Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Never Existed
Declan moved Amelia before sunrise.
Not to a mansion.
Not to a Voss safehouse.
To a church.
St. Catherine's sat on a quiet road outside town, surrounded by trees and old stone walls.
Amelia stared at him.
“A church?”
“My mother's family owns it.”
“That sounds like something from a bad movie.”
“It probably is.”
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Inside, Gavin waited with a laptop.
Declan sat across from Amelia.
“No weapons near you.”
She looked at his men.
“You have six armed guards.”
“Outside.”
“And inside?”
“Two.”
Amelia sighed.
“You're terrible at reassurance.”
Declan looked down.
“I know.”
Gavin opened the laptop.
“Matthew Voss was born in 2001.”
Declan stared.
“My father died in 2017.”
Gavin nodded.
“Matthew died in 2006.”
Amelia blinked.
“How old was he?”
“Five.”
Declan looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No. Not officially.”
Gavin showed them a photograph.
Two boys stood beside Anthony Voss.
One was Declan.
The other was younger.
Same dark eyes.
Same jawline.
Same scar above the eyebrow.
Declan touched the photograph.
“That's him.”
“There's more.”
Gavin opened another file.
A birth certificate.
Then a hospital discharge record.
Then a sealed court document.
Amelia leaned closer.
“What's that?”
“A custody agreement.”
Declan read it.
His face went white.
“Read the name.”
Amelia did.
ELIAS CALLAWAY.
Savannah's father.
She looked at Declan.
“Your father gave your brother to the Callaways?”
Gavin shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
He opened another document.
A private agreement dated 2006.
Anthony Voss had agreed to surrender control over one branch of his organization in exchange for protection of his younger son.
But the contract listed one condition.
Matthew Voss could never be recognized publicly.
Amelia swallowed.
“Why?”
Gavin looked at Declan.
Then answered.
“Because Matthew was the legitimate heir.”
Declan's expression hardened.
“And I wasn't?”
“Your mother married Anthony after Matthew was born.”
Amelia slowly understood.
“The engagement.”
Declan nodded.
“The Callaways don't want Savannah marrying me for love. They want access to a bloodline.”
“To what?”
Gavin closed the laptop.
“To the Voss inheritance structure.”
Amelia stood.
“So this has nothing to do with me.”
Declan looked up.
“No.”
Then he said the sentence that changed everything.
“It has everything to do with your baby.”
A noise came from the hall.
All three men turned.
One guard entered.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found this outside.”
He held out an envelope.
No stamp.
No name.
Just a single black symbol.
A raven.
Declan took it.
Opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Amelia saw it first.
Her blood turned cold.
It showed her sleeping in the motel room the previous night.
Taken through the window.
Someone had been watching her.
On the back, written in black ink:
THE CHILD HAS TWO FATHERS.
Amelia stared.
“What does that mean?”
Declan did not answer.
Because he knew.
There was only one possibility.
A possibility that could destroy everything he believed about his own family.
Declan turned to Gavin.
“Get me Matthew Voss's DNA records.”
Gavin hesitated.
“They were destroyed.”
May you like
Declan's voice became dangerously calm.
“Then find the man who ordered it.”
