CHAPTER 6 THE GIRL THEY WERE LOOKING FOR
The first bullet struck the hood.
The second shattered the windshield.
Gavin threw himself across the back seat.
“GET DOWN!”
Taylor screamed.
Nora's little girl curled beneath the seat, covering her head with both hands.
Priscilla grabbed her and pulled her against the floor.
Three more gunshots echoed through the harbor road.
Gavin reached beneath the driver's seat and pulled out the emergency pistol his security team had installed months earlier.
He kicked the door open.
The masked man standing outside raised his weapon.
Gavin fired first.
The man dropped behind the SUV.
“Run!”
Priscilla looked at him.
“Where?”
“Anywhere but here!”
Gavin grabbed Taylor.
The little girl's arms locked around his neck.
He ran.
They disappeared between two abandoned warehouses as bullets ripped into the concrete behind them.
Priscilla followed.
“Gavin!”
He didn't stop.
They sprinted through the darkness.
Rusty shipping containers created a maze around them.
Gavin could hear footsteps behind them.
Too many.
“Left!”
Priscilla pointed toward a narrow alley.
They turned.
A dead end.
Gavin stopped.
“Damn it.”
Priscilla looked around.
“Over there.”
She pointed toward an old loading dock.
They climbed over a metal railing and dropped onto the other side.
The footsteps passed them.
Gavin held Taylor tightly.
Nobody spoke.
For several seconds, there was only the sound of their breathing.
Then Taylor whispered,
“Mr. Gavin?”
“Yes?”
“The bad man knows my name.”
Gavin looked at her.
“How?”
Taylor's eyes filled with tears.
“He called me Emily.”
Gavin froze.
Priscilla stared at the child.
“What did you say?”
Taylor repeated,
“He called me Emily.”
Gavin looked at Priscilla.
“Who is Emily?”
Priscilla's face had gone completely white.
“I don't know.”
Gavin grabbed her wrist.
“You do.”
“No.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear I don't know.”
“Then why are you scared?”
Priscilla pulled away.
“Because that name…”
She stopped.
Gavin waited.
“Because that was the name of the baby.”
Gavin's heart slammed against his ribs.
“What baby?”
“The baby who died.”
Silence.
Taylor looked between them.
Gavin slowly crouched.
“Taylor.”
She looked at him.
“Did anyone ever call you Emily before tonight?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Does your mother know that name?”
“Yes.”
Gavin's eyes narrowed.
“How?”
Taylor shrugged.
“She cried when she saw it.”
Gavin turned toward Priscilla.
“What is going on?”
Priscilla looked away.
“I don't know everything.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
She swallowed.
“Six years ago, Marissa Cole contacted me.”
“Why?”
“She told me she had proof that the Roberson family had replaced a dead child.”
Gavin stared at her.
“She claimed the baby hadn't died.”
“What?”
“She said the child had been taken.”
“Taken where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why did she say it?”
“Because she believed someone had raised the child under another identity.”
Gavin looked down at Taylor.
His heart began pounding.
“No.”
Priscilla shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You're thinking it.”
“I am.”
“Say it.”
Priscilla's eyes filled with tears.
“Taylor might be connected to the original Roberson heir.”
Gavin stared at the little girl.
Three years old.
A maid's daughter.
A child who had somehow discovered his mother.
A child whose name had just triggered panic in armed men.
And now they were saying she might be connected to the dead heir.
It was absurd.
It was impossible.
Yet tonight, impossible things had become ordinary.
A phone suddenly vibrated.
Not Gavin's.
Taylor's.
Gavin looked at her.
“Where did you get that?”
Taylor pulled a tiny phone from her pocket.
“My mommy gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“She said if anything bad happened, I should give it to Mr. Gavin.”
Gavin took it.
The screen displayed one message.
CALL ME BEFORE THEY FIND YOU.
There was a number beneath it.
Gavin called.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
A woman's voice answered.
“Gavin?”
He froze.
He knew that voice.
“Marissa?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
Gavin's heart stopped.
Priscilla covered her mouth.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Where is my mother?”
“I don't know.”
“Who has her?”
“I think Richard Bell.”
Gavin looked at Priscilla.
“Are you alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did everyone think you were dead?”
“I needed them to think that.”
“Why?”
“Because they were searching for me.”
“Who?”
“Your grandfather's people.”
Gavin's voice hardened.
“My grandfather has been dead for fifteen years.”
Marissa laughed bitterly.
“That's what they wanted you to believe.”
Gavin went silent.
“What?”
“Your grandfather died.”
“Then who are his people?”
“People who still follow his instructions.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Gavin looked around the dark warehouse.
“Tell me about the child.”
Marissa went silent.
“The child is alive.”
Gavin's breathing stopped.
“Who?”
“You already know.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Marissa…”
Her voice cracked.
“She was never supposed to be called Taylor.”
Gavin looked at the little girl.
Taylor was staring at him.
“Her name was Emily.”
Gavin couldn't speak.
Priscilla whispered,
“Dear God.”
Marissa continued.
“Emily Roberson.”
Gavin's heart hammered.
“Why is she living as Taylor Bell?”
“Because Nora Bell saved her.”
“Nora?”
“Yes.”
“My housekeeper?”
“She was a nurse at St. Catherine's.”
Gavin looked toward the highway.
Everything clicked.
Nora had worked for his family for years.
She had access to the house.
She had been there when Taylor was born.
She had known things she shouldn't have known.
“Why would she hide the child?”
“Because the child was supposed to die.”
Gavin's voice became cold.
“Who ordered it?”
Marissa hesitated.
Then she said:
“Your grandfather.”
“But he was dead.”
“He gave the order before he died.”
Gavin stared into the darkness.
“Why?”
“Because Emily was the only person who could inherit everything.”
Gavin swallowed.
“The forty-two percent.”
“Yes.”
“And the family trust.”
“Yes.”
“So they needed her dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then why was I brought into the family?”
Marissa's voice became softer.
“Because they needed someone who could be controlled.”
Gavin closed his eyes.
His entire life.
His identity.
His childhood.
His father's love.
His grandfather's approval.
Had he been chosen because he was useful?
“Who are my biological parents?”
Marissa didn't answer.
“Marissa.”
“You already know one of them.”
Gavin's heart raced.
“My father?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Marissa whispered,
“Nora Bell.”
Gavin stared at Taylor.
“What?”
“Nora is Emily's biological mother.”
Everything stopped.
Gavin looked at Priscilla.
She was crying.
“That's impossible.”
Marissa continued.
“Richard Roberson had an affair with Nora.”
Gavin's face turned white.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Gavin looked at Taylor again.
“Then…”
“She is Richard's daughter.”
His knees nearly buckled.
Taylor was his half-sister.
The little girl he had just spent the night protecting was the biological child of his father.
But that still didn't explain the photograph.
Gavin's voice trembled.
“Why does the photograph say I was replaced?”
Marissa sighed.
“Because you were.”
Gavin stared at the phone.
“By whom?”
“You.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“You weren't brought into the Roberson family after the baby died.”
“You were brought in before.”
Gavin's mind struggled to understand.
“What are you saying?”
“You were the replacement.”
Silence.
“You were selected because you looked like the child.”
Gavin couldn't breathe.
Marissa continued.
“Your grandfather arranged everything.”
“But my father…”
“Your father didn't know the whole truth.”
Gavin's voice cracked.
“My father raised me.”
“Yes.”
“Did he love me?”
A long silence.
Then Marissa answered.
“He did.”
Gavin closed his eyes.
That one answer hurt more than everything else.
Because if his father had loved him, then perhaps his childhood wasn't entirely a lie.
Perhaps some part of it had been real.
“Where is Nora?”
Marissa went silent.
Gavin's eyes opened.
“Where is she?”
“She was taken.”
“By Richard Bell?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Marissa whispered,
“The same people who are coming for Emily.”
Gavin's stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Nora knows where the family vault is.”
Gavin remembered Priscilla's warning.
The vault.
His father's sealed vault.
“What's inside?”
Marissa's voice dropped.
“Proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Gavin Roberson never existed.”
Gavin stopped breathing.
Marissa continued.
“And proof that the real heir is alive.”
Gavin looked at Taylor.
A tiny three-year-old girl sat silently in the darkness.
The real heir.
Not him.
Her.
A branch of his entire life had just been cut away.
Then a noise came from outside the warehouse.
Footsteps.
Marissa's voice became urgent.
“They found you.”
Gavin grabbed Taylor.
“How many?”
“Too many.”
“Where do I go?”
“Under the warehouse.”
Gavin frowned.
“What?”
“There is an old service tunnel.”
“Where?”
“Behind the boiler room.”
The line suddenly went dead.
Gavin stood.
“Come on.”
Priscilla grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“If we go under the warehouse, there may be no way out.”
Gavin looked at her.
“Then we find one.”
They ran.
The footsteps outside grew louder.
Gavin found the boiler room.
Behind a rusted metal cabinet was a hidden door.
He pulled it open.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Taylor looked down.
“It's dark.”
Gavin picked her up.
“I've got you.”
They started down.
Priscilla followed.
Halfway down, Gavin stopped.
Something was written on the wall.
Old paint.
Nearly faded.
But still readable.
ROBERSON FAMILY VAULT
Gavin stared.
The vault wasn't a rumor.
It was here.
And somewhere inside it was the proof that could destroy everything.
He continued down.
At the bottom stood a massive steel door.
No handle.
No keypad.
Only a fingerprint scanner.
Gavin stepped forward.
The scanner lit up.
IDENTITY REQUIRED.
He placed his thumb against it.
Red.
ACCESS DENIED.
Gavin frowned.
He tried again.
Red.
Priscilla stepped closer.
“Maybe it's your father's fingerprint.”
“He's dead.”
“Try the family ring.”
Gavin remembered the gold ring from the metal box.
He pressed it against the scanner.
Nothing.
Then Taylor slipped from his arms.
She walked toward the door.
“Taylor.”
She ignored him.
She placed her tiny hand against the scanner.
The machine beeped.
The light turned green.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
Gavin stared in disbelief.
The steel door began to open.
Priscilla whispered,
“That's impossible.”
Gavin couldn't answer.
Inside the vault was a single wooden chair.
A table.
And a wall covered with photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Every photograph showed the same little girl.
Taylor.
As a newborn.
At six months.
One year old.
Two years old.
Three years old.
Someone had been watching her entire life.
Gavin stepped closer.
Then he saw the final photograph.
Taylor standing beside Nora.
And beside them…
His father.
Richard Roberson.
The date beneath the photograph was only three years old.
Gavin's heart stopped.
His father had supposedly been dead for twenty-two years.
Then why was he standing beside Taylor?
And beneath the photograph, someone had written:
RICHARD ROBERSON IS ALIVE.
Gavin slowly turned toward Priscilla.
She was staring at the photograph.
Her face had lost all color.
“You knew.”
Priscilla shook her head.
“No.”
“You knew my father was alive.”
“I didn't.”
“You lied.”
“I swear I didn't.”
Then a voice came from the darkness behind them.
“You're both wrong.”
Gavin turned.
A man stepped out from behind the shelves.
Older.
Gray-haired.
His face lined with age.
But unmistakable.
Gavin stared at him.
His entire body went numb.
The man looked at Taylor.
Then at Gavin.
And whispered:
“I'm not Richard Roberson.”
Gavin couldn't speak.
The man continued:
“I'm his twin.”
He stepped into the light.
“My name is Daniel Roberson.”
May you like
Then he smiled.
“And I've been waiting twenty-two years to tell you why your father had to disappear.”
