Chapter 12 - Four ChildrenAdrian felt as if the house had tilted.
“Four?”
Natalie nodded.
“Two survived.”
“Then what happened to the others?”
“One died.”
She looked at Maisie.
“One disappeared.”
Adrian's eyes widened.
“Where?”
Natalie shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Clara stepped forward.
“You do.”
Natalie stared at her.
Clara's voice hardened.
“The fourth child.”
Natalie broke down.
“I gave him away.”
Adrian stared.
“Why?”
“Because your father threatened to kill all of you.”
“Who is the child?”
Natalie wouldn't answer.
Ethan grabbed the table.
“Tell him.”
Natalie whispered:
“He's been in this house the whole time.”
Adrian's heart stopped.
He looked around.
“Who?”
No one answered.
Then Maisie pointed toward the staircase.
A boy stood there.
About seven years old.
Thin.
Pale.
Wearing an oversized sweater.
Adrian had never seen him before.
The boy stared at Owen.
Then at Maisie.
Then at Ethan.
Ethan went white.
“No.”
Adrian whispered:
“Who is he?”
The boy said:
“My name is Noah.”
Natalie started crying.
“Noah…”
Adrian looked at her.
“That's your son.”
She nodded.
“But who's his father?”
She looked at Adrian.
“Ethan.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
The entire room went silent.
Four children.
One family.
One hidden trust.
One missing branch of the inheritance.
Adrian couldn't process it.
“Why was he hidden?”
Clara answered.
“Because Noah isn't part of the trust.”
Adrian frowned.
“Then why does he matter?”
“Because he knows where the original documents are.”
The boy looked toward the floor.
“I do.”
Adrian crouched.
“Noah, what documents?”
The boy pointed at the wall.
“Grandfather hides things in the clock.”
Adrian looked at the old grandfather clock.
He opened the panel.
Inside was a metal box.
The lock required a fingerprint.
Adrian's father had built everything around blood.
Adrian tried his own.
Rejected.
Ethan tried.
Rejected.
Clara.
Rejected.
Maisie reached forward.
The lock clicked.
Everyone froze.
Inside was a single handwritten ledger.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed five people.
Adrian's father.
The four children.
And another woman.
A woman Adrian had never seen.
On the back:
THE ORIGINAL HEIR.
Maisie touched the image.
“Who is she?”
Clara whispered:
“Your grandmother.”
Adrian frowned.
“My grandmother died before I was born.”
“No.”
Clara turned the photograph over.
A second name was written beneath the woman's face.
Elena Vane.
Ethan stared.
“That's not our grandmother.”
Clara shook her head.
“She was the founder.”
Adrian looked at the ledger.
The first page contained one sentence:
The Vale fortune belongs not to the eldest child, but to the blood of the founder.
The second page contained names.
Four children.
Then one final entry.
The fifth heir has not yet been born.
Adrian looked at Natalie.
“You said four.”
She began trembling.
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
She looked toward Owen.
“Before you were born.”
Adrian felt a horrible realization forming.
Owen was not the fourth child.
He was the fifth.
The missing heir.
The child Adrian had raised.
The child everyone had been fighting over.
Adrian looked at Ethan.
“So why did you say Owen was yours?”
Ethan's face collapsed.
“Because he is.”
Adrian stared.
“But you said…”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
Ethan walked toward him.
“Because your father wanted to know which child was the heir.”
Adrian's heart pounded.
“I needed him to believe Owen was mine.”
“Then why was he put in the SUV?”
Ethan's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I wasn't the one who put him there.”
Adrian looked at Natalie.
Natalie shook her head.
Clara suddenly pulled a gun.
Everyone froze.
She aimed toward Ethan.
“You've ruined everything.”
Ethan stared at her.
“No.”
Clara smiled sadly.
“You were never protecting Owen.”
“What?”
May you like
“You were protecting yourself.”
She fired.
