CHAPTER 7 THE TWIN IN THE VAULT
Gavin couldn't move.
The man standing across the vault looked almost exactly like the photographs of his father.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
Same dark hair, although streaked with gray now.
Even the slight scar above his left eyebrow was identical.
But Gavin knew something was wrong.
His father had been dead for twenty-two years.
At least, that was what he had been told.
The man took another step forward.
“My name is Daniel Roberson.”
Gavin stared at him.
“Prove it.”
Daniel nodded.
“I expected that.”
He reached into his coat and removed a small silver watch.
Gavin's breath caught.
He knew that watch.
His father had worn it every day.
Every photograph.
Every memory.
Every birthday from Gavin's childhood had included that watch.
Daniel placed it on the table.
“Your father gave me this the night he disappeared.”
Gavin didn't touch it.
“Where did you get it?”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“From Richard.”
Gavin's heart pounded.
“Then where is he?”
Daniel looked at Taylor.
“He's dead.”
Gavin froze.
“What?”
“Your father died twenty-two years ago.”
Gavin's eyes narrowed.
“Then who took the photograph?”
Daniel didn't answer.
“Who?”
Daniel looked toward the wall.
“The photograph was taken three years ago.”
Gavin stepped closer.
“Then explain it.”
Daniel's expression became grim.
“Your father wasn't in that photograph.”
Gavin stared at him.
“He was.”
“No.”
Daniel pointed toward the image.
“That is me.”
Silence.
Gavin looked at the photograph again.
The man standing beside Nora and Taylor was identical to the man in front of him.
Daniel.
Not Richard.
Gavin's stomach turned.
“You knew Nora?”
“Yes.”
“You knew Taylor?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she is the reason I stayed alive.”
Gavin looked at Taylor.
The little girl was staring at Daniel without fear.
As if she recognized him.
Daniel crouched.
“Hello, Emily.”
Taylor stepped backward.
Gavin immediately moved between them.
“Don't call her that.”
Daniel looked at him.
“That's her name.”
“Her name is Taylor.”
“That's the name that kept her alive.”
Gavin's jaw tightened.
“Tell me everything.”
Daniel stood.
“You don't have enough time.”
“I have all night.”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward the vault entrance.
“You have maybe five minutes.”
Gavin heard it then.
Footsteps.
Above them.
Someone had entered the tunnel.
Priscilla whispered,
“They found us.”
Daniel nodded.
“They always do.”
Gavin looked at him.
“Who?”
Daniel's expression changed.
“The people who murdered your father.”
Gavin's blood went cold.
“My father was murdered?”
“Yes.”
“By Victor?”
“Victor was only a soldier.”
“Then who gave the order?”
Daniel looked at Gavin.
“Your grandfather.”
Gavin closed his eyes.
The answer had become almost predictable.
His grandfather.
The man who had raised the Roberson empire.
The man whose portrait hung above the fireplace.
The man Gavin had spent his childhood trying to impress.
He had ordered his own son killed.
“Why?”
“Because Richard discovered the trust.”
“The forty-two percent.”
Daniel nodded.
“And something else.”
“What?”
“The original family agreement.”
Gavin frowned.
“What agreement?”
Daniel walked toward the back wall.
He pressed his palm against a hidden panel.
A section of the wall opened.
Inside was a metal drawer.
Daniel removed a thick envelope.
He handed it to Gavin.
“This was written before you were born.”
Gavin opened it.
The first page contained a legal document.
At the bottom was his father's signature.
Richard Roberson.
And another signature.
His grandfather's.
Gavin read the first paragraph.
His face changed.
“What is this?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“Your grandfather didn't create the Roberson empire.”
Gavin looked up.
“He stole it.”
The next page contained a list of names.
Companies.
Banks.
Political figures.
Judges.
Doctors.
Then Gavin saw one name.
EVELYN ROBERSON.
He looked at Daniel.
“Why is my mother's name here?”
“She was one of the people who helped your father.”
“Helped him do what?”
“Expose the family.”
Gavin stared at the pages.
His entire understanding of his mother shifted.
She hadn't hated Priscilla.
She hadn't tried to destroy his happiness.
She had been trying to uncover the same conspiracy for twenty-two years.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because she was afraid.”
“Of my grandfather?”
“Of everyone.”
Gavin looked toward Taylor.
“Why was this child hidden?”
Daniel's expression softened.
“Because Richard discovered the truth about her.”
“What truth?”
“She wasn't supposed to be born.”
Gavin frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel took a deep breath.
“Your father had an affair with Nora Bell.”
Gavin already knew that.
“But Nora wasn't just a housekeeper.”
Gavin's eyes narrowed.
“She worked for your grandfather.”
“What?”
“She was hired to watch your father.”
Gavin's stomach tightened.
“For what?”
“To make sure he didn't discover what the family was doing.”
“Then why did she have his child?”
“Because she fell in love with him.”
Gavin looked at Taylor.
“And Emily?”
Daniel nodded.
“Richard wanted to protect his daughter.”
“So he created the trust.”
“Yes.”
“And my grandfather tried to kill her.”
“Yes.”
“But she survived.”
“Because Nora escaped with her.”
Gavin's mind raced.
“Then why did Nora stay near the family?”
Daniel's face darkened.
“Because she couldn't leave.”
“Why?”
“Your grandfather had something over her.”
“What?”
Daniel looked at Taylor.
“Her first child.”
Gavin froze.
“First child?”
Daniel nodded.
“Before Taylor.”
Gavin stared at him.
“Nora had another child?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Daniel's silence answered him.
Gavin stepped closer.
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
Gavin's jaw tightened.
“How?”
Daniel looked away.
“An accident.”
Gavin laughed bitterly.
“Another accident.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
The footsteps above them grew louder.
Gavin looked toward the entrance.
“We need to go.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“What?”
“There is something you need to know.”
Daniel walked toward the table.
He picked up a second folder.
This one was red.
Not black.
Not brown.
Red.
He placed it in Gavin's hands.
“Your mother told me never to open this unless you found the vault.”
Gavin opened it.
The first page contained a photograph.
A newborn baby.
A hospital bracelet around her wrist.
BABY: EMILY BELL.
Gavin stared.
Then he saw the next page.
A DNA report.
His name appeared at the top.
SUBJECT A: GAVIN ROBERSON.
SUBJECT B: EMILY BELL.
The result was startling.
PATERNITY RELATIONSHIP: 99.99% HALF-SIBLING.
Gavin swallowed.
“So she really is my sister.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your father's daughter.”
Gavin looked at Taylor.
She was sitting quietly on the floor.
Completely unaware that the adults around her had just rewritten her entire identity.
Gavin crouched beside her.
“Taylor.”
She looked up.
“Are you my sister?”
The little girl tilted her head.
“What is sister?”
Gavin's throat tightened.
He smiled faintly.
“Someone you protect.”
Taylor thought for a moment.
“Then you're my brother.”
Gavin looked away.
His eyes burned.
“Yes.”
Taylor reached out.
Gavin took her tiny hand.
For the first time that night, something in his life felt real.
Then Daniel spoke.
“There is one more thing.”
Gavin looked up.
“What?”
“Taylor isn't the only person your father protected.”
Gavin frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel pointed toward the red folder.
“Turn the page.”
Gavin did.
His blood froze.
There was another DNA report.
This one had only two names.
RICHARD ROBERSON
and
GAVIN ROBERSON
The result:
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: EXCLUDED.
Gavin stared.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
Gavin turned the page.
Another report.
Another laboratory.
Same result.
RICHARD ROBERSON IS NOT GAVIN ROBERSON'S BIOLOGICAL FATHER.
The room seemed to stop.
Gavin looked at Daniel.
“You said I was chosen as a replacement.”
“Yes.”
“But you said I was chosen because I looked like the baby.”
“Yes.”
“Then who am I?”
Daniel's face became grim.
“That is the question your father died trying to answer.”
Gavin's voice cracked.
“Who are my parents?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he pulled out the final page.
There were two names.
The first was crossed out.
The second was circled in red.
Gavin stared at it.
His mouth went dry.
The circled name was:
DANIEL ROBERSON.
Gavin looked up slowly.
Daniel didn't move.
“You're my father?”
“No.”
Gavin's confusion deepened.
“Then why is your name here?”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“Because your biological mother is Evelyn Roberson.”
Gavin's heart stopped.
His mother.
His mother wasn't simply the woman who raised him.
She was his biological mother.
But then who was his father?
Daniel pointed toward the last line.
Gavin read it.
And his entire world collapsed.
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: VICTOR KANE.
Gavin dropped the paper.
“No.”
Daniel whispered,
“Yes.”
Gavin backed away.
Victor Kane.
The man who had tried to kill him tonight.
The man who had been involved with his family for decades.
The man who wanted the folder.
His biological father.
“No…”
Gavin shook his head.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Your grandfather stole you from Evelyn when you were an infant.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor was dangerous.”
“Then why would my grandfather use his child?”
“Because he needed leverage.”
“Against Victor?”
Daniel nodded.
“And against Evelyn.”
Gavin stared at him.
His entire existence had been a weapon in a war he never knew existed.
Then the vault lights suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Taylor screamed.
Gavin grabbed her.
“Stay with me.”
Priscilla reached for his arm.
“What happened?”
Daniel whispered,
“They're here.”
A metallic clang echoed from the vault door.
Once.
Twice.
Then three times.
Someone was cutting through the steel.
Gavin reached for the gun at his waist.
“How long?”
Daniel listened.
“Less than a minute.”
Gavin looked at the documents.
“Take them.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You take them.”
“What about you?”
“I'll slow them down.”
“No.”
Daniel smiled.
“Gavin.”
“What?”
“You've spent your whole life being someone else's son.”
He looked toward Taylor.
“Tonight you became her brother.”
Then toward the vault door.
“Now it's time to become your own man.”
The metal door buckled.
A rifle barrel pushed through the opening.
Gavin pulled Taylor behind a steel cabinet.
Priscilla ducked beside him.
Daniel raised his weapon.
The door exploded inward.
Three masked men stormed inside.
Daniel fired.
Gavin fired.
The vault became a storm of gunshots.
One attacker dropped.
Another disappeared behind a pillar.
The third rushed toward Taylor.
Gavin tackled him.
They crashed onto the floor.
The man's mask slipped.
Gavin saw his face.
He knew him.
It was one of his father's old lawyers.
Gavin stared.
“You…”
The man smiled.
“Your father should have killed Victor when he had the chance.”
Gavin's blood ran cold.
“What did you say?”
The lawyer laughed.
“Victor isn't your biggest problem.”
He reached inside his jacket.
Gavin grabbed his wrist.
“What did you say?”
The man looked toward Daniel.
“Ask him who ordered Evelyn's kidnapping.”
Daniel suddenly shouted,
“Gavin, get down!”
A shot rang out.
The lawyer's head snapped backward.
He collapsed.
Gavin looked toward the vault entrance.
A figure stood there.
Tall.
Calm.
Holding a pistol.
Victor Kane.
He looked at Gavin.
Then at Daniel.
Then at Taylor.
And finally at Priscilla.
His expression changed.
“You found the vault.”
Gavin raised his weapon.
“You're my father.”
Victor smiled.
“No.”
He slowly lowered his gun.
“I'm your grandfather.”
Gavin froze.
Victor continued:
“And the man you've been calling your father for twenty-two years…”
He looked toward Daniel.
“…was never Richard Roberson.”
Daniel's face went pale.
Victor smiled.
“He was your uncle.”
May you like
The vault fell silent.
And somewhere above them, Evelyn screamed.
