Chapter 11 - Emily's Voice
The truth was bigger than my family
Darkness swallowed the ballroom.
Emily grabbed my hand.
"Dad."
"I'm here."
Victor's voice echoed through the room.
"You've spent ten years mourning a child who never existed."
I fired toward the sound.
A gunshot.
Then silence.
Marcus shouted from somewhere in the darkness.
"Move!"
We ran toward the service corridor.
Emily stayed close.
Victor's men fired behind us.
Daniel led us through a hidden passage.
When we emerged, we were in an underground parking garage.
A black car waited.
We got inside.
Only after the doors locked did I realize Emily was crying.
"Why?"
She looked at me.
"Why would Victor say I'm not your daughter?"
I had no answer.
The truth was beginning to feel like quicksand.
Every fact I had trusted was sinking beneath me.
At a safe apartment, Daniel opened the video camera from my father's vault.
The footage was ten years old.
My father appeared on screen.
"Nathaniel, if this recording is being viewed, then I am dead."
He looked tired.
Older than I remembered.
"I have hidden the truth because telling you would put Claire and Emily in danger."
He paused.
"The girl you know as Emily Cross is not biologically Claire's daughter."
I stopped the video.
Emily stared at me.
I could see the fear returning to her face.
"Don't."
I looked at her.
"You are my daughter."
"But maybe not hers."
I shook my head.
"I don't care what Victor says."
Daniel restarted the recording.
My father continued.
"Emily is the daughter of a woman named Anna Vale."
Victor's sister.
She had died giving birth.
The child was left in the care of my father.
Why?
Because Anna had been carrying evidence against Victor.
My father took the child.
Raised her near the family.
Claire eventually discovered the truth.
And then something happened.
My father continued.
"Claire chose to love Emily as her own."
I closed my eyes.
The truth hurt.
But it did not change anything.
Emily was still my child.
By blood or by choice.
Then the video showed my father holding a second baby.
A boy.
Noah.
He looked at the camera.
"Noah is Victor's biological son, but he was conceived through an affair that Victor denies."
I frowned.
"Claire said he wasn't Victor's."
My father continued.
"He is not Victor's son."
The screen displayed a DNA report.
Victor.
No match.
My father's name.
Match.
I went cold.
Noah was my father's son.
That made Noah my half-brother.
And Emily had been raised believing Noah was her brother because Claire had been protecting both children.
The video ended.
Emily whispered,
"Where is Noah?"
Daniel answered.
"With Victor."
My phone rang.
Victor.
I answered.
"You're beginning to understand."
"Where is my brother?"
"Bring me Emily."
"No."
Victor sighed.
"You always were stubborn."
Then a scream came through the phone.
A boy.
"Please!"
My blood froze.
"Noah."
Victor laughed.
"Tomorrow night, the Cross Foundation Ball."
"I'll be there."
"You'll bring Emily."
"Yes."
"And you will come alone."
The line ended.
Emily looked at me.
"You're not going alone."
I shook my head.
"Neither are you."
She smiled through tears.
For the first time, she looked like my daughter again.
"Good."
Then my phone buzzed.
A new message.
From Claire.
May you like
DON'T GO TO THE BALL.
THE WOMAN YOU THINK IS ME IS NOT YOUR WIFE.
