Chapter 8 - The Brother Nobody Knew ExistedI hung up.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then Evan said quietly, “Mom told you there’s another child.”
“Another daughter. And a son.”
Melissa stared at the photograph.
“How many people were in this family?”
“Apparently more than we knew.”
Mark sat down.
“Let’s think logically.”
I almost laughed.
There was nothing logical about discovering you have a hidden half-sister and another sibling because your mother manipulated the family for decades.
Still, his voice steadied me.
“What do we know?”
I counted.
“My father had an earlier relationship with Emily Cross.”
“He had a daughter.”
“Possibly two children.”
“He created Bennett Family Holdings.”
“He moved assets into a trust.”
“He used my name.”
“And Mom knew.”
Melissa raised one finger.
“And apparently Dad thought someone was trying to harm Emily’s children.”
Evan said, “Who?”
That was the question.
We returned to my house.
I opened every document from the blue box.
One statement caught my attention.
A transfer to a private security company.
Payments started eighteen months before Dad died.
They continued for four years.
The description line said:
Protection Services, E.C.
Emily Cross.
Dad had been paying to protect her.
Not from Mom.
From someone else.
The recorder had one final file.
We played it.
Dad’s voice was quieter this time.
“If they find Emily, they’ll find the children.”
A pause.
“I don’t trust Ray.”
My eyes met Melissa’s.
The man at the hospital.
The man at Mom’s birthday.
Ray.
Dad continued.
“Angela says I’m overreacting.”
Angela.
Mom’s name.
“She says the children are not my responsibility.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“She is wrong.”
The recording ended.
“Who is Angela?” Evan asked.
“Mom.”
“Then Dad knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That she wanted them gone.”
The front door opened.
We all turned.
Lily stood there.
“I know who Ray is.”
Every adult in the room froze.
“What?” I asked.
Lily walked in.
“Grandma told me.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
“Lily, start from the beginning.”
She sat.
“She said Ray was Grandpa’s old business partner.”
“That’s what she told us.”
“She also said he was the person who took care of problems.”
Mark’s expression hardened.
“What kind of problems?”
Lily shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Did Grandma tell you about Emily?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She showed me another picture.”
“Where is it?”
Lily reached into her backpack.
She handed me a photograph.
It showed Dad standing outside a hospital.
Beside him was a woman carrying a baby.
The date was twenty years before I was born.
On the back:
Emily and Noah.
Noah.
The son.
I looked at the baby.
“Where are they?”
Lily said softly:
“Grandma said Noah died.”
“How?”
“She said an accident.”
“Did she tell you where?”
“No.”
“Did she tell you about Emily?”
“She said Emily disappeared.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photo arrived.
It was recent.
Emily Cross.
Older now.
Standing beside a man in his thirties.
Noah.
Alive.
I stared.
Below the photo was one sentence:
Your mother knows.
Then another:
She knows exactly where we are.
I felt my blood run cold.
And then the final message came.
Tonight, Noah is coming for you.
At 10:14 p.m., someone knocked on my front door.
Three slow knocks.
No one moved.
Mark stepped in front of Lily.
Evan reached for the kitchen drawer.
Melissa whispered, “Don’t open it.”
The knocking came again.
Three knocks.
Then a man spoke from the other side.
“Laura Bennett?”
My throat tightened.
“Yes?”
“My name is Noah Cross.”
Silence.
“I think we need to talk.”
I looked at the others.
May you like
Then Noah added:
“Because your mother just tried to kill me.”
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