Chapter 9: The Call That Revealed Everything
Rebecca nearly dropped her phone.
“Richard, what have you done?””
Her husband's voice remained strangely calm.
“I'm trying to prevent another tragedy.””
Dad grabbed the phone.
“You have ten seconds to tell me where Daniel is.””
“Michael, listen to me. You don't understand what happened.””
“Then explain it.””
“I can't do that over the phone.””
“Where is my son?””
Richard sighed.
“Daniel isn't a child anymore. He's a teenager with a life of his own. You cannot simply walk into his world and expect him to call you Dad.””
My heart pounded.
“Then you know where he is?””
Richard paused.
“Yes.””
I moved closer.
“Does he know about me?””
Silence.
“Richard?”” Rebecca demanded.
“Answer her!””
Finally, he spoke.
“No. He doesn't.””
I felt tears gathering in my eyes.
For eleven years, I had been living without knowing my brother existed.
And somewhere, he had been growing up without knowing I existed either.
“Why?”” I whispered.
Richard answered.
“Because that's what your mother wanted.””
Rebecca shouted.
“That's a lie!””
Richard's voice hardened.
“You weren't there, Rebecca. You didn't see what happened.””
“I was Claire's sister!””
“And I was trying to keep her children safe.””
Dad slammed his hand against the table.
“Safe from whom?””
Richard didn't answer.
Then the call ended.
Rebecca immediately called back.
It went straight to voicemail.
She began pacing.
“My husband lied to me for eleven years.””
Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Rebecca, we need to be careful. We don't know whether Richard was involved in the original transfer or simply received the baby afterward.””
Rebecca stared at him.
“He told me he couldn't have children.””
I looked up.
“What?””
She nodded slowly.
“Richard and I tried for years. He said he was infertile. We eventually stopped trying.””
Dad looked at her.
“Are you saying Daniel was raised by your husband?””
Rebecca shook her head.
“I don't know. He never told me he had a child.””
Madison stood near the doorway.
“Maybe that's why Mom was afraid of you.””
Rebecca turned.
“What do you mean?””
Madison took a deep breath.
“Mom used to say Richard was the only person who could make everything disappear.””
Dad's expression darkened.
“Did you hear anything else?””
Madison nodded.
“Once, she told him that if he ever contacted Emily, she would expose what happened at the hospital.””
Rebecca sat down.
For the first time since arriving, she looked completely lost.
Daniel returned to the laptop.
“I found something interesting in the financial records.””
He turned the screen toward us.
A series of payments had been made from Claire's trust to a company called Hayes Family Services.
The transactions began eleven years earlier.
They continued every month for seven years.
Dad stared.
“Richard's company?””
Daniel nodded.
“The company was registered under his name. But the payments stopped after he transferred ownership to another individual.””
“Who?”” Dad asked.
Daniel clicked another document.
“Vanessa Carter.””
Dad closed his eyes.
I looked at the figures.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
My mother's money.
Money intended to secure my future and my brother's.
I felt sick.
“They were paying Richard to keep Daniel?””
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
“The records suggest that money was transferred to his company, but we need to establish what services were provided.””
Rebecca shook her head.
“I shared a home with that man. I slept beside him. I had no idea.””
Madison looked at her.
“I'm sorry.””
Rebecca nodded, but her eyes remained fixed on the screen.
Then Daniel found another document.
A payment authorization.
It was dated three weeks before my mother's death.
The description read:
Confidential family relocation arrangement.
The authorized amount was $450,000.
The signature belonged to Vanessa.
But the recipient's account was not Richard's.
It belonged to someone named Eleanor Price.
“Who is Eleanor Price?”” I asked.
Daniel searched the name.
A few seconds later, he turned the laptop toward us.
A photograph appeared.
An elderly woman stood outside a private school.
Dad frowned.
“I know her.””
Rebecca leaned closer.
“Who is she?””
Dad's voice dropped.
“She was the director of St. Catherine's Children's Center.””
Daniel searched further.
“She's currently listed as a board member of a private academy in Savannah.””
I looked at Rebecca.
“Is that where Daniel went?””
She nodded slowly.
“Possibly.””
Daniel opened another archived record.
It contained a list of children transferred from St. Catherine's to the academy's affiliated guardianship program.
One name appeared.
Daniel Hayes.
Birth date: October 19.
My brother's birth date.
I stared at the screen.
“They changed his last name.””
Rebecca covered her mouth.
“Daniel Hayes.””
Dad looked devastated.
“Why would Richard give him his own surname?””
Nobody answered.
Then Daniel noticed another entry.
*Current emergency contact: Richard Hayes.*
And beneath it:
*Secondary contact: Eleanor Price.*
Rebecca reached for her phone again.
“I need to speak to Richard.””
This time, the call connected.
“Rebecca?””
Her voice trembled.
“Did you raise Claire's son?””
A long silence followed.
Then Richard answered.
“Yes.””
Rebecca began crying.
“You let me believe we couldn't have children. You let me spend eleven years wondering why Claire's family had disappeared. You let me believe I would never be a mother.””
Richard's voice softened.
“I was protecting him.””
“From his own sister?””
“From everything that happened before he was born.””
Dad took the phone.
“Richard, I want to meet my son.””
“You can't.””
“Why?””
“Because Daniel believes I'm his father.””
Dad's face tightened.
“I'm his biological father.””
Richard answered quietly.
“Are you sure?””
Dad went still.
“What are you talking about?””
Richard continued.
“Claire never told you the whole truth about Daniel's birth. She knew the test results were inconclusive. She knew there was another possibility.””
Rebecca shook her head.
“Richard, stop.””
But he continued.
“Michael, before you accuse me of stealing your son, you should ask Claire's sister what happened during that summer at the lake.””
I looked at Rebecca.
The same lake Vanessa had mentioned.
The same secret my mother had warned us about.
Dad's voice became dangerously quiet.
“What happened at the lake?””
Richard sighed.
“Claire and Alan weren't the only people involved.””
Then he delivered the sentence that shattered the last of our assumptions.
“Michael, Daniel may be your son. But Emily's mother knew there was a chance he wasn't.””
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Rebecca stood in the middle of the room, staring at the phone.
Then she whispered:
“Richard knows about the second child.””
I frowned.
“What second child?””
She looked at me.
“Emily, Claire told me she was pregnant before she married your father.””
Dad slowly turned toward her.
“What?””
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
“She told me she had lost a baby years earlier. But she never told me who the father was.””
I stared at the photograph of my mother.
Then at the laboratory report.
Then at the name of the man who had supposedly helped steal my brother.
And suddenly I understood something terrifying.
The mystery wasn't simply who had taken Daniel.
It was whether my father had ever known the truth about his own family.
My phone vibrated.
A new message appeared from an unknown number.
There was no greeting.
No explanation.
Just a photograph.
A teenage boy stood outside a school building, holding a backpack.
He had my mother's brown eyes.
My father's smile.
May you like
And beneath the picture were eight words:
*I'M DANIEL. PLEASE DON'T LET RICHARD FIND ME.*
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