Chapter 6
“Call units to my house now!”
Rachel’s voice echoed through Nathan’s hospital room.
Detective Cole was already moving.
Lucas grabbed his keys.
Cole stopped him.
“You stay here.”
“That’s my brother’s evidence.”
“And whoever entered that house may be dangerous.”
Rachel stared at the security feed.
Jenna knelt beside Ellie’s toy chest.
She threw stuffed animals onto the floor.
A teddy bear.
A doll.
A plastic tea set.
Then she reached for the stuffed rabbit Ellie had slept with before receiving the newer one from her aunt.
Rachel’s stomach tightened.
“She knows.”
Nathan looked at the phone.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Jenna tore open the rabbit’s back seam.
Nothing.
She cursed.
Nathan whispered, “Wrong rabbit.”
Rachel looked at him.
“What?”
“Pink one.”
Ellie had dozens of stuffed animals.
The pink rabbit was buried somewhere in the chest.
Jenna began throwing toys wildly.
Cole spoke into his radio.
“Two minutes.”
Rachel watched helplessly.
Then another figure entered the playroom.
Victoria.
For a moment, it was like looking at Margaret through a darker mirror.
Same height.
Same silver hair.
Same face.
But even through a small security screen, the difference was obvious.
Margaret carried sadness in her posture.
Victoria carried rage.
Jenna looked up.
“It’s not here.”
Victoria slapped her.
Rachel gasped.
Jenna staggered.
“You said he hid it in the rabbit.”
“He did!”
“Then find the right one.”
Jenna pressed a hand to her cheek.
“You said Nathan would die at the hospital.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
Rachel immediately started screen-recording.
Jenna continued.
“You said they’d cremate him before anyone could run another test.”
Rachel felt Nathan’s hand tighten.
There it was.
The confirmation.
Victoria had expected him to be cremated.
Jenna kicked another toy aside.
“This whole thing is falling apart.”
“You’re the reason it’s falling apart.”
“You told me the dose was safe.”
“It was supposed to be.”
“Brent said his heart almost stopped before the second dose.”
Victoria grabbed Jenna’s arm.
“And whose fault was that?”
Jenna stared at her.
Rachel whispered, “Second dose.”
Cole heard.
“So Brent was telling the truth about that part.”
On the security feed, Jenna pulled away.
“I didn’t give it to him.”
Victoria smiled coldly.
“I know.”
Rachel’s blood chilled.
Jenna stared.
“Then who did?”
Victoria turned toward the camera.
For one horrible second, Rachel felt as if the woman could see her watching.
Then Victoria reached upward.
The screen went black.
“She found the camera,” Rachel said.
Cole’s radio crackled.
“Units arriving.”
Rachel held her breath.
Seconds later, a second camera activated in the hallway.
Two officers entered through the front door.
“Police!”
No response.
They moved toward the playroom.
Rachel watched the silent feed.
Then one officer disappeared from view.
A crash sounded through the microphone.
Another officer shouted.
“Back door!”
Cole ran from the hospital room.
Rachel watched the exterior camera.
Jenna sprinted across the yard.
Victoria followed.
They jumped into a dark SUV waiting in the alley.
“Someone else is driving,” Lucas said.
The SUV accelerated away before officers reached the fence.
Rachel rewound the clip.
“Can you see the driver?”
Lucas leaned close.
“No.”
Nathan whispered, “Pause.”
Rachel stopped the video.
“What?”
“Mirror.”
She zoomed in.
A face reflected briefly in the SUV’s side mirror.
Male.
Dark hair.
Rachel didn’t recognize him.
Lucas did.
His face changed.
“No.”
“Who is it?”
Lucas stepped backward.
Rachel stared.
“Luke?”
“That’s impossible.”
“Who?”
Lucas looked at Nathan.
Their eyes met.
Nathan’s face drained of color.
Rachel felt fear rise again.
“Tell me.”
Nathan whispered the name.
“Dad.”
Rachel stared at him.
“Your father is dead.”
Margaret, standing near the doorway, made a broken sound.
Nathan’s adoptive father, Richard Carter, had died five years earlier after a supposed stroke.
Rachel attended the funeral.
She watched the casket lowered into the ground.
“That cannot be Richard,” she said.
Lucas pointed at the screen.
“I know my father.”
Margaret grabbed the phone.
She stared at the reflection.
Then she sank into a chair.
“Oh God.”
Rachel looked at her.
“You think it’s him too?”
Margaret couldn’t answer.
Detective Cole returned after coordinating with officers.
Rachel showed him the frame.
Cole enlarged the image.
“It’s not enough for facial identification.”
“It’s him,” Lucas said.
Cole looked at Margaret.
“When did your husband die?”
“Five years ago.”
“How?”
“Stroke.”
“Where?”
“St. Matthew’s.”
Everyone went silent.
Rachel looked toward Nathan.
The same hospital.
Cole asked, “Who pronounced him dead?”
Margaret’s lips trembled.
“I don’t remember.”
“Think.”
She closed her eyes.
Then opened them.
“Samuel Brent.”
Rachel felt physically ill.
Dr. Brent.
Again.
Cole immediately made a call.
“I need the death file for Richard Carter, five years ago. Full medical and mortuary record.”
Margaret stood.
“No.”
Cole looked at her.
“No what?”
“You cannot tell Lucas and Nathan that man is Richard.”
“I didn’t.”
Margaret looked at her sons.
“You don’t understand.”
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“Then explain.”
Margaret pressed both hands to her head.
“Your father knew Victoria.”
Lucas stared.
“What?”
“He knew her before I married him.”
Nathan looked confused.
“How?”
“They dated.”
The room fell silent again.
Rachel wondered how many secrets one family could contain before it stopped being a family.
Margaret continued.
“I met Richard through Victoria.”
“You married your sister’s boyfriend?” Lucas asked.
“They had already broken up.”
“Did he know Nathan was Victoria’s?”
“Yes.”
Nathan looked devastated.
“He knew?”
“From the beginning.”
“And raised me anyway.”
“He loved you.”
“Apparently not enough to tell me the truth.”
Margaret cried.
“He was trying to protect you.”
Nathan looked away.
Rachel understood that phrase had poisoned every person in the room.
Protect you.
It was what people said when they made choices for someone else.
When they hid truths.
When they stole years.
Margaret whispered, “Richard was the one who convinced my father to arrange the adoption.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because Victoria was spiraling. Drugs. Men. Disappearing for days.”
Margaret wiped her face.
“But years later, Richard started giving her money.”
“How much?” Cole asked.
“I don’t know.”
“For how long?”
“Maybe twenty years.”
Lucas looked horrified.
“He was paying her?”
“To stay away.”
“From Nathan?”
“Yes.”
Nathan’s face twisted.
“So my whole life was a business transaction.”
“No.”
“It sounds like one.”
Rachel squeezed his hand.
Cole’s phone rang.
He listened.
Then said, “You’re certain?”
Everyone watched him.
He ended the call.
“Richard Carter’s burial records show he was embalmed.”
Margaret exhaled.
“Then he is dead.”
Cole held up a hand.
“But the funeral home that handled his body closed three years ago after its owner was charged with falsifying cremation and burial documents.”
Rachel stared.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the paperwork proves less than I’d like.”
Lucas sank into a chair.
Nathan whispered, “Dig him up.”
Margaret gasped.
“Nathan.”
“Exhume the grave.”
Cole looked at him.
“That requires legal authorization.”
“Get it.”
Rachel turned to Nathan.
He was shaking.
Not from weakness.
From fury.
“If Dad is alive, I want to know.”
Margaret whispered, “And if he isn’t?”
Nathan looked at her.
“Then I want to know that too.”
Cole nodded slowly.
“I’ll request it.”
A nurse entered.
“Nathan needs rest.”
Rachel reluctantly stepped away.
Nathan caught her hand.
“Don’t go home.”
“I won’t.”
“Take Ellie somewhere else.”
“Why?”
“If they were in the house, they know where everything is.”
Rachel thought about Victoria photographing Ellie.
About Jenna having access to their routines.
About the SUV driver who might be a dead man.
“I’ll take her to my parents.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Jenna knows their house.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
He was right.
Cole said, “We can arrange a protected location.”
Rachel hated the words.
Protected location.
Her daughter was four.
She should be worried about preschool snacks, not police protection.
“Do it.”
Later that evening, officers searched Rachel’s home.
The pink rabbit was gone.
So was the audit.
At first.
Then one investigator noticed a loose floorboard beneath Ellie’s toy chest.
Inside was a flash drive.
Nathan had hidden a decoy rabbit.
Rachel almost laughed when she heard.
Even sick and terrified, Nathan had been careful.
Cole brought the drive to the hospital.
It contained spreadsheets.
Bank records.
Voice notes.
Screenshots.
And a file Nathan had named VICTORIA.
They opened it.
Nathan had traced the missing money to seven shell companies.
One of them was connected to Dr. Brent.
Another to Nurse Voss.
Two connected to Jenna.
The final three belonged to a holding company registered in Delaware.
Cole searched the ownership records.
The listed manager was Richard Carter.
Margaret stopped breathing.
“No.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
His father’s name appeared beside a registration date.
Three years after Richard had supposedly died.
Lucas whispered, “Dad is alive.”
No one answered.
Then Rachel noticed another file.
“Open that.”
It was labeled IF SOMETHING HAPPENS.
Nathan frowned.
“I don’t remember making that.”
Cole clicked.
A video appeared.
Nathan sat behind his office desk.
The timestamp was six months earlier.
But Nathan shook his head.
“That isn’t me.”
Rachel leaned closer.
It looked exactly like him.
Same hair.
Same suit.
Same voice when the man began speaking.
“If you’re watching this, Rachel has probably found out.”
Rachel felt her heart stop.
The man continued.
“She believes Nathan Carter is her husband.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
Rachel turned toward him.
The recording continued.
“But the man she married is not the only son born to Victoria Carter.”
Margaret screamed.
“Turn it off!”
Cole paused the video.
Everyone looked at her.
Margaret covered her mouth.
Rachel’s skin went cold.
Nathan whispered, “What does that mean?”
Margaret began sobbing.
Nathan’s voice rose.
“Mom!”
She looked at him.
And after thirty-six years, another secret broke free.
“Victoria gave birth to twins.”
Nathan went completely still.
Rachel couldn’t speak.
Lucas whispered, “Twins?”
Margaret nodded.
“One baby came home with me.”
Nathan stared at her.
“And the other?”
Margaret looked at the frozen image on the screen.
May you like
The man who looked exactly like Nathan.
“Victoria kept him.”
