won’t.”
Claire stood.
“We need Sarah.”
Daniel nodded.
When Sarah heard Emma’s story, she changed the plan.
“We still let him enter.”
Daniel’s eyes flashed.
“He’s not going near her.”
“He won’t.”
They moved Emma to another room.
A plainclothes officer took Mrs. Bennett’s place.
Claire returned downstairs.
At 1:17 a.m., Dr. Adrian Cole arrived.
He stepped through the front door carrying a medical bag.
He was fifty.
Silver beginning at his temples.
Kind eyes.
Expensive coat.
Claire had trusted him.
That thought made her furious.
“Where is Emma?”
Daniel stood at the bottom of the staircase.
“She’s sleeping.”
Adrian frowned.
“I thought you needed me to examine her.”
“We need to talk first.”
Adrian looked around.
He noticed Henry.
Then Sarah.
His expression changed.
“Is something wrong?”
Daniel held up Olivia’s photograph.
Adrian froze.
It lasted less than a second.
But everyone saw it.
“Who is Christopher Whitmore?”
Silence.
Adrian removed his glasses.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Wrong answer.”
Adrian looked toward Henry.
Henry stared back.
Thirty years of anger seemed to pass between them.
Then Adrian laughed quietly.
“You finally recognize me.”
Henry’s face tightened.
“Christopher.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Adrian—Christopher—set his medical bag on the table.
“You’ve gotten old.”
“So have you.”
“Not rich, though.”
Daniel moved between them.
“Why did you change your name?”
Christopher looked at him.
“Because Whitmore doors open for everyone except Whitmores nobody wants.”
“You came into my home.”
“Yes.”
“You treated my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You drugged her.”
Christopher’s expression shifted.
“What?”
“Emma says you gave her medication without my permission.”
Christopher glanced toward the staircase.
“That isn’t what happened.”
“Then explain it.”
He took a breath.
“Victoria told me Emma had severe anxiety episodes.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“You’re a doctor.”
“I know.”
“You gave medication because my fiancée told you to?”
“I prescribed low-dose antihistamine once.”
“Emma says it happened repeatedly.”
Christopher stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Claire watched his face.
For the first time, he looked genuinely confused.
“Victoria had access to your bag?” Claire asked.
Christopher looked at her.
“She was present during several appointments.”
“Could she have taken medication?”
His eyes darkened.
“Yes.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“Could she have taken blood collection supplies?”
Christopher looked at her.
“Yes.”
Daniel clenched his fists.
“What was she doing with my daughter’s blood?”
No one answered.
Sarah asked Christopher to sit.
He remained standing.
“Why were you at Emma’s birthday party years before Daniel supposedly met Victoria?”
Christopher looked toward Henry.
“Because Olivia invited me.”
Daniel stared.
“Why?”
“She had found me.”
“Through Marcus?”
“Yes.”
Christopher’s expression turned bitter.
“Olivia wanted to know whether I planned to challenge Emma’s inheritance.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Henry laughed coldly.
“You spent years demanding money.”
“From you.”
Christopher turned toward him.
“Not from a child.”
“You threatened me.”
“I threatened to expose you for hiding my existence.”
“That isn’t what you said.”
“That’s what you heard.”
The hostility filled the room.
Claire stepped between the arguments.
“What did Olivia discover?”
Christopher looked at her for a long moment.
Then nodded slowly.
“She trusted you.”
“You knew?”
“She spoke about you.”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“What did she say?”
“That if anything happened to her, you were the only person in the house she trusted completely.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
Christopher continued.
“Olivia discovered money disappearing from Emma’s trust.”
“We know.”
“She believed Marcus was involved.”
“Was he?”
“Yes.”
Henry swore.
Christopher shook his head.
“But Marcus wasn’t the mastermind.”
“Victoria?” Daniel asked.
Christopher hesitated.
“No.”
Silence.
Daniel stared at him.
“Then who?”
Christopher sat down.
“My mother.”
Henry looked stunned.
“Elaine?”
Christopher nodded.
“Elaine Vale has been taking money from Whitmore accounts for decades.”
Henry’s face hardened.
“She’s alive?”
Christopher laughed bitterly.
“You didn’t know?”
“You told me she died.”
“I never told you anything.”
Henry looked shaken.
Christopher continued.
“My mother raised me believing you stole our future.”
Henry’s jaw tightened.
“She demanded five million dollars to disappear.”
“She told me you abandoned us because your family hated her.”
“She blackmailed my father.”
“Maybe both things are true.”
Daniel slammed his hand onto the table.
“Enough.”
Everyone fell silent.
“My daughter was nearly killed.”
He looked at Christopher.
“My wife died.”
Then Henry.
“And all of you are still arguing about something that happened forty years ago.”
He turned back to Christopher.
“Where is Elaine?”
Christopher looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“That answer seems popular tonight.”
“I haven’t spoken to her in two years.”
“What happened two years ago?”
“She asked me to help her get access to Emma’s medical records.”
Claire felt cold.
“Why?”
“She said she needed proof that Emma was Olivia’s biological daughter.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“What?”
Christopher continued quickly.
“I refused.”
“Why would she question that?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel moved toward him.
“Think.”
Christopher looked frightened now.
“My mother believed there was something in Olivia’s will that could destroy her plans.”
“What?”
“I never saw it.”
Henry suddenly stood.
“The sealed clause.”
Daniel turned.
“What sealed clause?”
Henry went to his desk safe.
He entered a code.
Inside were several envelopes.
He pulled out one marked with Olivia’s name.
“Olivia created a private amendment six months before she died.”
“You knew?”
“I knew it existed. I didn’t know its contents.”
“Why not?”
“Because it can only be opened under one condition.”
Sarah asked, “What condition?”
Henry read from the legal envelope.
“If Emma Whitmore’s biological identity, legal guardianship, or inheritance rights are formally challenged.”
Daniel’s face turned white.
“That’s why they needed her blood.”
Christopher stared.
“To challenge her identity.”
Claire shook her head.
“But Victoria was trying to marry Daniel. Why bother challenging Emma?”
Henry answered quietly.
“Because if Emma is removed as Olivia’s heir, the trust reverts.”
“To whom?”
Henry stared at the sealed envelope.
“I don’t know.”
Sarah picked up her phone.
“We need a court order to open that.”
Henry shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“The condition has already been met.”
“How?”
Henry took out another document.
A letter had arrived that afternoon but was buried among security reports after the canopy collapse.
He handed it to Daniel.
It was from a law firm.
Daniel read silently.
Then his hands started shaking.
“What?” Claire asked.
He handed her the document.
Someone had filed an emergency petition challenging Emma’s status as Olivia Whitmore’s lawful biological heir.
The petitioner’s name was listed at the bottom.
Elaine Vale.
Sarah looked at Henry.
“Open the amendment.”
Henry broke the seal.
Inside were three pages.
He read the first.
Then stopped.
His eyes widened.
“What does it say?” Daniel demanded.
Henry handed him the paper.
Daniel read.
Claire watched his face change from confusion to disbelief.
“Olivia knew.”
“Knew what?” Claire asked.
Daniel looked at Emma’s closed bedroom door upstairs.
Then back at Claire.
“She knew someone might challenge Emma’s DNA.”
Sarah frowned.
“And?”
Daniel swallowed.
“The amendment says biological relation is irrelevant.”
Claire stared at him.
Daniel continued.
“Emma isn’t Olivia’s biological daughter.”
Silence filled the room.
Christopher slowly stood.
Henry looked like the floor had vanished beneath him.
Daniel stared at the page.
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“This is impossible.”
Claire felt a terrifying realization forming.
“If Emma wasn’t Olivia’s biological daughter…”
May you like
She looked at Daniel.
“…whose daughter is she?”
